“ring”, ._ . .. ._._* I _ r h i I I I ‘l’ hi‘ v v i '. i‘. ." 1-1. l - f. . ‘,. i’. ' l’ i l. ‘l . ‘1 l," 11""; "i 1'3 - I , l ' »"" - ~ ' ‘. WPOBER <8» 192° a»: g __ g_ g s .- =~ ~ ' own GUARDIAN. g _ “ I l y‘ ' 1 ’:: n’. .7 i .3; . " - . l ' v --. -. :j *

~ x"

Your lways And

. ‘f. 1| '2

Th e Cost of L

i yliliflltll. the Privy Council at Ottawa protest against the railway ‘rates has been made on the grounds that the new rates would raise the cost of living

l many times higherthan the percentage act- ’ by the Canadian railways. " '

out that the numerous middlemen who of goods would each add his petcentageiof

freight rate, so that although the railways might

say 40 cents additional freight charge. on a ship- the public wouldbe forced, by the distributing middlemen, 4 times that amount. ' <~ U ' " »

K l

,. . -. l _’

managements of the varioustanadian-"railways fdesire," _' _ their association, to. draw the. ,attention ‘of -

l" etireadersetoi the highly significant fact that the re~

in ‘United f States‘. railway rates-Plan e i finctease in Canada-has actuallyj been’ i

ti

; n)

by ca" decrease in tlie cost of‘ H

in that country.

w “sea

Furthermore i a

Canadian manufacturer recently made public-éwith-

iiiittiny solicitation and without the previous knowledge of railway managements---figures which proved that the retail selling price of a yard of plain white cloth in Winnipeg after

,being"hauled from Montreal to Toronto and Toronto to

ilVinnipeg, would be increased only one half a cent elven after the wholesaler had added p.c. to the new freight rave and the xi-eiiailers another 50 p. c.

that these distributors, whether rightly or wrongly. _

cents to his mill-price of 16 cents per yard. ,

iThe Railways Associ

goods from Texas to Montreal, and the finished i i‘ mill to Toronto and Toronto to Winnipeg for hilt rents. a a a c ~ flue-and one half cents as against fifteen cents. - weveiiir; to“ believe that, whatever the explanation or. the justification may be, the “same serious additions to cost the distributing trades will be found in relation to. almost every article df common household use. ,_ __ . a _ v i;

lhis is not to attack distributors. T lhey may themselvesbe victims of a bad system or of an over-crowded trade. ~ it is to point out that if they addwhatever percentagessftfltieiy}? as a trade, find convenient, of the- freighvtjlipies; the railways cannot help either themselves orqthei‘ The oppressive results ofthese practices should not

against the railway managements, fnorf cited as _ holding . freight rates _down---merely because railwayfuraiytels - loan be held down whileothei pricesisoar asthefvariorts

trades find necessary. ‘l “AILWAY charges always must be a serious item’ ill t » determining cost of production.» But ithefmanagements of. your ‘railways urge upon your attention this fact: that ‘antiquated, over loaded and wasteful systems of "distributing goods are much more lpropeily a subject for public sfanxiety...‘ Canada cannot prosper with-' i out prosperousrailvways. Can- adian railways cannot prosper . unless Canada prospers In all sincerity let us suggest that the people‘ of Canada beware of those who would restrict‘ andeven strangli the railways simply because» control (artists there and is not so convenient infothdilif "departments of comanercial activity. '

ation of Canada

i 263 St. James éfy v- - - - - MontreaLRQ.

iv i ng i

‘let the railways carried the raw cotton for "fol;