The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-03
AUSTIN PACKING FIRM SAYS THE
OMAHA ROAD IS DISCRIMINATE
ING AGAINST 1T.
RAILROAD SAYS 1T IS FAIR,
ENDEAVORING TO STRAIGHTEN
THINGS OUT.
BEGUN YESTERDAY.
HEARING
EmmOnS Depot Case Is Reset for Il
Date Later in the
Month.

The hearing was commenced yester-
day in an interesting and very i'm
pOrtant case by the state railroad and
warehouse commission. which will de-
termine the question whether two in
tersecting railroads will be obliged to
make a joint rate on local business.
Complaint was made by George A..
HORNED e Co.. pork packers at Austin.
on the Milwaukee road. that when
they shipped their products on that
road to the intersecting points with
the Omaha and Northwestern
roads, thence to stations on the latter
lines. they were obliged to pay not
only the transfer charges but also the
full local tariff on both roads. They
do a business of 1000, 900 pounds an
nually, and could do much more We're
it not for this prohibitory charge which
keeps them out of territory. west of
Mankato. that they would like to get
in. 1t also handicaps them as they are
not enabled to compete with st. Paul
and Minneapolis packers, who, al
though considerably farther away from
that territory, can ship by one line
direct and thus obtain much lower
rates.
The full commission was present and
Attorney General ChiIds conducted the
prosecution. Judge Thomas Wilson
and Traffic Manager Clark appeared
for the Omaha road, and Attorney. W.
H. Norris and General Traffic Manager
Bird We're present for the Milwaukee,
The Chicago & Northwestern was not
represented.
After reading the complaint and an
swers. the Omaha representatives adj
mitted that the plaintiff had been
charged the regular tariff, local rates,
on it's line, and the same admission
was made by the Milwaukee represen-
tatives relative to freight shipped from
Austin to Mankato or Owatonna for
transfer to other roads Attorney
General Childs then stated his
position TO the commission, that in
decision of the question the points to
be taken under consideration were the
reasonableness of the tariff charged,
the amount and character of freight
shipped the country it passed through,
the competition and the facilities for
handling it.
The only testimony taken yesterday
was that of George y. HORNED, and
after outlining his business and the
,situation as given above, he said that
by reason of the competition from the
Twin Cities and the excessive freight
charges, his concern was obliged to
pay all charges on the initial road and
the transfer charges to the terminal
road to hold business with customers
in towns on the Omaha or Northwest
ern line. He did consdera bic business
in Northern Iowa over the Iowa Cen
trail and the Mason City q Fort Dodge
roads, and each of those lines in con
nection with the Milwaukee, made him
a joint rate of so per cent of the COM
bined local tariffs.
Mr.. HORNED produced a number Of
freight bills where goods had been
shipped over the Omaha line, via the
Milwaukee, showing that he had al
lowed the customers q discount on
their purchases for the amount of the
freight charged on the initial road
and the transfer charges. Attorney
General Childs offered them in evil
dence, but they were objected TO by
Judge Wilson.
In the ross-eXamination Judge Will
son brought out the fact admitted by
the witness. that neither the initial
nor terminal railroad received any
benefit from or portion of the transfer
charges, and that it was just as much
trouble for the terminal line to handle
the transferred freight from the trans
fer point as it would be to handle
freight originally shipped from that
transfer point In other words, the
Omaha company would have no object
in hauling his freight from Mankato
to a point along it's line for lower
tariff than it charged a Mankato ship
per Furthermore. Judge Wilson
| claimed that it would not only be
prejudicial to the Mankato shipper,
| but that it would disarrange the local
freight rates all over the state.
The Emmons depot case, which was
set for a hearing by the board at Al
bert Lea, Nov 5, has been postponed
until Nov. 20. at the request of the
counsel of the NJ & st. l.. Railway
company, who is engaged I'm court in
IrWa this week.