Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/151

Rh of, or service furnished by, a private car or private side-track, that is any greater than the payment made contemporaneously for the same kind of car and for the same kind of service by the railroads each to the other. Then, if the railroads are exchanging cars between themselves at twenty cents a day, or at fifty cents a day, that is all the private car-owner will get; if railroads furnish ice at $2.50 per car, that is all the private car-owners will receive; if the railroads switch in Chicago for from two to five dollars per car, that is all the owner of the private side-track will get in that locality.

The attempt by the Federal Government to fix in detail the exact rates to be charged by the railroads would be unfortunate for the United States. Such policy is un-American, in that it subjects a large number of the citizens of the United States to an economic restriction that does not apply to those engaged and interested in other classes of commercial, industrial, and agricultural business. By having the Government fix the price of Rh