Show A WORK FOR THE RAILROADS the following communication was wae written for the NEWS many months ago when there was waa quite a newspaper controversy regarding railway affairs in utah growing out of a confer coner ence of i be managers of the two important lines hoes who met in this city to discuss matters pertaining to the inter sate of their respective companies compan leng and concerning which widely diversified rumors of increased and extortionate rates and combinations against other less powerful powe rul common carriers were not net abitt aal it it 11 was written with a view to commenting in ID a spirit or nr fairness on the railway situa tion in utah as it had bad been baen and was lt it never left the writers teros however until a day or two agi when it was wars handed banded in with the remark that perhaps prevent present circumstances would notify an explanation or at least a statement of the local railway situs tion mon the nims NEWS believes in a fair bearing all round and therefore give place to the communication with pleas urt the completion of the overland lioe lice across the continent luent universally regarded as the consummation of the most daring enterprise the world bad ever seen been brought utah in close communication muni cation with the commercial world and invited the atten n of capital to her varied resources anu and attractions it if it Is urged as it often has bat been beel that thai interior territory was neglected in favor of eastern or western terminals it may also be justly said that the immense transcontinental traffic at first comman commanded Jed the entire efforts of the lines to handle it while at the same time the almost uninhabited country through which they ran offered BO local business and it could not be created until the slow process of kimt made possible the settlement and civilization of that which in the memory of young men was thought to be correctly corre etly term edThe gret great american desert the advent of another line into the t territory projected built control controlled left and operated by farsighted far sighted west westerik erik men med traversing from east to west th B otos most t fertile valleys and forming at ali important link in another rf nute ute inaugurated an aggressive policy which marked a new era in the J development of our resources and afforded the advantages of competition so 80 necessary to prosperous communities tuey neither asked nor received jaad grants grans or subsidies but invested their capital in an enterprise which W wax 1141 j extra hazardous from the very nature of the country it benefited and expecting only the fair returns on their money which their treatment of the localities they served merited and to which they were justly eD entitled titled has the attention of the two principal lines toward the varied and often coriat eting interests in the territory been characterized by that degree of consideration that is shown other corn com muni ties similarly situated by their common carriere carri erfe erb it is maintained that it has conditions chob con tribute to the advancement of cities are not always controlled by the rall rail roads engaged in the transportation of their heir traffic other cities more favor ably situated geographically with reference to th the markets of the world 3 having iving more productive territory tributary to them and populated with an enterprising element boiten draw th the y business ot or large areas to their doors and railroads are frequently attracted by their growth y since the advent of railway compe in the territory at least one of the lines has bite never ceased its dyste matio intelligent attractive and ex penal pensive ve advertisement of utah what assi assistance has salt lake city given in bis meritorious work As regards the exorbitance in freight rates rales an i the rep reported advances made let them be treated as investigation proves proven them to be at the coni arence of railway representatives and the cham chamber ber of commerce held I 1 in a his city to in october 1892 it was shown by a comparison compari aon of the tariffs aba hat t the class clasa rates between salt like lake city and points in the sevier and sanpete valley in a sparsely settled fettled mountainous coultry cou try were as low and in some instances lower than the rates charged in ID some portions of kansas and nebraska la in a thickly populated agn cultural district tor for the same distance where rates are regulated by state laws lava and where the me cost of railway con st ruction is materially less jess these rates have been still further reduced an aa noticed recently in ID a morning paper within a year the rates on ore from eureka to tj the utah smelters shelters sm elters have been reduced 83 93 13 18 1 3 8 per percent cent while a substantial reduction followed from bingham Bing hum and these the rates on wool and live jive stock from points lo in the territory have bave not been v advanced but the tariff rates simply restored irom from the very low special rates which the railroads gave last june and under which hieb these commodities were moved the sheep men could only obtain nominal advances on their wool during the summer and were unable at that time to on their heir which in informer former years were sold after shearing and trailed to eastern feeding the overstocked over stocked ranges would not support them the banks baake A i were pressing grower on their obliga lone while tue market for woul wool afforded no relief beliet and these men were absolutely compelled to force their on the market regardless of the price to satisfy the demands of toe the banke sod aud they were moved at ai the lowest ever fadeout made out of etab being 1716 1716 less lees than the established on every car that was shipped to assert thattie that the railway representatives tild did not know the existing condition of affairs is alstru and they could haye hae taken advantage or of the extremity tro mity to which live stockmen stoc stock kmen men were driven and demanded and received their lull full tariff rates were they as ac eager to grasp an opportunity to oppress the people as some would be philanthropists would have the community com munny think thick liet let a rate once be reduced and those who have benefi benefited tea by it are but too olten often the ones to cry oppress oppression eion when ched restore restored 4 to normal conditions finally the condition of railway properties in the west Is a matter of grave concern no less lees than 23 per coltof cent of the railroads in the united stacee with liabilities aggregating are in the hands of receivers ce ivers utah wants more miles of railway if the lines now here weather the storm is it not reasonable to expect that capital will look favorably upon this as a field for further investment already a line is knocking for entrance over dver our southern border will the attitude of the people toward corpo corpora ra dionis and threatened legislation forbid her heir entrance A friend OF UTAH |