St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-08
THE COMMISSION QUESTION.
Western Railway Magnates Tes-
tify on That Subject.

WASHINGTON, May 7.-Western rail-
way men chatted and gOssiped ami
matedly this morning in the rooms of
rthe interstate commerce commission
while awaiting the opening of the in
vestigatiOn into the matter of payment
of commissions upon the passenger
tickets. John Sebastian, general passen-
ger agent of the Rock Island railroad
company, and of the Chicago, Kansas Il
Nebraska Railway company, frankly
admitted that these roads paid commits
siOns, and said they were strongly in
favor of paying commissions. They be-
lieved in it. No Decentralization existed
on account of it and none was antici-
pated. In response to a question by
Chairman Cooley, witness said he did
not think the commissions paid were
large enough tomake it an object for the
passenger agent and the man to whom
the commissions were paid to agree to
divide what was made up in this way.
General Passenger Agent w. 4. Busen-
back, of the Chicago, st. Paul q Kan
sas City railroad company. said his com
pany paid commissions only in accord
ance with the agreement of the West
ern Passenger Agents association. F.
B. Clark, general traffic manager of the
Chicago, st. Paul. Minneapolis &
Omaha Railway company, said his COM
pany was a member OF the Western
Passenger Agents association and the
Trans Missouri association. He gave
the maximum, rates paid in commits
sions, and said he regarded the effect of
the agreement between these associa-
lions as great improvement over the
bad and demoralized condition of bust
ness previous to the agreement. Wit
ness also said the money made by the
commission agent was considerably re-
duced owing to the stoppage of the pay
ment of commissions by many OF the
Eastern Trunk lines. The money paid
in commissions last year by the
company he represented amounted to
more than $1,000. James Baker. gen
eraI passenger agent of the Wisconsin
Central railroad company. said his COM
pany was a member of the Western
Passenger Agents association only,
and not connected with any other asso-
citation so far as passenger business was
concerned. The commissions paid by
the company were not used to cut
rates. w. E. Davis. general pas.
senger agent of the Chicago
and Grand Trunk company. said that
company paid number OF local agents
Conversations. The company had paid
commissions to other companies agents,
averaging from 5 to Is per cent. where
it was found their competitors were
doing a similar thing. The company
was not member of the Western Pas
senger Agents association. So far as
he knew he did not think the roads
east of Buffalo were paying COM
missions; between Buffalo and Chicago
the roads generally were not paying
commissions, but some were. +. L.
Jeffery, general manager of the Illinois
Central railroad company, prefaced his
testimony by saying that the Illinois
Central railroad company was pecu-
fiarly situated. 1t was composed of
northern end southern system, and an
eastern and western system. The east
.ern and western system was a
member of the Western Passenger
Agents association, as was also
the northern aud southern sys-
TEN until the line of the latter
reaches the Vandalia line in Illinois,
when the line entered a section of coun-
try in which competition is encountered
and where one competing line is In
favor of paying commissions and the
other adverse to doing so. The Illinois
Central, therefore, pays commissions Oh
the business going over this line, which
varies considerably. The system, as an
entirety, can he considered acOmmissiOn
sytem. 1t was not SO from a choice of
the management. but from case OF
commercial interest, In order to get
share of competitive business. Mr.. JEFF
ferry gave figures showing the amount
of competitive business which would be
affected by non-payment of commits
sions. He submitted considerable data
concerning the commissions of the
roads, and was examined by the COM
lnissioners at length. o. w. Rug
giles appeared for the Michigan
Central Railroad company, and testi-
fed that the company pays no
commission to agents of competing
lines, nor does it allow its agent to &C
la.caIAntil.la- Illa6AA of