REPORT. OFFICE OF THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF DAKOTA, To His Excellency, LOUIS K. CHURCH, Governor of Dakota: SIR: The board of railroad commissioners respectfully submits its third annual report in pursuance of law and for the purpose of furnishing such facts in regard to the railroads of the territory as law and the interests of the public demand. The present board having been in existence but a few months, and having a vast amount of work awaiting completion, must necessarily be brief and leave much of interest for its report one year hence, when the material at hand will warrant the publication of a more exhaustive report. The law creating a railroad commission for Dakota, approved March 12, 1885, requires a report from each railroad doing business in the territory, showing: Cost of road and equipment; The amount of capital stock; The amount of floating debt; The amount of funded debt and the rate of interest; The amount of preferred stock, if any, and the amount of its preferment; Schedules of property owned; Number of acres originally granted in aid of construction of the road, by the United States or the territory; 222137 A list of officers of each road, giving name, office, and place of residence, and a general statistical statement of the transportation business of each road. These facts and statistics are contained in the present report, which shows the expenses and profit, improvement and changes of the various roads doing business in the territory during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887. In no state or territory in the Union is the railroad problem, -the question of policy, the powers of the legislature to control or restrict, of greater importance than in Dakota, for she is not only a young and growing territory, but the most productive agricultural district on the continent. She is going through the process of development, and the relation of the railroad to the producer is the one paramount question which her legislators and official representatives must solve. Nowhere can the power of the railroads by a generous and public spirited policy be of greater good to the people, and nowhere can it be more dangerous and discouraging should the corporations be left unchecked in a policy of greed. That much dissatisfaction exists in many portions of the territory is patent to all. That in many cases the railroads are in the wrong needs no repetition at this late day, and that the law finds a satisfactory adjustment of these cases a difficult task is only too well known by its minions. Since the passage of the inter-state commerce law, the enforcement of which was begun about the time the present board was organized, a renewed confusion has been vigorously at work unsettling all past plans of the courts and the public and creating new obstacles and difficulties for the railroad commissioners of the various states and territories. Not that the interstate commerce law is a detriment to the country, or an unjust act, but because it is new to the country, new to the commissioners, new and knotty to the very able national commission upon which devolves the duties of its enforcement, and unpolished by amendment or the decisions of courts. While speaking of the inter-state commission it may be well to state that the Dakota board of railroad commissioners, in company with the boards of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wiscon sin, met the inter-state commerce commission in St. Paul for the consideration of questions of interest to the northwest, and the result of the meeting was highly satisfactory to the state and territorial commissioners. The effort of eastern dealers to abolish the carload as a unit of freight was strongly opposed by the northwestern commissioners, and the question was discussed at length before a meeting of the chambers of commerce of St. Paul and Minneapolis. A case of interest considered by the inter-state commissioners at this meeting was that of the millers of Mazeppa against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road. (This is mentioned as it is a case identical with many in Dakota, and the decision of the commission applies with equal force to the territory). The millers of Mazeppa complained that the road discriminated against them and in favor of St. Paul and Minneapolis to such an extent that it made it impossible for them to compete with the large manufacturers of the cities named. In reply the railroad company set forth that Mazeppa was not on the main line of the road and that the "long and short haul" clause of the inter-state law did not apply. On November 21st the inter-state commission rendered its decision and ordered the C. M. & St. P company to reduce its rates from Mazeppa to Chicago from twelve and one-half cents to ten cents. This left a "reasonable differential" for the road and at the same time made it possible for the small millers on the branch road to do business successfully. The Dakota commission has received similar complaints, and is pleased to note the action of the inter-state commission, which proves that the law under which it is working has already been of practical benefit. The Mazeppa case is but an illustration of what may follow in certain instances in Dakota. AN INTERESTING CONVENTION. On June 8, 1887, in pursuance of a call of the committee appointed for that purpose the commissioners of the northwestern states and territories met in convention in St. Paul for the discussion of questions of interest to the northwest. Horace Austin of Minnesota was chosen chairman and E. Warner of Minnesota, sec |