The Railway Freight War in the Palouse
Farmers in Eastern Washington celebrate the enforcement of the Anderson Act, which drastically reduces freight costs and promises to revitalize wheat production.
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The telegraphic information that the Northern Pacific railroad had decided to obey the provisions of the Anderson law will be a source of added prosperity to the farmers and business men of the Palouse country. State Senator T. J. Smith stated that the bill will effect a saving of about $600,000 on the annual yield. It will reduce the average freight rate on wheat from the Palouse country from $6.75 a ton to $4.11. Instead of paying 17.5 cents freight to Portland per bushel of wheat, farmers will pay 13 cents per bushel for a 400-mile haul. This reduction is not only generous to the railroads, but it will stimulate production, as the farmer will be afforded a real return for his labor.
“With such an enormous increase in production, and the further fact that wheat production upon journey in Eastern portions of the Union are not likely to diminish, if we are not to expect to derive some profit from our labor, we insist that the benefits of this bill are not only moderate but even generous to railroads.”
This 1893 battle over the Anderson Bill reflects the perennial struggle of Washington's rural producers against the monopoly power of transcontinental railways—a precursor to modern debates over corporate control of logistics and supply chains that still impact the state's agricultural economy today.
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