Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-18
RAILROADS. PIRATES.
How Shippers Cheat the Common
Carriers Out of Their Profits.
WALL PAPER DESCRIBED AS IRON,
And Stuffed Birds Classed as Drygoods to
Secure Low Rates.
THE INSPECTORS SHOW UP THE EVILS

A receiving clerk and produce merchant
were having lively wrangle the other day
at one of the city freight yards about con-
signment of bird seed. The consignee had
been receiving large quantities of the seed
at certain rate, but on this particular lot
it had been quietly raised. A comparison
of the weight and invoice bills showed that
it had been shipped as oat meal, which takes
a much lower rate. As soon as this discov
cry was made the guilty consignee suddenly
became quite suave-like and bland. He
promptly paid the excess in freight, and be-
gan to talk about the weather and kindred
subjects.
When the consignee was leaving with his
bird seed, he was heard to murmur to him
self in wrathful undertone: "The game is
up at last. Confound that Inspection Bu-
reau; this is some of their work. Imust
try another road to elude them"
The clerk also had his little say when the
other was out of sight:
vERITABLE REVELATION.
"Well, that maa is a pretty Christian, any
how. For some time he has been cheating the
railroad by making false descriptions and the
Inspection Bureau has exposed him. 1t is
strange, but the most honorable and conscien-
tious of men in business matters will think
nothing of beating railroad; and you would be
surprised, too. to know how much of it is done.
The bureau has unearthed some of the queer
est cases of misdescriptIon. Just run over with
this list of corrections made for this week, and
see how the work is done.
Iron castings take low, special rate, and it
is great favorite with shippers in classifying
ia nat tch Of
was shipped as so much iron. All kinds of
toys, articles of hardware of fine quality,
copying presses, etc. that take high rates are
often consigned as iron castings Before the
bureau was organized these deceittul practices
were carried on extensively.
The other dayw found a lot of stuffed birds
classed as drygoods, Now drygoods are in the
second and third classes, while the rate on
stuffed birds is three times the first-class rate
In this case the railroad would have lost
heavily. One would suppose that churches
would act honorably, but not long ago we
caught a lot of fine furniture and the molding
for an altar shipped as lumber. However, this
is quite a common ruse, and our moral sens-
bilities are not SO easily shocked. There is
nothing like bunting your better nature.
EQUIVALENT TO PARALYSIS.
"The roads make distinction between toilet
and common soaps, and yet when we find any
of the former rated as such We are tempted to
lie down and die. In such rare emergency
our services are not needed. 1t is useless to
classify glassware. The railroads tried it, but
there was only one kind shipped. Everything
in this line, from window pane to the finest
varieties of cut glass; was shipped as tumblers.
Finally some of the glass men overdid the
thing, and glass in general was put in the third
class.
big discrepancies in the weights of ship
ments are also discovered. Frequently the
weight is Just twice as much as the figures in
the weigh bill. This is true, to large extent,
of the grain coming from the West. A strong
effort is being made to extend the jurisdiction
of the bureau. At present only freight from
the West is examined. All the high class
traffic from the East escapes, and railroad men
know that the classification is often evaded.
Trunks packed with goods take a lower rate
than empty ones. This rule is often violated
by the New York merchants. The bureau is
doing good work, and has come to stay"