OCR Text |
Show COMPETITIVE THROUGH RATES. Competitive through rates aro lndls-jonsablo lndls-jonsablo to enable railroads to hold A he business against water routes. Tho Oulf States havo built up business that could bo easily destroyed (tho grain thipplng trade, for Instance) by any nteiforence wlh rates. The trade territories ter-ritories of Chicago, St. Louis and ( ther great jobbing centers could slm-larly slm-larly bo endangered. These aro In-t In-t tances, but tho application to. the entire en-tire United State3 is so obvious that t is unnecessary to multiply them here. Years would elapso before tho Inter-tate Inter-tate Commerce Commission could complete ono round of hearings for tho entire country.' Between tho beginning be-ginning and tho end or this period new conditions would havo repeatedly rrisen. Nothing could bo final. New disturbances to trade must succeed, periodically, to tho original disturbance. disturb-ance. There are three ways in which transportation may bo regulated. T"ho first Is tho natural, or competitive method, In which each transportation lino strives to build up Its own Interests. Inter-ests. As this can bo effected only by multiplying tho volume of freights, and as freights can bo increased only by tho stimulation of manufactures, rgriculturo and commerce, it naturally iollows that greater mutual advantages advan-tages aro duo to all concerned under this than under any other method. Tho second plan consists of a. legal rate to be fixed by a commission or to bo established by a court. This has tho disadvantage of being inflexible, of working hardship inevitably to many, of being dovold of capacity to i y meet emergencies that aro certain to I 1 1 arise by reason of exceptional condl- I tlons of crops or of tho markets for A products; has all tho defects, in short, that belong to tho regime of tho doctrinaire doc-trinaire in business as opposed to (ho shrewd common senso and adaptation of facts to Immediate uses that belong to tho traffic manager, who Is .now able to assist tho patrons of his roads, and to mako and savo for his road simultaneously, si-multaneously, business that otherwise would bo lost, to tho common detriment detri-ment of transportation and of sections originating or demanding products. Tho third system consists of rates that aro fixed by State Legislatures, and that aro operative only within Ihe limits of the States in which tho rates aro legalized. Tho fact has presented itself to business men that" the" enactment of law to mako tho Intorstato Commerce Commission rate-makers will bring ,W-into ,W-into use, .at ono and tho same tlmo, " threo systems to" bo operated, and that, so used, will causo endless perplexities per-plexities and incalculable loss to .different .dif-ferent sections of tho country successively. |