The High Cost of Railroad Monopoly
Central Washington farmers argue that exorbitant freight rates are strangling the local economy, forcing residents to buy inferior California produce.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Villard wants the earnings of the Northern Pacific increased, and in order to bring this about there is to be a general trimming down of the number of employees. This will probably result in an increase of accidents and demands for heavy damages. A better policy would be the encouragement of the production of fruits, vegetables and other products of the fertile Yakima, Walla Walla and Kittitas valleys through a reduction of transportation rates. The only reason that the people of the Sound are compelled to eat the wilted vegetables and inferior fruit of California is that the Northern Pacific freight rates from central Washington are so high as to give little profit to the shipper and to discourage production. Yakima is capable of supplying all of the fruits and vegetables required for the markets of the Sound, and will fill this demand whenever it receives official assurance that the railroad tariffs will be reduced.
“The only reason that the people of the Sound are compelled to eat the wilted vegetables and inferior fruit of California is that the Northern Pacific freight rates from central Washington are so high.”
This mirrors modern debates over regional logistics and the 'buy local' movement. Even in 1892, residents recognized that corporate railroad monopolies held the power to dictate not just prices, but what was on the dinner plates of Washington families.
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