Railroads Move Against the Private Car Evil
A CONCERTED effort has been begun by the great railroad magnates to eradicate what is known as the private car evil. Great firms or trusts, owning their own cars, can, in a measure, control the traffic in the commodity which they produce or handle. This is true of the Standard Oil Company and the beef trust, who, by their ownership of cars, control the price of beef and oil and railroad freight rates, and thus greatly curtail the revenues of the railroad. It is simply a case of trust against trust. The railroad trust has found an impediment to its own powers of fixing rates in the cars owned by shippers. On the other hand, the great trusts, by means of their cars, have been able to carry through their money-making schemes. Whichever wins, it is the winning of the trust and the fastening of the trust incubus more securely upon the people.