FREIGHT RATES AND MANUFACTURES IN COLORADO 1 9 



These various railway practices were not without their effect on the 

 business of the city. It was stated to the legislative committee that in 

 1885, 25 per cent, less mechanics were employed than was the case two 

 years before. The number of men in the iron industries was also 

 reduced in the same proportion. Nothwithstanding these conditions, 

 many of the business men, especially wholesalers, were at that time 

 friendly to the railroads. The rebating system was then in force and 

 as many of these persons were in the habit of receiving rebates which 

 enabled them to thrive while their competitors were worsted, they natu- 

 rally remained friendly to the railroad companies. A canner of vegetables 

 agreed to sell to wholesalers as cheaply as they could buy in the East 

 plus the freight. They greatly astonished him by the information that 

 15 per cent, of the freight should be deducted as this was their rebate. 

 It is said that several of the merchants wanted high rates so they could 

 profit by the rebate they were then getting and at the same time be pro- 

 tected from the competition of new firms that, were it not for this dis- 

 crimination, might be induced to start business in the city. Rebating 

 was then carried on in other cities of the state besides Denver; Mr. 

 Light told the committee that a merchant in Leadville showed him a 

 check for $2,000, that being his rebate during a certain period. 1 



Freight rates were so adjusted at this time that the Denver merchants 

 and manufacturers could not get into the market at Cheyenne, save only 

 in those cases in which the dealers of the latter city wished their goods 

 sent with great dispatch. In such cases the road would make a rate that 

 would allow the Denver dealer to sell his goods in Cheyenne. Ex-Gover- 

 nor Alva Adams, president of the board of trade at Pueblo, stated in an 

 address that nails made by the Colorado Coal and Iron Company if 

 shipped to El Paso paid a rate of fifty cents a keg. If these nails were 

 bought in the East and shipped to Pueblo, the freight would be twenty- 

 five cents a keg. If they were reshipped at Pueblo and sent to El Paso, 

 the freight to that point would be twenty-five cents more. It thus appears 

 that at that time the manufacturer of nails in Pueblo paid the same rate 

 as the eastern manufacturer whenever he wished to ship to points in 

 what might be called country tributary to his manufactory. 2 



1 Ibid., p. 84. 2 Ibid. 



