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Wednesday, October 13th, 1920 Your Railways and the Cost of Living ‘ _ He showed that these distributors, whether rightly or wrongly, added 15 cents to his mill price of 16 cents per yard. Yet the railways carried the raw cotton for this yard of goods from Texas to Montreal, and Furthermore A great Canadian manufacturer recently made publicâ€"â€"â€"without any solicitation and with out the previous knowledge of the railway manâ€" agementsâ€"â€"â€"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 Winnipeg; would be increased only oneâ€"half a cent, even after the wholesaler had added 20 p.c. proâ€" fit to the new freight rate and the retailer another 50 p.c. P The managements of the various Canadian railways desire, through this, their Association, to draw the attention of newspaper readers to the h%ghly significant fact that the recent inâ€" crease in United States railway ratesâ€"â€"â€"an inâ€" crease similar to the increase in Canadaâ€"â€"â€"has actually been followed by a decrease in the cost of living in that country. It was pointed out that the numerous midâ€" dlemen who act as the distributors of goods would each add his percentage of profit to the freight rate, so that, although the railways might receive, say, only 40 cents additional freight charge on a shipment, the public would be forcâ€" ed by the distributing middlemen to pay many times that amount. : BEF ORE the Privy Council at Ottawa protest against the new railway rates has been made on the ground that the giving of the new rates would raise the cost of living by a percentage many times higher than the percentâ€" age actually charged by the Canadian railways. The Railway Association of Canada 263 St. James Street, THE INDEPENDENT, GRIMSBY, ONTARIO In all sincerity let us suggest that the peoâ€" ple of Canada beware of those who would reâ€" strict and even strangle the railways simply because control exists thereâ€"â€"â€"and is not so convenient in other departâ€" ments of commercial activity. RAlLWAY charges always must be a serious item in determining cost of production. But the management of your railways urge upon your attention this fact: That antiquated, overâ€" loaded and wasteful systems of distributing goods are much more properly a subject for public anxiety. | This is not to attack distributors. â€" They may themselves be victims of a bad system or of an overcrowded trade. But it is to point out that if they add whatever percentages they, as a trade, find convenient, on top of the freight rates, the railways cannot helpeither themselves or the public. The oppressive results of these practices should not be charged against the railâ€" way managements, nor cited as reasons for holding freight rates downâ€"â€"â€"merely because railway rates can be held downâ€"â€"â€"while other prices soar as the various trades find necessary. the finished goods from the mill to Toronto, & Toronto to Winnipeg, for one and oneâ€"half cents. One and oneâ€"half cents as against fifteen cents. We venture to believe that, whatever the explanation or the justification may be, the same serious additions to cost by distributing trades will be found in relation to almost every article of common household use Montreal, Canada cannot prosper without prosperous railâ€" ways. â€" Canadian railâ€" ways cannot prosper unless Canada prospers. us v bas THREE