Walla Walla Farmers Take on the Railroads
Local farmers organize to challenge the Northern Pacific and Hunt system over unfair freight rates.
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.
A meeting of farmers was held at the city hall this afternoon to take steps toward securing the reduction of rates provided for under the Anderson bill. Points on the main line of the Northern Pacific have made the reduction required by this act, but there has been no change in the joint rate of the Hunt system and the Northern Pacific between points in the Walla Walla valley and the Sound. This rate is $4.70 per ton, and the farmers claim that points on the Hunt system are entitled to a 15 per cent reduction, or a $4 rate. A committee consisting of Jesse Drumheller, Joseph Vanskyke, Dr. Hayes, O. H. Burnett, Milton Evans, W. P. Reeser, David Miller, W. H. Babcock and Charles Painter was appointed to solicit funds to place the matter in the hands of some prominent attorney for the purpose of taking the case into court in the event that it could not be settled by arbitration with the railroad company, the committee to report next Saturday.
“the farmers claim that points on the Hunt system are entitled to a 15 per cent reduction”
The struggle between regional producers and the massive rail monopolies was a defining economic fight of the 1890s in Washington. Today’s debates over corporate control of shipping and regional supply chains echo these same concerns about how much profit stays in the hands of the growers.
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