Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1889-10-19
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
IMPORTANT DECISIONS RENDERED
BY THE COMMISSION.

The Rule Regarding Shipments of Cattle
i'm Car ots-Throug Rates and Mileage
- Regarding Shipments of Lumber from
the south by Rail and Water.
The interstate commerce commission
has rendered three important de-
cisions In the case of Lenord and
Chappell against the Chicago and Alton
railroad the commission decides that car
rers can rightfully substitute for the
practice of charging carload rates on
cattle irrespective of weight, the rule that
while a carlot IS named a minimum weight
for a carload is prescribed, and any excess
over the minimum is to be charged
for by the hundred pounds in
proportion to the carlot rate The COM
plainant3 urged the commission to
conform to the State laws and rulings of
Kansas and Missouri State commissioners
under which shippers Of cattle to points
within the State had the right to load ears
without REGARD TO weight at a stated price
n car. The commission held however,
that State action could not be allowed to
control in matters within the Federal
jurisdiction, and that the grant TO the
Federal government of the power to regu-
late Interstate commerce is full and
comple-e and can not be narrowed or en-
croached upon by State authority either
directly or indirectly.
In an opinion on the case of McMOrran
= Harrington, grain dealers at Port
Huron. Mich, against the Grand Trunk
and the Chicago & Grand Trunk roads,
Commissioner Shoemaker says;
'"Though rates are not REQUIRED to be
made on a mileage basis, nor local rates
nd In iriC Of a inf
through rate over the same line Mileage
is usually an element of Importance, and
due regard to distant proportions should
be Observed in connection with the other
considerations that are material in fixing
transportation charges.
The complaint tina an Scent rate on
grain from Port Huron to Buffalo was UNI
reasonable as compared with a through
rate Of - cents a hundred pounds from
Chicago to Buffalo was, not sustained, but
no good reason havingEeen shown for q
higher rate on gram products that portion
of the complaint is sustained and the pro-
ducts ordered to be carried at the same
rate as grain.
Commissioner Morrison in deciding the
case Of Abbott against the East Tennessee
railroad, which is charged with illegal dis
elimination in lumber rates from Ten
nessee points to Foston, says
combined rail and water competition
at longer distance point does not Justify
a greater charge for the shorter distance,
while the shorter distance point is main
tanned hy the carrier at points where the
competition is of greater force and more
controlling than at the longer distance
point; such greater charge is not justified
! by the TACT that local rates have been first
paid on lumber to the longer distance
points, nor by the fact that the freight is
shipped in cars from the longer distance
points which brought machinery TO those
points ana for which -proftabe return
loads were not always to be had nor by a
difference in tine bulk and value of the
lumber when the published rate sheets put
the lumber in the same class and at the
same rate.
"While distance is not always a con-
! trolling element in determining what is q
reasonable rate there is ordinarily no better
measure of railroad service in carrying
goods than the distance they are carried
and when the rate of freight charges over
one line in sending freight carried from 6
neighboring territory to the same market
is considerable greater than over other
lines for distances as long or longer sucl
greater rate is held to be excessive auC
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