Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-24
NO MORE CUT RATES.
The Authority to Favor Shippers
Taken From Pittsburg Agents.
BIG RAIL ORDER FOR CARNEGIE'S.
1000 Carloads Will Not Get Lower Than
the Tariff Figures.
RAILROADS TIRED OF LOSING MONEY

Carnegie, Phipps & Co. are figuring on
an order for ], 500 tons of steel rails to be de-
livered to the Texas and Fort Worth Rail-
road Company, at Fort Worth, Texas.
A few days ago an announcement like
this would have thrown all the Western
railroad agents in this city into a panic,
and, when the janitor of the Offices opened
the doors of the Carnegie Building in the
morning, he would have found crowd of
hungry agents after the business. They
would have borne aloft copies of The DIS
PATCH, and, in their eagerness to get to the
offices ahead of competitors, they would
have forgone the ceremony of eating their
breakfasts.
Within the past few days this has been
changed, and it is all due to the action of
the general freight agents of the Texas rail-
way companies. At a meeting of the In
ternational Association, which includes all
the lines in Texas, Arkansas and Mexico.
they withdrew all authority from the COM
mercial and general agents in Eastern cities
to manipulate the rates. In other words,
the agents were told that they were positive
ly prohibited from accepting any business
at lower rate than the full tariff figures.
The orders were explicit No matter how
large the consignment, whether there was
one carload or 100 carloads, the rate must
be the same. There was to be no cutting on
anything, and violation of the rule mer-
tied censure and probably discharge.
VERY QUIETLY DONE.
This action was decided upon at the
a{s xuha rafa olr ht,f
the notice was not sent out until few days
ago, and then it was done in quiet way.
Heretofore the representatives of the
Texas lines in this city have made the rates
for all large shipments. Of course they had
an agreed tariff, but when a manufacturer
with large order came around the corner
the tariff books were hit on the back with
coupling pin and knocked into the waste
basket.
In q great many cases ridiculously low
rates had to be made in order to get the
business, and the companies did not seem to
realize the heavy losses until the annual
financial reports were made out The main
point with the agents here was to get the
business, and if good heavy tonnage re-
port could be sent to the general freight
agent at the end of the month it was consid-
cred all right. The standing question among
contracting agents was "What was your
tonnage last month?' instead of How much
money did you make for your road?'
1t is not known how long the new state of
affairs will last, but it is expected that a
break will be made when an unusually
heavy shipment is offered. All the agents
here look with longing eyes on the Carnegie
order, but will have to rely on their per-
sonal friendship and reputation of their
road to get the shipment. The rate will be
the same via all lines in the future. The
lines east of Chicago have always main
tanned rates, with the exception of one or
two breaks made by roads east of this city.
RATES RATHER UNSTEADY.
The rates west of Chicago and st. Louis
have been in an unsteady condition since
the interstate law went into effect Be-
fore the law was adopted the roads had
maintained. The law broke this up, and
instead of keeping the rates steady, as it in
tended, the law broke them up, and each
road cut for itself.
The Is, 900 tons of rails for which the firm
is seeking railroad transportion bids, is an
unusually large order. Each rail is % feet
long. and averages 81 pounds to the foot.
This would make the aggregate weight of
the load 33600,000 pounds. AS there are
1 ,596 pounds to each rail, the number of
rails in the shipment would be fraction
over q, ,052. If laid end to end, the rails
would stretch out for distance of $50, ,456
feet or about 112 miles, or nearly as far as
from Pittsburg to Altoona. Averaging Is
tons to the car, it would take 1000 cars to
transport them. This would make between
So and 40 trains. The cost of the rails would
be about S45O,0O0.