134 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 1913 



Transportation Charges Investigated 



A Comparison of Rates from Ontario and Pacific Coast Points to the Prairies 



MK. Donald Johnson, of Forest. Omt. , 

 when speaking for the Ontario fruit 

 >frowcrs before the ' Agricultural 

 Committfe of the Iloust- of Com- 

 mons, last winter, complained of the dis- 

 criminatibii in the rates to which the fruit 

 g-rowers of Ontario have been subjected by 

 the 1-ailway companies in cooinection with 

 western shipments of fruit. Tlie matter 

 later received a great deal of prominence in 

 the press of the country. This led the 

 WiCStern freight agents to publish state- 

 ments of rates, disputing the claims of the 

 fruit growers that there was any discrirai- 

 natioin. The Ontario Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 iciiation thereupon asked Mr. G. E. McLn- 

 tosh, its transportation ag^ent, to look in- 

 to the matter. Mr. Mcintosh has done so, 

 ■Aind has reported as follows to Mr. P. W. 

 Hodgetts, the secretary of the Association: 

 "In regard to the rates given out for 

 the railways by Mr. Lanigan, and appear- 

 ing in the VVinipeg Telegram of February 

 8th, in my opinion the rates are correct, 

 and I do not think they have been publicly 

 disputed by ainy representative of the On- 

 tario Fruit Growers' Assocation, but just 

 wherein lies the great preference to the 

 Ontario shipi)er, as intimated by Mr. Lani- 

 gan, is a point not quite clear. 



"The evidence given by Mr. Donald 

 Johnson before the Agricultural Committee 

 at Ottawa was to the effect that the On- 

 tario shipper is called upon to pay a much 

 higher rate to cover that territory liyiing 

 west of Winnipeg to Calgary and Edmon- 

 ton than the Americain or British Columbia 

 shipper over the same trackage, and the 

 following rates and milieage comparisons 

 issued by Mr. Lanigan afTord the proof : 



gan to Calgary, at a rate of fifty-eight 

 rents per one hundred [wunds, would haul, 

 say, two thous'and tons, or mearly five 

 times the Load from Toronto to VVinnii)eg^ 

 at fif-ty-three cents a hundred pounds, thus 

 handling the Ontario shipments from, say, 

 St. Catharines to Winnipeg at a greater 

 profit than the American or British Colum- 

 bia shipments to Calgary. 



"No complaint is made of the rate from 

 Ontario points to Winnipeg, nor do we 

 think the British Columbia shipper is 

 charged an excessive rate to Calgary be- 

 cause coinditions demand it. Taking the 

 above points into consideration, the rates 

 are probably fair to both, with certainly 

 no advantage or preference, as intimated, 

 to the Ontario shipper. 



"With Wininipeg, then, as an entrance to 

 this market for the Ontario apple shipper, 

 and Calgary an entrance point for the West- 

 ern States or British Columbia shipper, all 

 on a fair rate basis, we find the territory 

 lying between these points as follows : 



"The Okanagan shipper pays on a 

 through rate sixty cents to Calgary and 

 seventy-five cents to W'innii>eg, while the 

 Ontario shipper pays fifty-three cents to 

 Winnii>eg and one dollar and four cents 

 to Calgary. • 



"The Okanagan shipper pays on a 

 through rate fifteen cents per one hundred 

 pounds for the haul of eight hundred and 

 thirty-seven miles between Calgary and 

 Winnipeg, while the St. Catharines ship- 

 per pays fifty-one cents a hundred i>ounds 

 over the same rails. 



"The Canadian Pacific Railway makes a 

 charge of eight cents a cwt. for the haul 

 of isix hundred and fifty-seven miles be- 



Fro m To 



St. Catharines .Winnipeg.... 



St. Catharines Winnipeg. . . . 



Kelowaia, B . C Winnipeg . . . . 



Yakima, Wash Winnipeg.... 



Wenatchee Winnipeg. . . . 



St. Catharines Regina 



St. Catharines Regina 



Yakima Wash Re,gina 



Wenatchee Regina 



St. Catharines Calgary 



St. Catharines Calgary 



Kelowna, B.C Calgary 



Yakima, Wash Calgary 



"Even from the standpoint of total mile- 

 age from point of shipment in Ontario to 

 destination in the west and from point of 

 shipment in Washigton or British Colum- 

 bia to the Prairie markets, as here given, 

 1 fail to see the great preference our On- 

 tario shipers are said to enjoy, if we but 

 consder conditions ais they exist. 



"In this particular case, is it fair, how- 

 ever, to draw a comparison solely on a 

 mileage basis ? Must we not rightly give 

 some consideration to the idanditions which 

 help to make these rates? Take, for in- 

 stanc», the haul from Yakirna or from 

 Okanagan to Calgary ; compare the costly 

 nature of corustruction of that piece of rail- 

 way with that from Toronto to Winnipeg : 

 consider also the heavy expense over that 

 mountain haul of keeping up auxiliary 

 ixiwer, the enormous expenditure on snow 

 sheds and other preventatives from slides, 

 and finally consider the fact that the one 

 hundred and eighty per cent, type engine 

 which would haul, say, four hmudred and 

 eleven tons over that roadbed from Okana- 



tween Medicine Hat and Winnii>eg to the 

 British Columbia shipper and for the same 

 haul charge the Ontario shipper forty-eight 

 cents a hundred pounds. 



"From Spence's Bridge to Medicine Hat 

 a rate is given of seventy-nine cents and 

 to Winnipeg eighty-five cents — six hundred 

 and fifty-seven miles for six cents a cwt., 

 but the Ontario shipper pays forty-eight 

 cents for the same six hundred and fifty- 

 seven miles. 



"From Athol, Bonner's Ferry, and other 

 Idaho points, the rate to Winnipeg, Bran- 

 don, Regina, or Medicine Hat is seventy- 

 five cents a hundred pounds. Ontario 

 shippers pay between Winnipeg and Medi- 

 cine Hat forty-ei.ght cents ; between Winni- 

 peg .ind Regina thirty-four cents, and be- 

 tween Winnipeg and Brandon nineteen 

 cents a hundred pounds. 



"Another advantage these shippers en- 

 joy over the Ontario shippers is the privi- 

 lege of collecting car loads at concentra- 

 tion points within a radius of sixty miles 

 at a rate of ten cents a hundred pounds. 



"Mr. Johnson's asserti<rns regarding the 

 territory here referred to, therefore, appear 

 to be well founded . If the rate-s arc to be 

 based solely upon a mileage basis we might 

 refer to the following: 



Miles. Rat<-. 



Yakima to Fort William 1809 85c 



Oshawa, Ont., to Regina ...1632 87c 



Hood Riv. to Port. Arthur ... 1906 90c 



Brampton to Medicine Hat ..1827 96c 



Yakima to Montreal 3154 $1.00 



St. Catharines to Calgarv . .2223. . . .$l.f)4 



Hood River to Montreal 3254 $1 .00 



Forest, Ont., to Lethbridge .2178 $1.00 



"It is, therefore, obvious that the freight 

 rates even on a mileage basis give no ad- 

 vantage whatever to the Ontario producer. 

 Advantages or a preference over other 

 shippers are not sought for. The Ontario 

 producer realizes, however, that with 

 seventy per cent, of the crop marketed last 

 season going into the western market, that 

 to retain such and meet the future compe- 

 tition when the large orchard acreage of 

 the Western States and British Columbia 

 come into bearing, they must or should 

 have an equal chance to reach that market 

 west of VVinnipeg by an equalization of 

 freight rates for that particular territory. 



"Exception should also be taken to the 

 statement of Mr. Chas. Dewey, freight 

 agent of the Grand Trunk Railway, in the 

 same issue of the Telegram, in which he 

 claims Ontario apples are generally shipped 

 lake and rail. Only a very small percent- 

 age is given the lake and rail routing, 

 scarcely any that are billed west of Port 

 Arthur, so that all-rail rates must be con- 

 sidered . 



"In regard to the supply of refrigerator 

 cars, Mr. Dewey says : 'The statement of 

 Donald Johnson that the refrgerator cars 

 in the service of the Company are fewer 

 this year than last year is not true.' This 

 statement of Mr. Johnson's was in refer- 

 ence to the supply of refrigerator cars in 

 service on the Grand Trunk Railway for 

 the year ending 30th June, 1912, and if we 

 are to believe the sworn statements of the 

 olhcials of that Company submitted to the 

 Minister of Railways and Canals, Mr. John- 

 son's assertion is correct. The figures as 

 therein reixirted for the Grand Trunk Rail- 

 way for five years past are as follow : 

 For vear ending June 30, 1908, 955 ref. cars 

 " " " " " 1909, 949 



" " " " 1910, 947 



" " " 1911, 944 " 



" " " 1912, 941 " 



"If a mistake has been made in the com- 

 pilation of this report, a gross injustice 

 has been done the Grand Trunk Railway 

 Company. It, however, is the only means 

 whereby the public can get this information 

 and is accepted as authentic until discredit- 

 ed by those compiling the figures. 



"The Ontario grower is not endeavoring 

 to raise a howl a.gainst the railroads. He 

 realizes that some railway companies are 

 endeavoring to keep up with increased 

 demands on their equipment but he also 

 realizes that he has given too much atten- 

 tion to production and not enough to trans- 

 portation and marketin.g. Improvements in 

 Ijacking, as suggested by Mr. Lanigan, is 

 one of the important matters too long ne- 

 glected, but this will no doubt be greatly 

 improved the coming season and a change 

 made from barrel to box package. The 

 conditons for marketing west of Wininijjeg 

 is another. It appears to the average On- 

 tario shipper just as Mr. Johnson stated 

 before the Agricultural Committee, and as 

 above figures would imply, viz., that the 

 Ontario producer pays too high a rate west 

 of Winnipeg compared with his competi- 

 tors. (Sgd.) G. E. Mcintosh." 



