The St. Louis Republic., 1900-08-18
SOUTHERN CLASSIFICATION.
Changes Drought About by Protests
of Merchants and Shippers.

Oh Mercnnhta uuu ShlpperS.
New York. Aug. 17.-After repeated pro-
tests made by merchants and shippers in
all parts Of the country against changes
ard advances in the classification of freight
moving into territory south of the Ohio and
east of the Mississippi rivers, the Southern
classification Committee has granted
number of concessions involving changes
III the ratings as originally contained in
the. schedules promulgated on February
and June l. The new ratings have just be-
come effective. and are the only response
SO far made to the shippers protests.
The most important change. perhaps, is
in respect to the rule in Southern classiti-
cation, numbers % and 81. that prohibited
the acceptance by Southern lines of ship
ments packed in so-called fiber packing
fused absolutely to- accept such cases for
shipment, but have now followed the ex-
ample of the trunk line roads and agree to
accept them. but impose an additional rate,
the same as do the trunk lines. On behalf
of its members the Merchants Association
of New York strongly protested against the
stand at first taken by the Southern roads
| in this matter.
| In addition to this concession, beans. n. o:
| s.. dried, in barrels or sacks, are reduced
| from second to fourth class in less than
carload lots. reduction of one class has
| also been made in less than carload lots
| of ale. beer and porter. This makes car
| load rates on beer lower than ever before
| in Southern territory, and restores, the less
| than carload rate in the original rating.
The rates on coffee ammonia. saleratus
and axle grease have been reduced, but
rates on edible nuts are advanced. The
new rule regarding fiber cases reads:
| Rule 4 B 3-Property presented to car
| riers. packed in so-called boxes or cases
made from strawboard. leather board,
wood pulp fiber. wired splintwood or other
| analogous materials, inclOsed in wooden
frames. will be charged 10 per cent higher
property in boxes or cases, subject to a
| minimum increase of l per cent per 100
| pounds"
]. NJ. Langley of the Merchants Associa-
! tion said in an interview:
| Our association has persistently con-
| tested the right of transportation lines 10
refuse to accept for shipment goods packed
cases are in all respects as substantial a:
wooden boxes. and are extensively used by
wholesale and jobhing houses in many
| lines The Objectionable ruling was clearly
! an unjust discrimination in favor of man
| ufacturers of the latter, and this has beer
| continually pointed out.
The Southern lines. however, resiste {
| claims for justice up to the point at which
! a legal test imminent, but have now
changed their classification to correspond
in this respect with that in force in othel
classification territories. These accen
shipments made in fiber packing cases, bu
impose a penalty of 10 per cent higher thar
the classification provided for such prop
| erty shipped in wooden hoxes.
1.-THE Southern Classification Committee
which has jurisdiction in these matters fol
all transportation lines In the South. ha:
not shown itself to be responsive to argu
ment or reason in respect to the advance:
1t is attempting to enforce. and its ruling!
are now in process of Investigation by al
the State Railroad Commissioners Of South
ern States
These have declined to accept the classi
fication that became effective June l. bu
will consider in joint session on August 20
at Lookout Mountain, Tenn, a PROPOSE
ton to reject 1t and restore a classification
known as No. %. which was in effect prio
to February l. That classification was en-
tirely satisfactory to all commercial inter
ests and was observed without complain
| for years.