The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-10-03
RAILROAD RATES,
rrIE sTEENERsON CASE FINALLY
DECIDED.

Judg Kerr Of St. Paul Finds I'm Fa-
of the Great Northern and
Against the State Railroad Com
mission in This Celebrated Cnse.
st. Paul, Oct. 1.-Judge Kerr has
filed his decision in the so-called
"Steenerson rate case," reversing the
action of the railroad and warehouse
commission. The principal reason for
the reversal is that the rate fixed by
the commission is not reasonable u
The facts involved in this long pend
ing case are reasonably familiar to the
public. In brief they are that Elias
Stevenson, a citizen of Polk county,
began proceedings in 1894 before the
railroad and warehouse commission,
alleging that the freight charges Of
the Great Northern on grain from
East Grand Forks, Fisher and Crooks
ton. respectively, to Minneapolis and
Duluth were excessive and unreaSOn-
able. The commission heard the case
and fixed the rate which the road
should charge for grain. The commits
sion's rate applied to the entire state,
based on a rate per hundred pounds
per mile in sections Of five miles. The
rate fixed was: For miles and I'M
der, cents; for miles and not eX-
ceeding 10 miles, 4.25 cents; over 10
miles and not exceeding Is miles, 40
cents, and so on up to 400 miles. The
| railroad company appealed to the dis
trict court, and alleged that prior rates
were reasonable, that the rate fixed by
| the commission was too low, and that
| the commission had exceeded it's au-
ityy in ctO1 1ic1 i,,r NJ
| the state instead of between the speci-
| fed stations mentioned in Mr.. Steiner
| sons complaint.
| Judge Kerr's findings of fact and his
memorandum of opinion on the appeal
comprises a document of fortyeight
typewriter pages. and is quite ex
haustive. The principal points in his
findings may be stated to be:
| The Great Northern and Northern
Pacific are competing and parallel
| lines between the stations named, and
"a law of commerce DEGREES that rates
on such roads between terminal points
must be substantially the same, The
| distance from Red river points to Min
neapolis is substantially the same on
both roads, but from Red river points
to Duluth is about SiXty.fve miles less
by the Northern Pacific. Therefore, on
a mileage basis the Great Northern
would be compelled to surrender the
Duluth business to it's rival. which re-
quirement would be unreasonable IN
der the circumstances, and, therefore,
illegal. The court gives at length the
history Of the building of the Great
| Northern and its cost as testified to
before him. and says that it is very
difficult to determine the present value
of the road and it's equipment 1t is
important to settle this. because the
law may not deprive the owner OF
property of a fair return Of profit upon
it's value. He then attempts to arrive
at an approximate value by determin-
ing the present cost of its reproduc-
ton. 10 reproduce the lines of the
Manitoba, or Great Northern, in Min
nesOta, and it's terminal facilities. the
!. estimate.
The court then details the items of
the fixed charges and goes into diff
cult problems of apportioning to the
Minnesota portion of the road the
earnings Of the road on it's interstate
traffic. After complicated mathemat-
zeal computations the net earnings il
Minnesota for 1884 is estimated al
a.: $S52,416 The gross and net earnings
of the entire road as computed, and
Judge Kerr demonstrates that the
rates fixed by the commission would
; result in depriving the railroad com
pany of the income from it's business
to which it is entitled. -
In concluding his findings judge
, Kerr says: 1.-THE reduction of rates
proposed ~ the commission, apple,
to the Northern Pacific coiipa1iy
:, would serve simply to aggravate the
,, strained condition of it's finances and
sink it deeper into insolvency, but TN
der the theory adopted by the court OF
a fair income upon actual value. SIC
: result as applied to the two companies
would not be materially different. eX
| cept as effected by the shorter haul on
: the Northern Pacific road to Duluth
If capitalized only to the extent of Tie
cost Of it's reproduction in the State OF
' Minnesota, the Northern Pacific could
not, any more than the Great North
! ern afford to haul grain between the
points named at the rates fixed by the
commission"
; In very lengthy but clear memo
randum of opinion Judge Kerr says
] speaking of determining reasonable
rates: ut is difficult to conceive of {
F.; problem more intricate and involving
more. matters which must be takel
, into consideration before a satisfac
tory answer can be reached" Is =
, The concluding chapter of the mem
, orandum says: "At the close of &
difficult task it has been my duty t.
perform I give expression to the feel
ing present with me throughout the
) trial that any decision which I ma!
make is likely to be of little practical
: utility: it simply passes upon the val
/ idity of an order made year ago. Il
does not prevent, and should not deter
the commission from making at once
=; another essentially similar order il
present circumstances would justify
it. The reaSOnableneSs of rate
, changes with changed conditions ant
circumstances, that which would bt
fair and reasonable to-day six months
or q year hence may be too high OF
:. too low, and so that hich may have
> been an unreasonably low rate at the
. time of the commissioners order may
be reasonable now
. '"The evidence in this case closeJ
- early in Jul Y. 1t was not, therefore