bniv.v>f Ill. Library 
 
 51 
 
 COMMUNICATION. 
 
 ON 
 
 Car-Load Ratbs, 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 Honorable Board of Railroad Commissioners 
 
 OF THE STATE OF IOWA, 
 
 BY 
 
 PBTBR NICHOLSON, 
 
 f 
 
 WHOLESALE GROCER, ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 NOVEMBER 1st, 1885. 
 
To ihe Honorable Board of Railroad Commissioners of the 
 State of Iowa. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 As a Wholesale Grocer, and in behalf of the Wholesale 
 Grocery Merchants of St. Louis, of whose association I have 
 the honor to be President, I beg to take issue with you on 
 several features of your late communication addressed to the 
 Joint Western Classification Committee, in behalf of the Iowa 
 jobbers, protesting against any modification of existing differ¬ 
 ences between rates on car load and less than car load ship¬ 
 ments. 
 
 As a citizen and a merchant, I know I am entitled to the 
 right of comfetition wherever I choose to seek trade. As a 
 merchant I know the car load rate which you defend, deprives 
 me and every other St. Louis Wholesale Grocery Merchant 
 of that right. I claim that the present differences between 
 the car load and less than car load rates on merchandise sold 
 by wholesale grocers, are not justifiable under existing condi¬ 
 tions, or under any conditions likely to obtain in ordinary 
 transportation. 
 
 If they are justifiable, why have not the railway officials, to 
 whom we have time and time again appealed, said so? Why 
 have not the railway officials discovered and enunciated facts 
 or theories to refute our claim for the right of competition! 
 Why did not the Western Jobbers and your honorable Board 
 long ago come forward and make an effort to logically con¬ 
 test our right? Why has the question been allowed to remain 
 unsettled ? 
 
 It has been before the Classification Committee a long time, 
 but not one man has ever attempted to defend the car load 
 
 rate as an equity, and why? Because it cannot be defended. 
 
— 3 — 
 
 except in the lobby, by threats or by deals, influence or other 
 dishonorable methods. 
 
 Some have attempted its defense on sentimental grounds, 
 claiming the abolition of the car load rate will increase the 
 cost of living. They know^ I know and you know^ such a 
 defense coming from an interested jobber is hypocrisy and 
 only a cloak for their desire to 'profit by an injustice. Such a 
 defense can not be made without the defender appearing 
 ignorant, ridiculous or as a demagogue, in the eyes of every 
 one familiar with the percentage which the transportation of 
 food and clothing bears to retail values. 
 
 I want to say to your honorable Board, the Wholesale 
 Grocers of St. Louis have not asked the Missouri Railway 
 Commissioners to threaten the Classification Committee. 
 They have never asked the Railway Commissioners to inter¬ 
 fere in the matter ; why ? Because they know they are right, 
 and sooner or later the right will triumph. Every communi¬ 
 cation to the committee has been an appeal for justice, for 
 the simple right of competition, and every appeal has been 
 supplemented by a declaration that if our claim is not just it 
 would be modified. We have always been open to convic¬ 
 tion, and are now. The right and justice of our claim have 
 never been logically disputed by any me7nber oj the Classifi¬ 
 cation Committee or by any one else. 
 
 - On the contrary the Classification Committee has tacitly 
 admitted the justice of our claim, as the proceedings of its 
 meetings will show. Take the resolution passed in the meet- 
 ing held at the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, February 4 , 1885 • 
 
 t - 
 
 
 ^ 1 . 
 
 D 
 
 I' ' 
 
 " ‘‘ Resolved^ That it is the sense of this lyieeting^ that no 
 
 extremely radical abolition of the car load rates be made^ but 
 
 that the questions pertaining thereto be taken up in 
 detail, be considered and decided on their merits.” 
 
 Let me ask your honorable Board, not as Railway Com¬ 
 missioners, in the interest of the Western Jobber, but as men 
 free from prejudice, if the resolution does not mean gradual 
 emancipation when read between the lines? Did not the rail¬ 
 way men who passed that resolution know the differences then 
 
— 4 — 
 
 existing were excessive, unjust and a discrimination against 
 their St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee patrons? In con¬ 
 sidering the import of that resolution, the fact, that uj)wards 
 of siventy-five “ Western Jobbers'^' were registered at the 
 Southern Hotel should be borne in mind, and notwithstand¬ 
 ing their efforts and influence the justice of our claim was 
 recognized. Take the Denver resolution ; it reads : 
 
 “ Resolved,, That the foint Western Classification Com¬ 
 mittee consider it unadvisable to change the basis of the exist¬ 
 ing classification as to differences between car loads and less 
 quantities; but that the Association does not by the 
 passage of this resolution intend to indorse the differ¬ 
 ences at present existing, but intend from time to 
 time to modify and amend the same as circumstances 
 and due regard for the interests of all may require.’^ 
 
 At the “ Denver” meeting Chicago had one representative, 
 St. Louis none, whilst the Western Jobbers were represented 
 by delegations from the larger cities, but notwithstanding 
 their efforts and influence, the resolution passed, and passed 
 in your stronghold. 
 
 Let me again ask your honorable Board, if oui claim had 
 not been entirely just and reasonable, would the committee 
 have passed that resolution? Could Chicago’s one repre¬ 
 sentative have saved our claim from absolute repudiation 
 .under the circumstances, if it had been unjust and unreason¬ 
 able? If our claim was not just and reasonable, why did the 
 committee resolve to take uf> the questions in detail and decide 
 them on merit? If our claim was unjust and unreasonable, 
 why was the committee at Denver very particular to state, it 
 did not indorse the differences? Why did the committee 
 promise “ to modify and ametid the differences from time to 
 time with due regard for the interest of all concerned f if our 
 claim is not well based? 
 
 The resolutions passed by the committee at St. Louis and 
 Denver are excellent and satisfactory, so far as resolutions 
 can be; whilst the acts of the committee are or should be 
 highly pleasing to the one interest you represent. 
 
I ask your honorable board to carefully consider the reso~ 
 lutions and the actions of the Classification Committee. Note 
 how entirely inconsistent they are with each other, and ac¬ 
 cept my theory for the inconsistency. Arguing from a gen¬ 
 erality, that all men love truth and will do right if allowed to, 
 (I refer to the educated, intelligent and good men, not to the 
 ignorant and depraved,) it appears strange the Joint Wes¬ 
 tern Classification Committee has not followed the trend of 
 its resolutions. I can only account for their failure to act 
 consistently, on the presumption that undue influence has 
 been brought to bear upon a number of individual members, 
 sufficient to prevent the Committee from making changes 
 from time to time with due regard for the interests of all 
 concerned^ by taking the questions pertaining to the aboli¬ 
 tion of the car load rate^ in detail^ and deciding each case on 
 its merits. 
 
 The presumption is fair, if the acts, utterances and meth¬ 
 ods of Western Jobbers are considered. Several members of 
 the Classification Committee have openly stated no mem¬ 
 ber of the Committee would dare to vote for the abolition of 
 the car load rate. Why should such a feeling exist in a body 
 of men employed to serve communities without favor, in the 
 interest of their stockholders, unless adverse legislation or 
 boycotting had been threatened or intimated? Who would 
 make such threats or intimations but the Western Jobbers or 
 their representatives? 
 
 Ever since the car load rate question has been before the 
 Classification Committee, the Western Jobbers have attended 
 every meeting in force ; rarely less than fifty, frequently near 
 one hundred, spending their time and money, and for what 
 purpose? To defend the existing differences between the 
 rates on car loads and lesser quantities of merchandise, know¬ 
 ing them to be excessive and unjust. If the differences are 
 correct why do the Western Jobbers spend their time and 
 money dancing attendance upon a body of intelligent and 
 fair minded men, presumably capable of administering the 
 affairs of tljeir respective companies? - 
 
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 No man, except an attorney, can afford to openly defend 
 that which he knows to be an injustice. Retaliation may 
 extenuate but does not justify. When men defend an injus¬ 
 tice as a right; ignorance, personal gain or demagogueism is 
 justly attributed as the motive. No man, except an attorney, 
 can sacrifice his sense of right and justice for his personal 
 benefit without, sooner or later, incurring disaster or ruin. 
 Judas Iscariot did so. So did Benedict Arnold. Recent 
 political history is full of lessons teaching every man to care- 
 fully avoid the defense of any measure, the truth and justice 
 of which he doubts, or warp his judgment to suit a popular 
 error or a faction. 
 
 In your communication to the Joint Western Classification 
 Committee (reported in the Chicago Tribune^ Oct. 3d, 1885) 
 you state railways carrying for hire were to be regarded as 
 merchants selling transportation^ and may properly be gov¬ 
 erned by the same rules in disposing of their service as gov¬ 
 ern all other sellers in the market. Such ruling may be 
 reasonable in Iowa. It does not, however, accord with the 
 constitution and law of Missouri. Nor do I believe rul¬ 
 ing will remove Iowa railways from the list of common car¬ 
 riers and vest them with the rights of individuals or private 
 corporations. I admit such a law would be acceptable to 
 some of the railways of your state, and if your commission 
 can “ deliver the goods,” I have no doubt you could now 
 make a trade that would bar our right, if your jurisdiction 
 extended to the southern boundary of Missouri. If the Iowa 
 statutes justify the ruling, I can see no possible use for a 
 railway commission. If such a law will be passed, your use¬ 
 fulness as Commissioners will cease at its passage. If the 
 integrity of }our honorable board could be questioned, I would 
 attribute the utterance or ruling to an unworthy motive. 
 
 Your defense of the car load rate on the Wholesale-Retail 
 principle will not stand. Intelligent and thinking railway 
 men now consider, the Wholesale-Retail principle exists 
 mainly in the haul, and does not exist to any appreciable 
 extent in the classification. The Wholesale-Retail principle 
 is fully set forth by the Transportation Committee of the Mer- 
 
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 chants’ Exchange of St. Louis, in a communication to the 
 Joint Western Classification Committee. I believe the rail- 
 
 f 
 
 way men do not question or dispute that the Wholesale-Re¬ 
 tail principle is not applicable to classification further than 
 admitted in the pamphlet. No one questions its existence in 
 the haul, but as the Classification Committee does not con¬ 
 sider questions of haul, further comment on the application of 
 the Wholesale-Retail principle to classification is unnecessary. 
 
 Your assertion that until recently no one doubted the gen¬ 
 eral correctness of the Wholesale-Retail principle is virtually 
 contradicted by the Committee's St. Louis resolution. The 
 large following of Western Jobbers on the classification meet¬ 
 ing implied that they themselves had serious doubts as to the 
 correctness of the differences, if not of the Wholesale-Retail 
 principle itself. If, as you state, the general correctness of 
 the principle has not been questioned until recently, it simply 
 demonstrates a truth has been discovered and is finding 
 friends and advocates. I believe the newly discovered truth 
 is rapidly gaining strength and will soon assert itself, despite 
 
 the efforts and influence of all the Western Jobbers, even 
 
 when aided by fallacies and threats from Railway Commis¬ 
 sioners. 
 
 You cite the fact that the “ Granger” laws of Iowa recog¬ 
 nize the car load rate and in the next paragraph refer to their 
 repeal. Permit me to ask, why were they repealed? Were 
 they not defective? Harsh? Unjust? Were they not pass¬ 
 ed by an anti-railway element in a heat of passion? Did 
 they admit that any railway corporation had a right which any 
 one was morally or legally bound to respect? Did the rail¬ 
 ways observe them when it did not suit their convenience to 
 do so? If my information is correct, they did not; and if 
 they did not respect them when in force, will they heed their 
 tenets now? 
 
 The fact that they were repealed implies they were defect¬ 
 ive, or inoperative, and weakens the car load feature of 
 your present law. If the five car load principle is good in 
 Colorado, it should be good in Iowa. Why does not Iowa 
 
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 adopt it, or go further, and make a ten car load law? Why 
 not carry it up into the hundred or thousand car load, as the 
 Illinois Legislature did in establishing the coal rates in that 
 state, and throw the business of the territory tributary to each 
 railway into the hands of one man or a syndicate? Such a law 
 would suit the middlemen of Iowa, but I guarantee the 
 monopoly would not have the approval of producers or ship¬ 
 pers, not members of the “ ring.'' 
 
 The car load question is not understood by the retailers and 
 consumers of Iowa. They have heard the Western Jobbers’ 
 side of the story, and your cry of disaster and ruin. They 
 may now indorse the car load rate, but I guarantee a change 
 of sentiment among the retailers and their customers; the 
 consumers, after they have digested certain truths which the 
 Associated Wholesale Grocers of St. Louis will place in their 
 hands later on. It will be demonstrated how the car load rate 
 has deprived them of the benefits of competition. How it has 
 forced the retailers to buy at points prescribed by the railways. 
 How it forces them to fay Chicago or St. Louis f rices y -plus 
 the less than car load rates., and sometimes a little more. 
 Indisputable proofs in the way of invoices, etc., etc., will be 
 furnished ; in short, the truth will be told. It will be shown 
 just how a few Western Jobbers are benefitted. How they 
 “ absorb” the difference between the car load and less than 
 car load rate, which properly belongs to the consumers or the 
 railways. It will be shown how the car load rate enables 
 Western Jobbers to make a greater percentage of profit than 
 they are entitled to, or would make if compelled to compete 
 with St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and eastern cities. One 
 prominent railway official, member of the Classification Com¬ 
 mittee, has written about the car load rate, and says: “// 
 makes the rich 7 nan richer., and the poor man poorer." A 
 gentleman formerly connected with a prominent western road 
 and the committee, has written : “ The car load rate benefits 
 
 no one but the Western Jobbers." This is expert testimony, 
 and will weigh heavily against fallacious theories when your 
 honorable board reports the accomplished act of gross in- 
 
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 justice to the General Assembly, and we may force an ac¬ 
 knowledgement of an unbecoming error. Your advocacy of 
 the car load rate may be political suicide. 
 
 You state, the railways have not the moral or legal right to 
 abolish the car load rate. If Iowa Jobbers are in possession 
 of contracts signed by the railway officials for the perpetua¬ 
 tion of the car load rate, I will admit the railways have no 
 legal right to abolish it. As to the other (moral) right, it is 
 generally conceded that railways are corporations without 
 souls and not susceptible to moral influences, except when 
 they are profitable. My observation is, that commercial en¬ 
 terprises are not based upon the faith of railways continuing a 
 definite policy indefinitely. Careful investors prefer specific 
 contracts, and make them when the success of an enterprise 
 hinges upon transportation. 
 
 You state that railways are not tnerely earners of dividends 
 but servants of the great public. Is not your ruling some¬ 
 what inconsistent with the other, that they should be con¬ 
 sidered merchants selling transportation, etc., etc.? If the 
 railways are servants of the great public, will not your 
 honorable board admit they owe the citizen or citizens of Ill¬ 
 inois as much as they do those of lowai Do they not owe 
 Chicago and Milwaukee as much as they do Des Moines in 
 the transportation oj inter-state traffic^ and St. Louis as much 
 as Kansas City or St. foseph in the transportation of intra¬ 
 state traffic? 
 
 You state, the population of Iowa solely employed in agri¬ 
 cultural pursuits will not in the future rapidly increase, and 
 convey the impression that the abolition of the car load rate 
 will abolish the Iowa Jobbers. If my inference is correct, 
 permit me to ask : By what means do the jobbers of dry 
 goods, hats, caps, boots, shoes and clothing prosper? There 
 are no car load rates in those lines of trade. The grocery, 
 hardware and drug men are certainly as intelligent and ener¬ 
 getic ; they have the same advantages in geographical posi¬ 
 tion, and there is no reason why they should not continue 
 business, if they will be satisfied with legitimate profits. If 
 
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 the Wholesale-Retail principle is correct and necessary for 
 the prosperity of the grocery, hardware and drug jobbers, 
 your official obligations should compel you to report the rail¬ 
 way’s failure to apply it to dry goods, boots and shoes, etc., 
 as an accomplished act of gross injustice. By so doing, you 
 would be consistent, increase the number of people dependent 
 upon the jobbing interest, and enlarge your following The 
 Classification Committee might take favorable action, but I 
 fear the well known prosperity of unprotected interests would 
 outweigh the Wholesale and Retail principle, which you state 
 should apply to every railway transaction. 
 
 You state it is the undoubted intention to follow our suc¬ 
 cess with an attack upon the manufacturing interests. In 
 this you are wholly and totally incorrect. The utterance is 
 unworthy of a state official, and I trust that you will withdraw 
 or modify it, as no such movement is contemplated by St. 
 Louis. 
 
 You state Chicago and St. Louis should be satisfied with 
 what nature has done for them, with the advantages of their 
 position. Permit me to state, the Associated Grocers of St. 
 Louis are satisfied with what nature has done for them, with 
 the advantages of position, and add that we shall insist upon 
 the Western Jobbers relying entirely upon what nature has 
 done for them, with the advantages of position, and not upon 
 the railway protection given them at our expense. 
 
 The St. Louis grocery, drug and hardware merchants are 
 to-day contending for that which nature gave them. • Nature's 
 gifts have been taken from them by the railways. Our pur¬ 
 pose is to have them restored, even if the “ time-honored’’’’ 
 Wholesale-Retail law of trade., as applied to classification, is 
 overthrown. If it is, it will not be the first instance of budding 
 truth shocking the faithful by failing to honor hoary wrong. 
 I hope it will not be the last. 
 
 Somewhere about eighty years ago. Great Britain abolished 
 a ''^time-honored law of trade j and traffic in human beings 
 became illegal. Later on, this “ time-honored law of trade' 
 was by act of Parliament called piracy. Fifty years ago, a 
 
^ ¥ 
 
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 British subject engaged in the slave trade was transported for 
 life if caught. Even after Great Britain abolished the slave 
 trade, it remained “<2 time-honored law of trade]' in America. 
 The time-honored law which protected human slavery in this 
 country was overthrown, and very few now regret the emanci¬ 
 pation proclamation. If time-honored laws had been held 
 sacred, John Jasper's theory that “ The sun do move,” would 
 to-day be accepted as correct. Socrates was poisoned out of 
 respect for “ time-honored" theories. Columbus would never 
 have discovered America had he had the respect for time- 
 honored theories which your honorable Board evinces. I 
 presume if the “Granger” laws of Iowa had not been 
 repealed, the gentlemen comprising your honorable Board 
 would indorse them right or wrong, and ask the railways to 
 accept them, because they would now be time-honoredf 
 Truth and justice do not require the indorsement of time. 
 Fallacy does. Respect for that which has only time's indorse¬ 
 ment will halt even Iowa’s progress. 
 
 You state, your board has endeavored to harmonize the 
 interests of the railways and the people, etc., etc. You also 
 state, if the change is made, you will show it to the Assembly 
 and the 'peofle^ as an accom-plished act of gross injustice. 
 The two statements are inconsistent. Your efforts in the 
 direction of harmony are laudable, and I am glad to learn 
 that you have been moderately successful, but I fear that your 
 promised effort to create discord will prove abortive. The 
 repeal of the “Granger'’ laws was undoubtely due to an 
 awakening by the people of Iowa to the truth that ihe inter¬ 
 ests of the people and the railways are mutual. That Iowa’s 
 progress is largely due to her railways—that the restrictions 
 of the “ Granger” laws were errors—the deductions are rea¬ 
 sonable. It is uncomplimentary to the people of your State 
 to assume, they are not now better posted on the relations 
 between the railways and the people than when the “ Granger” 
 laws were repealed. The people of every State are studying 
 the transportation problem, and are not liable to be misled by 
 sophistry. They will continue the study, and by the time 
 
 U. Of lU, UB. 
 
— 12 — 
 
 your report of the accomplished act of gross injustice reaches 
 the Assembly, the people of Iowa will be competent to cor¬ 
 rectly pass upon the merits of the Wholesale-Retail principle 
 as applied to classification. The railway’s defence will be 
 understood, and your honorable Board may have to change 
 front or stand in opposition to the majority. The intelligent 
 retailers and consumers outnumber the jobbers. 
 
 The railway officials may misconstrue your conclusion as a 
 threat; if so, you have not strengthened your case. If the 
 railway men do so construe it, and conclude that your hon¬ 
 orable Board will do its utmost to create trouble, whether their 
 actions are right or wrong; they will either resign and give 
 you absolute control of the roads, or follow the dictates of 
 their judgment, and depend upon the intelligence of the 
 Assembly for protection against a commission apparently in 
 the interest of a faction. 
 
 From your communication I judge you do not understand 
 the nature of our appeal. St, Louis merchants do uot ask 
 the abolition of the car load rate; they admit that every ar¬ 
 ticle in the classification should have a car load rate,, hut they 
 insist that the less than car load rate shall not be higher than 
 the car load rate by more thaii an a^nount sufiicient to compen¬ 
 sate carriers for the cost of extra 'way-billing and handling 
 and for any loss of space in cars or any additional risk inci- 
 derit to shipping in less than car loads that does not obtain in 
 the shipynent of straight car loads. The application of that 
 principle in classification will give the railways, on any 
 specified amount of tonnage between any two points, the 
 same net revenue, whether shipped in straight or mixed car 
 loads, and any competent lawyer will not say a railway is 
 entitled to more. The principle entirely accords with express¬ 
 ions made before the Missouri Railway Commissioners at 
 Jefferson City, in my presence, by representatives of the 
 leading wholesale houses of Kansas City and St. Joseph. 
 
 Mr. Shoup, representing the St. Joseph Board of Trade, 
 in discussing the principle above set forth, used the following 
 language : “ I have an opinion as to the justice of the resolu- 
 
— 13 — 
 
 tion. As far as the wording is concerned^ I have not, nor has 
 any gentleynan in our -party, any objection to it. This admis¬ 
 sion was made after the St. Joseph and Kansas City repre¬ 
 sentatives had had the question under consideration during an 
 adjournment lasting an hour and a half. It is needless to 
 say their failure to take exceptions to the principle, when the 
 adjournment w'as had for that puprose, gives it their approval. 
 If the wording is capable of two constructions, the Classifica¬ 
 tion Committee are competent to decide Jhe fact 
 
 If the principle has the approval of Kansas City and St. 
 St. Joseph merchants, why can not your Commission ap¬ 
 prove it? If Kansas City, St, foseph. Council Bluffs, 
 Oynaha, Des Moines, Denver, Minyieapolis and Si. Paul 
 were a unit at St. Louis, Denver and St. Paut why not, 
 at fefferson City? 
 
 At the St. Paul meeting of the Joint Western Classification 
 Committee, the Western Jobbers’ Association, which I believe 
 voiced the sentiments of Iowa Jobbers, passed and filed with 
 the Classification Committee, a resolution protesting against 
 any change in existing differences between the car load and 
 less than car load rates, of which the following is a part: 
 ^'•Resolved, That we will sustain the Transportation Com¬ 
 panies in all honest and legitimate efforts to serve the peopje, 
 in the maintenance of just and equitable rates, tO the end 
 that all classes may have fair and open competition 
 for the commerce of the country.” That portion of the 
 resolution's fair and just, and will have the approval of every 
 fair minded merchant between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
 
 In behalf of the Associated Wholesale Grocers of St. Louis, 
 I will subscribe to it, and 1 believe every opponent of the car 
 load rate will do likewise. Fair and open competition for 
 the commerce of the country is all we want, all we ask. If 
 your commission, any western jobber, or the Joint Western 
 Classification Committee can demonstrate that more is asked, 
 do so, and the St. Louis Grocers will modify their claim. 
 
 Inasmuch as your commission is now the acknowledged 
 representative of Iowa Jobbers, I trust that you will take a 
 
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 liberal and just view of the car load question, and amend your 
 communication to the Classification Committee. Can you 
 not, in effect, say to the Committee : “ Gentlemen — We believe 
 the -present Joint Western Classification is a benefit to all the 
 peop>le of lowa^ and apparently accords with our understand- 
 ing of the true principles of transportation. It has the 
 indorsejnent of our laws a7id the Colorado law. It has 
 worked well in the past,, but if it does not give all classes fair 
 and open competition for the com7ner ce of the country,, 7nake 
 such changes as in your judg7ne7it are necessary, a7id if, after 
 careful mvestigation of the results of your changes, we find 
 that afiy citize7i of Iowa is deprived of the ri^ht of fair and 
 open co7npetition for the com7nerce of the country, or that the 
 change is detritnental to the 7}iajority of consu7ners, we shall 
 ask you to restore the car load rate, and if you do not C07nply 
 with our request we shall co7isider the change a gross injus¬ 
 tice, and so show it to the General Assetnbly a7id the people!'^ 
 You might add that Iowa Jobbers will be satisfied with what 
 nature has given thetn ; with the advantages of position and 
 even rates. 
 
 Such a communication would reserve for you the right of 
 protest and leave you free from the odium of a threat. It 
 w#uld, I think, be entirely consistent with your past record 
 as promoters of peace and harmony, serve the Iowa Jobbing 
 interest as well, your own and the people’s better. 
 
 The Missouri Railway Commissioners are on record. They 
 have made a careful study of the car load rate question, and 
 have used the following language in a communication ad¬ 
 dressed to the Missouri Railways: '‘*‘So far as the Joint 
 Western Classification is concerned, the Railway Co7nmiss- 
 ioners of Missouri, both itidividually and collectively, una7ii- 
 lyiously disapprove of sotne of its i77iporta7it features, amo7ig 
 which is dual classification {a7id of course two rates') on too 
 great a variety of articles. W© think the car load rates 
 properly apply only to such articles as do not mix 
 with other articles without injury, and are hardly 
 excusable in any other case.” This sentiment was reiter- 
 
— 15 — 
 
 ated as late as September 22 d, 1885 . In considering the con¬ 
 clusion of the Missouri Commissioners, the existence of two 
 opposing interests in this state should be considered. 
 
 The car load question has heretofore been a dispute between 
 St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee on one side, the Western 
 Jobbers on the other, with the railways in a semi neutral posi¬ 
 tion ; but your communication lo the Committee will, in all 
 probability, make it an issue between the railways and the 
 Railway Commissioners of four states, Colorado, Iowa, Mis¬ 
 souri and Illinois. I trust that it will not become an issue in 
 the states named, as I believe the railways can settle it if our 
 opponents stand by their St. Paul resolution and support the 
 railways in all honest and legitimate efforts that will give all 
 classes fair and open coynpetition for the commerce of the 
 country. If the railways do not do that in the revision of the 
 classification, St. Louis merchants must necessarily follow 
 the example of Iowa Jobbers and appeal to the Missouri Rail¬ 
 way Commissioners. 
 
 I have mentioned that your honorable board might bar us 
 from “ open and fair competition” if your jurisdiction extend¬ 
 ed to the southern boundary of the state, and will now point 
 out how the advantages of our position will serve us. 
 
 I will assume, for sake of illustration, that your protest will 
 have every effect you desire. St. Louis will appeal to the 
 Missouri Commissioners, who, in accordance with their 
 expressed convictions, will make a state classification with 
 one rate for articles that can be loaded together without 
 injury; this would include almost every article in the Gro¬ 
 cery, Drug and Hardware lines. The Missouri Classification, 
 to be effective against the Joint Western, would have to apply 
 the present car load rate to less than car load shipments. It 
 would apply between St. Louis and Kansas City and.St. 
 Joseph, leaving those points without protection, and give St. 
 Louis reduced rates to every point in Kansas, Colorado, 
 Nebraska, Arizona and New Mexico, reached by roads 
 leading from Kansas City or St. Joseph. Under a “ thne 
 honored^^ custom the rates from St. Louis, plus agreed differ- 
 
ences, would . apply from Chicago, Milwaukee and every 
 point east of the Mississippi river. Under another “ time 
 honored ” custom the rates current from St. Louis and Chi¬ 
 cago to Kansas City and St. Joseph would be claimed by and 
 be given to Atchison, Leavenworth, Council Bluffs and Om¬ 
 aha, and it would not be long before central Iowa points 
 would be asking for just and equitable rates, in order to have 
 open and fair competition. What would be the result? The 
 Iowa Jobbers would lose their railway protection despite any 
 action you could take. ^ Iowa w^ould be opened to the open 
 and fair competition of all classes, and her Jobbers would 
 have to be satisfied with what nature has given the^n; the ad¬ 
 vantages of position^ and depend upon their energy. 
 
 I think you will admit we have the advantage of position. 
 Whether we use it or not depends upon the action of the 
 Classification Committee, and their action is largely depend¬ 
 ent on the position your honorable Board will take. If the 
 Classification Committee takes no action in November, I shall 
 look upon your communication as fortunate, as it justifies 
 St. Louis grocers in going to our Commissioners, without 
 further parley. 
 
 In all earnestness, I again ask you to amend your com¬ 
 munication, so as to allow the Classification Committee to 
 take up and settle the question on its merits, as they have 
 promised to. The question must be met, and met as a busi¬ 
 ness proposition; not as^a sentiment, or matter of policy. I 
 know the St. Louis merchants desire the railways to settle 
 the question without State interference, and I trust your hon¬ 
 orable Board has the same desire, as every intelligent man 
 knows that strife between railvva}^s and the people is not con¬ 
 ducive to prosperity. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 PETER NICHOLSON, 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., Oct..^ iS 85 * 
 
 Wholesale Grocer.