The Foyil Statesman (Foyil, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 27, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 1908 Page: 1 of 10
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THE FOYIL STATESMAN
VOL. 4.—NO. 27.
FOYIL, OKLA, OCT. 10, 1908.
TEN PAGES
V
TO THE PEOPLE
DEMOCRATIC CORPORATION COM*
MISSION L0WER8 FREIGHT
RATES ON ALL C0MM0D*
ITIE8.
ADEQUATE RAIL-
ROAD REGULATION
Application of Honesty and Common
Sens* Permits Oklahoma's Commis-
sion to Accomplish More Than Any
Other State Board in the United
States.
(BY AUSTIN D. HUMBARGAR.)
Of all the wlsa and helpful provi-
sions incorporated by the democratic
party- in the organic law of the state,
there probably is none which will re-
salt in a greater actual and material
benefit to all the people than that
establishing a corporation commis-
sion.
In'the nine monthr since the organ*
izat.on of the corporation commission
it has worked steadily and faithfully
to control the over-charges and abuses
which seventeen years of unmolested
license had caused the public'service
corporations of the two territories to
regard as their "vi>3ted rights" from
charging "all the tariff the traffic
would stand" and turning an absolute-
ly draf -ar to the uj.plications of the
shipping and traveling public (for
adequate depot accommodations, the
railroads of Oklahoma are in a fair
way to have their freight rate3 ad-
justed on a basis of equality and fair-
ness, yielding justice alike to the rail-
roads and the Bh'pper. and at the
uame time the officials of Oklahoma
railroads have been taught to enter-
tain a wholesome respect for the com-
fort and convenience of their patrons.
Prior to the adoption of our state
government, W. O. Cromwell, repuD-
lican attorney general for the Terri-
tory of Oklahoma, filed a report with
Governor Frank Franti in which he
stated that at a conservative estimate
the railroads operating in Oklahoma
Territory had in the seventeen years
of its existence defrauded the people
of fifty-four million dollars In unjust
freight rates. An equal mileage and
an equally exorbitant rate in Indian
Territory during the same period,
makes It fair to assume that for the
present state of Oklahoma, the over-
charges on freight rates under repub-
lican territorial rule, approximated
over cne hundred million dollars. This
Is an average of more than five mil-
lion dollars per year, and the prompt
action of the democratic corporation
commission in compelling the rail-
roads to cease robbing the people, will
alone save more than ten times the
entire expense of conducting the
•tate government In all of its depart-
ments each year.
In putting into effect new rates tha
commission has chosen first such com-
modities as would encourage the de-
velopment. of the new state and in-
vite manufacturing competition. A
c mparlson of old rates of one line of
railroad between local stations and
the new rates, gives an idea of what
the corporation commission has real-
ly done for the people of Oklahoma:
Lumber, rate per car load:
Twenty miles, old rate, $19.50; new
rrtp. *9.30.
Cne hundred miles, old rate, $39;
tpw rate, fig.90.
Two hundred miles, old rate, $57;
new rate, $27.90.
r«*-ce posts, car load rate:
Tw^-.ty miles, old rate, $26; new
ra^, ?<).92.
One hu"drerl miles, old rate, $52;
new rate, $20.16.
Two hundred miles, old rate, $96;
new rate, $29.76.
Hay, per car load:
Twenty miles, old rate, $14; new
rate, ?9.20.
One hundred miles, old rate, $28;
rrw rate, $16.60.
Tw> hundred miles, old rate, $44;
new rate, ?22.60.
Br < k and dressed stone, per car
load:
Twenty miles, old rate, $21; new
rate, $12.20.
One hundred miles, old rate, $37.30,
rew rate, .*28.20.
Two hundred miles, old rate, $52.50;
new rate, $34.20.
Fuel, or crude oil, per car load:
As this commodity Is U3ed by stock
growers throughout the state to dip
cattle the freight charges are of pe*
cul'ar Interest to every rural com-
munity.
Twenty mflas, old rat®, $48; new
rate, ?30.40.
O-1^ hundred miles, old rate. $100;
nr— rite, $52.
Two hundred miles, old rate, $148;
nr w rate. $C8.
Besides the enormous saving to th>
people of Oklahoma which the reduc-
tion of freight ratee ordered by the
corporation commission, is accom-
plishing, the comfort and c-nvenience
of the patrons o| the ra:lroads has
been attended to by the commission
by ordering a correct bulletin posted
in eacfti depot showing the time of
arrival and departure of all trains
and tfhere the tr?ln Is late sho vlntr
the exact time wM it Is b^h!n«l and
the rallrolads have been #ompelled oy
orders of the corporat'on commission
to keep the coaches and d~nots rlean
and well venfl!ate<«. In Ho* nr *nd
Woodward where the depot accom-
modations were entirely too limited
to accommodate the ordinary travel-
ing public new depots have been or-
dered built.
In the following towns the commis-
sion has ordered the railroads to build
depots. Many of these towns have
been In existence since the opening
of Oklahoma and the citizens have
been pleading with the railroads dur-
j ing all those years for adequate ac-
{commodations. After proper hearing
jln which evidence was subtitled tin-
i der oath as to the passenger and
I freight traffic from each point, the
| corporation has issued orders r ea r-
ing railroads to build depots and in-
stall agents at Seminole. Tryon. I f
chltl. Blue. Waterloo, Goodwell. I.™ -
keba, Sumner, Leflore. Yeagar. D r
row, McKay. Roland. 0; rimi. V. : i
Reeding, Haywood, Sav.--u:a. y '•
Mazie Tribbey, Oakland. Cbj£tcn, Cad
fTHOS. W. HENSAL.
Physician and Surgeon
Foyil Okla.
William R. Harper,
ATTORNEY AND NOTARY
Foyil, Okla.
do, Tullahassee, Milton, Marble City,
Britton, Lequire, Chant and Norfolk.
On evidence submitted showing
that additional passenger train ser-
vice was needed to accommodate the
traveling public the commission has
ordered trains put on between Lawton
and Eldorado, Woodward and points
in Western Oklahoma. Guthrie, Still*
water and Pawnee, Guthrie and Ma
ietta, Lindsay and Chickash., Yale,
Maramec and Stillwater, Coal Creek
and Ft. Smith, Bartlesville and Tul-
sa. At numerous other points in the
state the commission has required
passenger trains to stop where they
had been running through and stop*
ping only when flaged.
GENERAL BETTERMENTS
The commission has ordered physl*
cat connections at Cushing, Pawnee
and Avard. That is,'the oommisslon
has ordered where two roads enter
the same town that a connecting . _
track be built between the two to per*. ali °™c® 18 prepared to
mit the transfer of loaded cars from supply all the Standard Blanks,
one road to the other. latest Oklahoma form, on abort
Better facilities for the handling of Ilol je_
freight and passenger traffic has. '
been ordered at Apache, Wister, j ,
Capitol Hill, Jennings, Snyder, Ske* i NOTICE, NOTICE.
dee, Carnegie, Ft. Cobb, Ferguson, .« .
Payson and Chickasha. , e are putting in a new
The commission has Issued orders line Qf Hardware in COnaeC-
naming rates, rules and regulations
for the transportation of the following
C. L. COCHRAN,
ATTORNEY-ATLAW.
Office in the Davis Building, oppo-
site the Bank of Chelsea.
Chelsea.
Oklahoma.
ion with our stock of Lumber
commodities in cariots. between ail j Call and see us before buv-
points in Oklahoma: . /
Coal, lumber, ties, logs, asphaf^ ing.
brick, cement, canned gaodB, ceme l i .«• , j, .
building blocks stucco, lime. piaste*, DUStlVllCda LDDlCCr SlICCll Cfl.
gyp3iini cordwood, saw dust, staves , 1 mrrmJ w •
and headings, sash and doors, wood-
work fcr agricultural implements (in
the rough), fruit, vegetables, hay,
grain, flour, seeds, chop feed, straw,
alfalfa, stone, sand, gravel, cinders.
cr :Je and refined oil, etc/
The ens great advantage In the
commission's rates is that every ship-
per knows exactly what he pays, and
what his competitors pay. The rates
:ire absolutely the same to everybody,
rich or poor, trust or no trust, million-
aire or farmer. Armour Packing J .
company or "Bill Jones •—the rates ) Cars OI corn brought tO my
are the same. ,
The commission has had filed with
It two hurd.ed and twenty-five form-
al complaints, asking for depots,
slock pens, telegraph offices, sld*
tracks, street crossings, trains to be
properly bulletined, trains to stop on
flag, wanting physical connections,
telephones In depots, and complaining
of overcharges, discourteous treat-
ment on the part of employees, un-
whjlesome water in depots, etc. Over
one hundred and fifty of these com-
plaints have been settled ei'ier by
hearings, undor oath before the com-
I mission, or by bringing the parties
; together Informally. Many of these
j complaints can be adjusted by brlng-
! ing the parties together and having a
conference, in which all concerned
arj present.
The commission has used Its good
offiCGR in having hundreds of dollars
in overcharges refunded to shippers.
They have also given our citizens and
b-isiness mm e ery assistance pos-
sible in the settles* m of Interstate
claims over which th ? commission
has no direst jurisdiction
The commission has a very roluml-
ous correspondence; it has checked
thousands of freight bills and given
the shippers in Oklahoma a correct
rate from points scattered aU over
the United States.
B. A, Cockrell, Mg'r.
$10.
In premiums for the best ten
ars of com brought to
place before November'i.
FIRS! PRIZE:
liT G-olid
For the Best ten ears
$3-
For the second best and
For the Third best.
Quality of corn to detemined
by weight, which will be deci-
ded by three disinterested jud-
ges.
Enter the contest, bring in the
curn and get my prices, which
will be the highest—Always
I want 25000 bushels of ear
corn delivered at Foyil.
Geo. W. VINCENT
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Harper, William R. The Foyil Statesman (Foyil, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 27, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 10, 1908, newspaper, October 10, 1908; Foyil, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc184299/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.