OCR Text |
Show i TRANSPORTATION OF FREIGHT. One of the imposing bubbles blown by the congressional agitata1 I who love to assert that the country is going to the bow-wows because of the "hundreds of millions of tribute" paid to foreign ship-owners by American commerce was pricked in Chicago this week by the common-sense observation of one of the leading exporters of the country, that on more than one-half the total foreign commerce of the country, the cost of ocean transportation, whether it be high or low, is by foreigners and not by Americans. . The usual method of the alarmists alarm-ists in estimating the amount paid out by this country in freight is to compute it on both the export and import business of tt United States $3,500,000,000 is the figure commonly used.. As th commercial authority already referred to points out, however, the exports ex-ports of the United States greatly exceed the imports in normal year and it is an accepted rule of trade that the consumer ultimately ptf the freight as well as all other handling charges under ordinary conditions, con-ditions, the foreign buyers of American products settle for the tow on considerably more than half the amount quoted by those who arj agitating about conditions in our foreign trade. Incidentally, K pointed out that ocean freights are only from one-sixth to one-tertj of railroad charges in proportion to the distance carried, and that u the railway transportation of the country were handled on a ra basis anywhere approaching that of the foreign-owned shipping trafl hundreds of millions in reality would be saved to American con sumers |