OCR Text |
Show IN KAILWAY CIRCLES. A Paradoxical State of AflAirsXin Freight Matters. FREIGHT FOR 'FRISCO GOES EAST Clipper Ships ow Acting as Caravans Cara-vans for the Merchant of the , iiolden Slope The Traffic Is tiroiv-ins tiroiv-ins .Enormously From Chicago To Consider Kail way Safety AppliancesA Appli-ancesA Move in the Right IHree-tion-Headlight Flashes. More traffic from Chicago to San Francisco Fran-cisco starts east than west, says the Chicago Herald. Even before the present demoralized demoral-ized rates were begun by clipper ship competition com-petition it was cheaper to ship via Sew York and the ocean than directly west via all rail lines. Since the clipper ship competition ocean rates have tumbled to a point w here I the element of time and possible damage to high-class goods are the only reasons which impel merchants to patronize the all rail routes. From Chicago to. aa Francisco by rail rates range from 13.00 per 1C0 pounds first-class first-class to f 1.10 class E. The rail rate to New York, plus the ocean rate from New York to San Francisco, is in all c'ases materially lower than the above. On the higher classes it is about 20 per cent lower, while on the lower classes it is 50 per cent lower. This difference has been in effect practically since the passage of the interstate commerce act. But as it takes two or three months longer to ship via New Y'ork, it made, no marked difference in routing the traffic until un-til San Francisco began i'.s boycott on the Southern Pacific several mouths ago. Sinco that time more than T5 per cent of the tonnage " between Chicago and 8an Francisco has ' been ordered to go or come via New York. Rates have been so reduced by clipper ships that almost all heavy items of freight, such as canned goods, can be shipped from San Francisco via Cape Horn and New York to Chicago for less than $1 per hundred pounds. Western West-ern lines refuse to take any traffic at less than the $1 rate, as it will not pay expenses ; consequently they are barred out of the tratlie unless there U pressing need of haste in the shipment. Within the past month the amount of frame taking this roundabout route has grown enormously. Official of Eastern lines have noticed "the increase but have kept quiet about it, owing to the fear of its being discovered by Western lines, but the Western West-ern lines have thrown up their hands and now Chicago merchants are making demands de-mands of East-bound railroad that they issue through bills of lading to San Francisco. Fran-cisco. It is thought this will be done before the week closes, and the anomaly will then be presented of an official route eastward carrying freight to San Francisco cheaper than any leading westward. |