214 



CONGRESS. (INTES-STATE COMMEECE.) 



Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and 

 from the northern portion of Georgia. The eastward 

 movement by rail in connection with that northward 

 overland has had the effect of reducing the receipts 

 at Gulf ports from 3,427,585 bales in 1860 to 2,945,149 

 bales in 1883. 



u There are the facts, and the following para- 

 graph reveals how these marvelous changes 

 were effected : 



One of the most noticeable features of the cotton 

 movement of the present day is the fact that the 

 transportation of a very large proportion of the cotton 

 grown in the Southern States is now controlled and 

 directed by great railroad systems and pooling ar- 

 rangements. All the railroads engaged in the trans- 

 portation of cotton to the Atlantic seaboard in the 

 States of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, as 

 well as the several lines of steamers plying coastwise 

 between the ports reached by such railroads and the 

 ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Balti- 

 more, have, in so far as relates to competitive traffic, 

 united in a pooling agreement. This copartnership 

 arrangement, known as the Southern Railway and 

 Steamship Association, was organized in the year 

 1875 by Mr. Albert Fink. 



" Coming to the region north of the cotton 

 belt and east of the Mississippi River, and we 

 find that competition has here also been elimi- 

 nated, by two great pools, which control the 

 whole area and traffic; that their joint execu- 

 tive committee, of which this same Mr. Fink 

 is chairman, regulates all rates, putting them 

 up or putting them down as they see fit. I 

 read from the July report of the Department 

 of Agriculture, made by J. R. Dodge, statisti- 

 ician: 



At a meeting of the joint executive committee held 

 in the office of the chairman, Albert Fink, 346 Broad- 

 way, New York city, June 13, it was agreed that the 

 following articles in car-loads, which have heretofore 

 been in the eighth class, be placed in a special class, 

 namely : Grain, flour, feed, bran, meal, middlings, 

 oil-cake and meal, and cotton-seed cake and meal, and 

 that taking effect June 24, the rates thereon shall be 

 on the basis of 20 cents per 100 pounds, Chicago to 

 New York ; and taking effect Monday, July 21, prox- 

 imo, the rate be advanced to the basis of 25 cents per 

 100 pounds. Also that, taking effect same date, rate 

 on seventh class and live hogs will be on the basis of 

 25 cents per 100 pounds, and on ninth class 30 cents 

 per 100 pounds, Chicago to New York; and taking 

 effect July 21, proximo, the rates on these classes will 

 be further advanced to the basis of 30 cents on seventh 

 class and 35 cents on ninth class. 



The following statement shows the rates that took 

 effect June 24, and the advanced rates to take effect 

 July 21, Chicago to New York : June 24, 1884, spe- 

 cial class, grain, etc., 20 cents ; seventh class and live 

 hogs, 25 cents ; eighth class, 25 cents ; and ninth class, 

 30 cents. July 21, 1884, special class, grain, etc.. 25 

 cents ; seventh class and live hogs, 30 cents ; eighth 

 class, 25 cents ; and ninth class, 35 cents. 



This advance in the basis of rates, Chicago to New 

 York, increases the rates on the articles named which 

 are destined for Eastern markets from all points east 

 of the Mississippi River. 



" What was the effect of that ? Simply to 

 increase the charge of transporting wheat 5 

 cents on the hundred pounds or 3 cents on the 

 bushel. In other words, it took just 3 cents 

 per bushel out of the pocket of the farmer 

 who had raised the wheat and had it for sale. 

 I have no doubt that similar arbitrary increases 



have been made of rates on cotton and all 

 other products. There is no pretense that the 

 rates were so low prior to June as not to give 

 the roads a fair compensation. They were 

 high enough before the increase to be " rea- 

 sonable " as to the companies. They raised 

 the rate just because they had the power and 

 could make more money; that was the only 

 reason. 



" I wish to look a little at the moral side of 

 that act. This high-joint executive committee, 

 or, rather, these high-joint executioners, by 

 raising the rate 5 cents a hundred pounds, 

 simply because of the plethoric crop of wheat 

 which was coming in, reduced its value 3 cents 

 per bushel to the owner of the crop took 3 

 cents out of the pocket of each of those men 

 for each bushel of wheat. It was done by 

 pooling by an organization of gentlemen who 

 wield power as the officers of the pool, and 

 who individually are said to he very respect- 

 able men. They are employed to do this busi- 

 ness, and sell their services as such agents for 

 large salaries. But what difference is there in 

 the effect of their action upon the farmer of 

 my State or the cotton-raiser of your State, 

 between taking 3 cents a bushel from the value 

 of the wheat, or going to that farmer and tak- 

 ing 3 cents out of his pocket ? That action 

 reduced the value of wheat in my State $1,- 

 440,000. 



" For one, I can not see a shade of difference 

 morally between these high-joint executioners, 

 acting as willing agents for Jay Gould, Van- 

 derbilt, the Boston interest, and the other 

 owners of roads, converting that one million 

 and a half of dollars from the pockets of the 

 farmers of Kansas into their pockets, and 

 these same executioners going directly to the 

 pockets of the farmers in Kansas at midnight 

 and robbing them of $1,440,000. If any other 

 gentleman can see the difference I can not." 



Mr. O'Neil, of Pennsylvania, pleaded for de- 

 lay : 



" There has been a great deal of distrust ex- 

 hibited on the part of these radical interstate 

 commerce legislators and statesmen of men 

 connected with railroads. Some have ap- 

 proved of putting the matter directly into the 

 courts, or to form new courts for the consid- 

 eration of disputed questions and complaints. 

 Some approve of a commission. I, and I be- 

 lieve others of the committee which considered 

 the matter, approve of the commission plan, a 

 commission merely to examine into the matter, 

 to gather information, and to give information 

 to the Congress, so that in a few months from 

 now, when the next Congress meets with that 

 information before it, there may be enacted 

 proper measures for relief, if relief be needed, 

 upon facts presented on which might be framed 

 a suitable bill. Not information derived from 

 mere theorists who know nothing upon the 

 subject ; not information from men who have 

 merely vague ideas that they want to have car- 

 ried out by legislative enactment, but from men 



