Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-08-22
Mp. THROUGH RATE.
Hearing on St. Cloud Protest
Held Before Interstate Com
"~ mission in St. Paul. :&s.

! From Thursdays St. Paul Dispatch. -
The Interstate commerce COM
mission today commenced a hearing
of the alleged discrimination In
freight rates of the Northern Pacific
railroad between St. Cloud and the
head of the lakes. g.:
Chairman Knapp and Youmans
were the commissioners in attend
ance.
j. n. Mitchell and l.. II. Chamber
lin represented the Northern Pacific.
Two cases, both involving the
same questions, were heard, being
the petitions of the George Tileston
Milling company and the city of ST.
Cloud. The milling company was
represented by it's president, acting
as attorney, D. E. Lyon, and the
city by G. w. Stewart, city attorney.
The facts, which are not disputed,
are as follows:
The railroad company makes a
thorough flour rate to New York OF
2lh cents, via, the lakes, from st.
Paul, Minneapolis, Anoka and Fix
River. Although st. Cloud is on the
line, that city cannot get a better
rate than IL cents to the lakes, and
l6b cents thence to New York, max
ing 2Sh cents in all. The object OF
the petition is to compel the rail-
road company to give St. Cloud the
benefit of the through rate.
The defense is that the through
rate is made in competition with
three other shorter lines to Duluth
and West Superior, being the East
ern Minnesota, St. Paul & Duluth
and the Omaha roads. The North
ern Pacific's route from the Twin
Cities to Duluth is long and round
about, being by one train to Little
Falls, thence by another to Brainerd
and thence by a third to the lake
points. The Northern Pacific
claims that it cannot apply the
through rate to local points. The
petitioners claim that it is a violation
of the long and short haul clause OF
the Interstate commerce act to exact
higher rates on intermediate points
than between the feminist. Louis
and Duluth.
The first witness examined was J.
Nj. Hannaford. general traffic mana
ger and third vice president of the
defendant. He testified that the
company had been doing business
under the schedule between the cities
and Duluth only since April. The
rate had ruled about the same on
other roads for the last five or six:
years. The main purpose of the
road in making this rate was to get
southbound coal and lumber bust
ness.
The large number of empty cars
accommodating at Duluth in the crop
moving season made it desirable to
get some hauling to do from Duluth
West and South. The rates between
the cities and the lake hold extraordi-
narily low, being the lowest in the
state, as the result Of the competition
of four roads. The first-class rate per
100 pounds was IS cents, while the
corresponding rate for the same
distance in this and other states
ranged as high as 70.
When cross-examined by Mr.. Lyon,
Mr.. Hannaford said that the COM
pany could afford to carry -four at
81 cents from Minneapolis to Duluth,
but could not afford to make the
same rate from non competitive
point such as St. Cloud. All the
other towns on the line would be de-
handing the same rate.
Mr.. Lyon: Why do you make q 81
cent rate from Minneapolis to Du-
luth and charge II cents from St.
Cloud, which is sixty-fve miles
nearer Duluth?
Mr.. Hannaford: We do through
business at that rate because we
can't get more.
Mr.. Stewart: And you make us
pay higher because we have to pay
it
H. G. Erwin, secretary and general
manager OF the Tileston Milling COM
pany, was called. He declared that
on account of discrimination in
freight rates, the price Of wheat at
st. Cloud was cents lower than at
the neighboring town of Princeton.
He related the manner of making a
tender of a carload of flour to the
Northern Pacific at the through rate
to make test case.
Chairman Knapp brought out the
fact that the milling company would
probably patronize the Great North
ern road for convenience sake in the
case the Northern Pacific should
make a cut and the Great Northern
oho,111 moot IT.