The High Cost of Shipping Produce to the Sound
Yakima farmers complain that exorbitant transport rates are leaving them with nothing to show for their labor.
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There is much serious complaint among the produce dealers and shippers of Yakima of the exorbitant rates of transportation of produce to the Sound over the Northern Pacific. The Republic has been shown returns of reliable consignments between Yakima and Seattle, in which the deduction of freight charges left absolutely nothing for the shipper. And this where the produce was purchased at reasonably low figures and sold on the Sound in competition with like Oregon produce. This no-equal rotation between the producer, the carrier and the consumer should be adjusted, as dealers cannot afford to handle our produce for nothing. As it is, the profits all go in one direction instead of being fairly distributed. Commodity of interest under the rules of trade and commerce should be equitable.
“The deduction of freight charges left absolutely nothing for the shipper.”
More than 135 years later, the economic tension between Washington's agricultural interior and its urban coastal hubs remains a defining feature of the state's economy. While the modes of transit have evolved from rail to truck and highway, the struggle to balance the interests of the producer against the cost of distribution—and the dominance of large transport entities—continues to mirror these 1887 concerns.
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