Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-02-02
INTERSTATE .coMMgscE

now the Wholesale Grocers aud RAN, DAD.
Managr between Them to Evade the
provisions of the Inter-Sta Commerce
Law Explained to the Commission Inv
Simon Ster.se.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.-The complaints of
the New York Board of Trade and Trans
porfatson, the Retail Grocers' Association
ana Mr.. Leggett. representing jobbing
grocers of New York CITY, against the
New York Central, and the four other
trunk lines leading out of that CITY, came
up before the Interstate Commerce Com.
mission yesterday. The complaint in
these cases in brief is, that the trunk
lines make an unfair and unjust discrim-
ination in favor of the larger shippers of
grocers' freight by placing less than car
load quantities in a higher class than car
loads, and forcing the smaller shippers to
pay more for his transportation than the
larger shipper who ships the same kind
of goods in carloads.
Simon Sterne, of New York. represent.
ing the New York Board of Trade and
Transportation made the opening argu-
ment. He held that this discrimination
was violative of the first third and
fourth sections of the law which prohibit
unreasonable pre- ference to shippers and
charging more for the short than the long
haul. He insisted that prior to the pass
age of the Inter-Stat Commerce law,
freights on grocers' goods were on the
whole lower than thew have been since
the law was passed. This in itself would
not show disc limitation, but would
when ia ken in connection with
the fact that prior to the
passage of the law, no 'scrimination
was made upon these goods with the sin.
gle exception of coffee. and upon that
only for short period of time, and that
upon al other grocers' freight no distnc.
ton between various shippers was made
between carload guam titles and less than
car loads, except such as was secretly and
privately made by rebates to the larger
shippers. Prior to tho pas sage of the law
this discrimination in favor of the larger
shippers amounted to about twenty per
cent, but Immediately after it went into
effect a new condition of affairs was
brought about more onerous upon the
smaller shippers than the rebate discrim-
nation. This was made, not by charging
a trifle more for the quantity less than
car lead than for the car load, but by put
ting a shipment of $4,000 pounds of the
same article into different classification
from that which prevails with reference
to shipment of less than $4,000 pounds.
Mr. Sterne exhibited n table of COM
parsons which he claimed showed enor-
nous discripinations. The per centage
of advance in rates for small lots over
carload lots on west bound traffic from
New York to Chicago. as shown by this
table, ranged from 16 to lie per cent. The
railroads. Dir. Sterne sa1u, had n three
fold object in view in thus fixing rates.
First, to do what it was claimed TO be
within the province of the railways to do
before the passage of the Interstate act-
to build UP jobbing centers in Western
towns and to compel the retail grocer to
patron re that jobbing center instead of
seeking his goods in the larger and better
market. Second, 10 favor the larger ship
pers so as to simplify the business of the
railway as much as possible, and to deal
with the fewest number of persons, the
tendency being, except in far as it
is restrained by law and by
the operation of the Inter State
Commerce law for capital to coalesce it.
self with capital as against the smaller
and poorer man; and the third object
had in view in this enormous discrimina.
tion was to reislpose in a different form,
and, IN subs tance, in contraventiOn of
the spirit of the fourth section of the In
ter State Commerce act, the charging of
the higher rate to the intermediate point
as compared with the more distant point.
made by the railroads. under the guise of
carload lots, is an utterly arbitrary one;
that they are not carloads, but conven-
tional carloads; that the car which was
formerly of ten tons capacity had gradu-
ally risen to twelve, fifteen, twenty and
thirty tons with tendency to further in
crease the capacity OF cars, so that
greater discrepancy will be made il this
discrim ina ton against the less than cay
load lot is allowed to prevail.
In closing Mr.. Sterne insisted that the
determinations now made are not made
upon the basis of any difference in cost
of TRANSPORTATION, but wholly for the pur-
pose of circumventng the law, to enable
the railway corpora tons, under the guise
of making the unit of shipments a car
load, to do what they were forbidden to
do or to continue to do under the provis-
ions of the law; in other words, that the
rebates, drawbacks and discrim-
nations in favor of the larger
shipper and in favor of the
larger place against the smaller
shipper and the smaller place, are intend
ed to be fastened upon the community
and continued under the guise of new
classification which makes discrimi ma
ton of from Is to 116 per cent
against the small er shipper and the
smaller place, as against discrimination
of 90 per cent. which prevailed be-
fore the enactment of the Interstate
law.
After finishing his opening argument,
Mr.. Sterne spent the rema inder of the
day putting in and explaining dispositions
In support of the statements ne had
made.