The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-29

The interstate commerce commission,
which has come to St. Paul with
view TO inQuiring into the matter of
rates On flour from Minneapolis to
points in the East and ports on the sea-
board. began its work in the federal
court room yesterday. The members
OF the commission present are j. ID.
Yeomans, j. c. Clements and w. j. Cal
houn W. A. Day is the attorney for
the commission and conducts the eX-
amiEatiGrS.
The commissioners could not COM
plain of the lack of d cordial reception
on the part of railway officials. AS
spectators and witnesses they turned
cut very strongly.
\ dozen of the highest among them
voluntarily took seats in the Jurors
chairs-positions which they would
have avoided at the cost of a heavy
fine if they had been summoned to fill
these places by the command OF the
United States marshal.
Conspicuous among those present
We're General Counsel Thomas Wilson.
of the Omaha road, and NJ. d. Grover,
OF the Great Northern; Vice President
w. II. Newman, of the latter road; j.
NJ Hannaford, general traffic manager
OF the Northern Pacific; James T.
Clark. holding the same office in the
Omaha, with l.. \. Robinson. comptrol-
Ter: J. NJ. Hastings, general superin-
tendent of the c., b. & N; Judge
Chandler. Of the milwaukee,; M. B.
Koon. of Minneapolis, and NJ. d. Mum.
of st. Paul, representing the 500
line: Hadley & Armstrong, counsel for
the St Paul & Duluth: I. H. Gill for
the Wisconsin Central. and w. H. Dun
woody. of Minneapolis.
The list of witnesses included j. 5.
Bell, president; I. L. Course, E. M.
Fdirchild, James Hannis, y. c. Lorlng,
George Z. Ewing, Eugene Sheehan, w.
l. Martin. ~ V. Martin. r. NJ. Brough-
ton. general freight agent of the st.
Paul & Duluth; E. D. Parker assistant
general freight agent Of the 500; ).
O. Brooks, assistant general freight
agent OF the Chicago Great Western;
General Manager S. c. Stickney, of the
same line, with P. c. Stohr, general
freight agent; Hon. w. D. Washburn,
Is. c. Church and G. II. Christensen,
president of the Consolidated Milling
company.
The first witness of the session was
l. /. Course of the WaShburn-Crosby
company. who has had considerable to
do with the shipments made by the
concern. and whose relations are gen
orally very close with the traffic OIL
Gals Of the railroads.
Mr.. Course said that the existing rate
on flour to New York is so cents per
hundred. whereas at times prior to
March 20 il was as low as q cents.
He referred in his "reminiscences to the
25-Cent rate which was introduced
about the beginning of the new year,
but declared that according to the
records of his memory the 21-cent rate
was the lowest.
The volume of the business of the
WashbuTn-Crosby company was indi-
Gated by the statement that during 1897
the shipments aggregated upwards of
10000 cars. Mr.. Course insisted in the
progress of his testimony that to his
knowledge no special inducements for
traffic had been held out by any one of
the lines as against another. He had,
himself divided traffic among the diff
ferent lines in order to maintain friend
" relations all around. In the matter
of rebates he said, they We're constant
ly being received, sometimes on account
of OYerchaTges, but often on account of
the exchange of cars and delays. He
could not recOllect that there had been
any promises from agents that con-
ceSsions would be allowed if shipments
were made over their lines. He admit
ted that there were instances of chang
es in tariff now and then. notification
of which was hastily received. He was
not familiar with the details Of the
records bearing on the general SUBJ
ject.
E, NJ. Fairchild. a shipping clerk of
the Washburn-Crosby company, was
the principal witness of the afternoon,
and was followed by F. s. Schirsher,
agent of the Blue Line" which takes
in almost everything associated with
the New York Central system. Mr.
Fairchild was questioned along about
the same line as was Mr.. Course. In
regard to the Wisconsin Central route,
which is across the lake at Manitowoc,
he thought the rate was cents low
er. He did not think, however, that the
shipments We're abnormally large by
that route and the 500" There were
no concessions from such shipments, he
said.
In reply to the question whether any
of the railroad companies had absorbed
the service from the Washburn- Crosby
mills he replied that he was not aware
of that fact if it was so. In the event
Of any rebate being guaranteed, the
witness said he would have known
nothing of it.