Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-01-30
rcss IND 9akotaian
FINK ON FREIGHT RATES.
THE PROPER BASIS FOR TRkNsPoR-
TATtoN SCHEDULES.

Oemm!ssioner Fink Explains why the
tion liz Not Suitable to tho Trunk Line
Pool AssooIation.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2a.-AIbert Fink,
commissioner OF the Trunk Line Pool as
ISOLATION, was thu principal witness ex-
amined by the Interstate commerce COM
mission In the car-lot cases. Flo APP
peared as a witness for the trunk lines.
and defended the freight rates now In
force on those roads. Mr.. Fink said that
the new freight rate classification was
now In use on N, 900 miles of railroad,
oyer which was carried $50, coo, 0c0 tons
OF freight annually, while the former
New York and %westbound classification
governed only special traffic, covering
less than 1000, 600 tons of freight. The
special traffic was comparative in its ma
tlre, and rates were only quoted at six
or seven hundred points between New
York and the west, while the present
classification applied to traffic be-
tween ten Thousand stations. No COM
mission could, therefore, be made be-
tween the present tariff and w%est-bound
tariff from New YORK in g prior to
the. time when the Interstate law went
into effect, because the conditions which
have to be complied with under q tariff
operating over SO extensive 4 section Of
country as 10 covered by the present
classification, involving, perhaps, half
the railroad traffic Of the country, are en-
tfrelydiferent in character from the con-
ditions under which q small specific traf-
fic could be controlled. Mr.. Fink then
gave statistics showing the different
character Of carload freight rates, and
less than carload freight rates, and
stated that under the former d guarantee
was given for utilizing the full capacity !
of the car, while the miscellaneous traffic |
was uncertain and expensive. While ff- |
teen o n Of freight could be loaded In a |
car If offered In carload quantities, only |
i've and q half to seven and q half tons I
or miscellaneous freight could be loaded (
IN q car. He then presented q carefully
prepared estimate of the cost of trans- |
porting carload freight and freight in
less than carload quantities, which, he
said, showed that the latter COST from so
to 100 per cent. more than the former,
leaving out Of consideration the addi- |
tional cost Of handling at stations. He
claimed that, contrary to popular belief,
b charges on local traffic were not too
high. but o GLOW, and that as a matter OF
fact the railroads made up for their losses
on local traffic through their profits on (
low-rate through freight Mr.. Fink also I
nmnaraa the A sseriiesn classification |
with the classification prevailing over
railroads in Germany. The German sys-
tenn had been adopted with a view to |
securing uniformity and simplicity OF |
rates, Their classification was based en-
tirely upon carload and less than car
load quantities. All articles transported
m less than carload quantities were
charged alike, regardless OF the char
aeter and value Of the articles. They !
s"ssa g much 60 transportSi0U pounds
Of sugar as to transport 100 pounds Of
silk, but either OF these or an other ar
ticles when were transported In car loads
could be shipped at a rate from ono-half
70 four times aa low as they could be
transported in small lors, while the dis
crimination In this country between car
lots and less than carload lots. was
only about 40 Der cent.