. Railroads, rates and regulation . e abnormalities in freight rates throughout thisterritory. Bulky staples moving one way, while manufacturedgoods, high in value but more concentrated in weight, go theother, greatly complicate the problem of economical operation. Another omnipresent complication in the southern states isthe widespread existence of water competition. The situationin the South in this regard is not unlike that of England. Itsentire territory is threaded with a series of more or less naviga-ble watercourses which penetrate from the seaboard or theMississippi river, far into the
. Railroads, rates and regulation . e abnormalities in freight rates throughout thisterritory. Bulky staples moving one way, while manufacturedgoods, high in value but more concentrated in weight, go theother, greatly complicate the problem of economical operation. Another omnipresent complication in the southern states isthe widespread existence of water competition. The situationin the South in this regard is not unlike that of England. Itsentire territory is threaded with a series of more or less naviga-ble watercourses which penetrate from the seaboard or theMississippi river, far into the interior. Here again is a physicalpeculiarity of the southern territory, which historically explains,even if it does not fully justify, as we shall see, certain peculiar-ities of its freight rate system. The first general characteristic of the southern system is therelatively high level of freight rates. Bearing in mind that the 1 Rep. Internal Commerce, 1876, App., p. 28; Senate (Elkins) Com-mittee, 1905, Digest, App. Ill, p. THE BASING POINT SYSTEM 383 distance from New York to Chicago is practically the same asfrom New York to Atlanta, the freight rate, first-class, on thetrunk lines was, in 1900, 75 cents per hundredweight as against$ to Atlanta. Sixth-class rates then stood to one anotheras 25 cents and 45 cents respectively, the relatively high onesbeing in the South. Reference, for example, to the table onpage 349, will bring out this contrast at the present time inanother way. According to this the rates in the South are nothigher than in the West for the same distance. The dispro-portionately high charges in the South, however, occur mainlyin the field of local rates. And it is the local, rather than thethrough, charges, which cause the present dissatisfaction. Theprincipal complaint concerning through rates is that they aremade up principally as the sum of locals based upon Ohio orMississippi Whenever such sums of locals havegiven place to unbroke
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1912
