The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-24
news OF RAILROADS
WESTERN J0BBERS CLAIM NEW
RfoUSLY DAMAGE THEM
LESS THAN CARLOAD" RATES

They Are the Bone of Contention,
the Men From the Far West In
sisting That the Continuance of
= the New Schedule Will Ruin
e, Some Lines of hOIesale Trade
on Puget Sound.
Representatives of the jobbing interests
of the Pacific coast. and the important
commercial centers of the middle West
met in a conference at the Ryan hotel
yesterday morning, the result of which
will greatly affect transcontinental ship
ping business. The subject Of discussion
was the recent transcontinental freight
tariff put into effect by the two Great
Northern roads on May l, and which the
Western men claim. will ultimately cause
them severe loss. Jobbers of the middle
West. on the contrary hold that they
cannot afford to see the tariff changed,
and the opposing factions are arguing the
matter before representative officials OF
the Western roads. Two sessions were
held yesterday, an adjournment without
a decision, being taken at in the after
noon. third session will convene this
morning at 1920.
The freight tariff under discussion is
known as R. S. No. 1SS, and the particular
part in question is the amendment No. 2,
to the westbound tariff No. 1. c., as adj
justed to Northern Pacific coast ter
minals. 1t went into effect May 1, and
lowered the less than carload rates on
hardware, woodenware, paints, oils, agri-
cultural implements, wagon materials,
farming machinery and similar articles.
These are goods belonging to class
which annually represents a large share
of the shipments west from the Missis-
sippi valley and adjacent territory. This
fact makes the maintenance of the tariff
of vital Importance to the wholesale trade
of the middle West, and 1t is claimed re-
acts strongly against Pacific coast whole
salers in their attempts to meet compet-
ton. The coast jobbers represent that If
the present tariffs are continued, it will
ultimately result in curtailing their trade.
They desire a greater difference between
car and less than carload rates, and the
prohibition of mixed carload" shipments.
They maintain that unless a greater diff
ference is made In car and less rates. they
areScertafn to lose trade In their fmme-
date territory,sto which they hold, they
are justly entitled.
The contest, which, though entirely
friendly between the representatives of
the two interests, is nevertheless close
and is being waged in earnest. A strong
delegation was on hand at the opening
session of the conference yesterday morn
T,,-o
and other coast points, to urge a change
of tariff while St.. Louis. Chicago, st.
Paul and Duluth were equally we'll rep
resented by delegations intent upon Sc
curing the maintenance Of the present
freight rates. About eighty jobbers in all
were represented. and were met in St.
Paul by J. NJ. Hannaford, vice president
of the Northern Pacific; Francis B.
Clarke, traffic manager of the Great
Northern; Freight Agent Somers, of the
Great Northern, and other prominent Of
ficials.
The morning session was called to or
Ger by Vice President Hannaford, of the
Northern Pacific, who explained the pur-
pose of the conference. w. L. Martin
general freight agent of the 500 line, was
chosen chairman and the larger part of
the session was given over to the pre-
sentation of the claims of the Pacific
coast men, as set forth in paper by w.
r. Wheeler, of San Francisco. He ex-
planned their position, giving resume of
commercial history of the coast and ex-
planning the claims of the Western job
bers to be protected in their geographic
cal position. He explained that the less
than carload rates were originally put
into effect to meet the all-Water COMPETE
ton between the Atlantic and Pacific
These rates had been met by transconti-
mental lines in car lots, but had been ex-
tended to less than car lots, working an
injustice. From their geographical posi-
ton Western men were entitled to the
trade of a large territory, but were sure
to lose this unless greater differences
were maintained in the rates upon large
and small shipments. The present tar
ifs enable jobbers in st. Louis, Chicago
and the Twin Cities to sell Directly to the
retailers Of Washington and Oregon at
a profit, cutting into the territory for
merly controlled and belonging to the
Western jobberS and wholesalers.
The presentation Of the case was fol-
lowed by a general discussion, after
which an adjournment for lunch was
taken. The conference met again early
in the afternoon and the discussion was
taken up by the representatives of the
wholesale and jobbing interests Of the
middle West. They eontended that West
ern jobbers did not take advantage of
their position which they had advanced
as their main argument, and that evil
dence of this was found in the fast that
they receive only about 25 per cent of
the articles on which the less than car
rates have been lowered by the water
route, while the remaining rs per cent
comes to them across the continent bv
rail. They advanced the argument that
present rates on less than car lots are
from 50 cents to So per hundred pounds
in advance of the carload rates and that
this difference is, or ought to be. SUI
ficIent for their complete protection.
second argument mainly to the effect
that New York and Eastern jobbers are
compelled to pay practically the same
rates to the middle West which the mid
die West pays to the coast on both car
and less than car lots, was advanced in
defense Of their position. 1t was con-