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     WPOBER <8» 192°  a»:  g  __ g_ g s .-  =~ ~ ' own GUARDIAN. g  _ 
     
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     v --. -. :j * 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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     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 
     
    
   
   
    
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      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;