FREIGHT RATES AND MANUFACTURES IN COLORADO 33 



River to Denver at the same rate as raw material. Brooms were classi- 

 fied as wooden and willow ware, the same as raw material. It cost more 

 at that time to ship a carload of broom handles from the River to Denver 

 than it cost to ship a carload of brooms. " Mr. Shelby, freight agent of 

 the Union Pacific, said that these rates would be modified so as to give 

 the Denver broom manufacturer a market from ioo to 200 miles east of 

 the city. 2 



A furniture dealer who had also been engaged in the manufacture of 

 mattresses stated that he had had to abandon their manufacture on 

 account of the unfavorable freight rate on goods brought in from the 

 East. Rates on materials from which mattresses are made were $1 .05 

 from the Missouri River to Colorado. After the manufacture had 

 begun in Denver, the rate on these materials was advanced to $1.45. 

 Then the firm ceased to manufacture and bought the mattresses in the 

 East. Mr. Gartner, the manufacturer, stated that the rates on the raw 

 material for upholstered goods were the same as for the finished article. 

 Mr. Stewart, another manufacturer of mattresses, confirmed what Mr. 

 Gartner had said and added other interesting items. He had begun 

 the manufacture of mattresses in 1881 and soon found that the freight 

 rates were unfavorable to the extension of his market over territory 

 south of Denver. Freight rates to New Mexican points had been raised 

 after the factory started. Formerly the rate on mattresses from Denver 

 to Las Vegas was $1 . 55; in 1885, it was $2 .80. The old rate to Albu- 

 querque was $2 . 15; in 1885, it was $3 .80. Until 1884 or 1885, the rates 

 from Denver to points in New Mexico were higher than the rates from 

 the Missouri River to these points. This, of course, did not encourage 

 the growth of his market. The freight rate on bed springs was lower 

 than the rate on the raw wire of which these bed springs were 

 made. 3 



The freight rate on chairs in knock-down condition was the same 

 as the rate on chairs set up and finished if shipped in carload lots. Look- 

 ing glass plates were charged the same freight rate as finished looking 

 glasses, and all furniture, whether in the raw or finished condition, paid 



1 Ibid., p. 39. 3 Ibid., p. 28. 



2 Ibid., p. 85. 



