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The heart of the railroad problem / The history of railway discrimination in the United States, the chief efforts at control and the remedies proposed, with hints from other countries cover

The heart of the railroad problem / The history of railway discrimination in the United States, the chief efforts at control and the remedies proposed, with hints from other countries

Chapter 8: CHAPTER IV. FREIGHT DISCRIMINATION.
By Frank Parsons
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About This Book

A detailed study traces the history and mechanics of discriminatory practices by American railways, documenting how passes, rebates, preferential rates, classification schemes, locality and long‑haul anomalies, private‑car and terminal abuses, and other devices produced favoritism toward powerful shippers. It reviews legal and regulatory responses from state Granger laws through federal investigations, the Interstate Commerce Act and Commission, and later statutes and court decisions, examines enforcement difficulties, and surveys proposed remedies including stronger regulation, public rate‑setting, pooling restrictions, and alternative ownership models, while drawing comparisons with foreign railway systems to suggest practical reforms.

CHAPTER IV.
FREIGHT DISCRIMINATION.

We come now to a kind of discrimination that enables a railway manager to determine which of the merchants, manufacturers, mine owners, etc., on his line shall prosper and which shall not; what cities and towns shall grow, what States shall thrive, what industries shall be developed.

The purpose of discrimination may be (1) to keep business from going to a competing line; (2) to increase revenue by creating new business for which, if necessary, rates may be dropped very low, as anything above the cost of handling on new business will add to income; (3) to simplify and solidify traffic; (4) to favor persons who, through political influence or other power may aid or injure the road, or who, through friendship, marriage, business or civic relation, or otherwise, have a “pull” with the management; (5) to advance the interests or enhance the value of a business, or property, or place, in which the railway or its officers or their friends are interested; or (6) to kill or injure a place or person or business that has incurred the enmity of the railways or their allies.

As a result of the play of these motives our railroad history is full of unfair discriminations between persons, places, and industries in the United States, and between domestic and foreign trade. The methods and forms are many and have grown more numerous with each succeeding epoch, but the predominant forms vary in the different strata. We still have plenty of living specimens of the species that prevailed in earlier periods, but the leading forms now are comparatively recent evolutions.

The history of discriminations would fill many volumes. The Hepburn Committee (1879) appointed by the New York Legislature collected about 5000 cases of discrimination. It was shown to be a common thing for railroads to give favored shippers discounts of 50, 60, 70, and even 80 percent from the regular rates. The special contracts involving favors in force for one year on a single railroad, the New York Central, were estimated at 6000. The United States Senate Committee of 1885, the Congressional Committee of 1888, the Interstate Commerce Commission, 1887–1905, the United States Industrial Commission, 1900–1902, the Wisconsin investigation in the fall of 1903, the United States Senate Committee of 1905, the State railroad commissions, the courts, and other investigating bodies have brought to light additional thousands of discriminations. We shall select some examples illustrating various methods of discrimination.