The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-31
ROADS Ill PROTESTING
MUCH TROUBLE LIKELY WITH
RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE
COMMISSION
DISTRIBUTING RATE TOO Low
Companies Claim That the Rate
Takes No Confederation of Den
sity and Volume of Business
g. 8. Fee Back.

1t now appears that the differences be-
tween the railroad and warehouse COM
mission and the railroads over the sched-
ule Of rates submitted Aug. by the for
mer will not be settled without consid-
cradle difficulty. Protests against the
commissions schedule have commenced
to be filed by various roads, and the re-
suit of the conference Wednesday in
Gov. Lind's Office between the state and
railroad officials, which led all parties
to believe that an amicable settlement
could be made, has been radically
changed.
Commissioner Knox, in discussing the
matter yesterday, stated that after the
conference he thought that a peaceable
settlement would be possible, and yes
terday afternoon he reiterated the state
ment that if those who were present at
the meeting at the capitol were the only
ones to deal with, certainly such ter
minus could be effected, but being out Of
town men, they did not represent the
sentiment of the local railroad officials.
Mr.. Knox declined to state whether
the commission would be inclined to
make any material changes in the sched-
ule. He insisted that the commission
would stay by the two specific demands
made in it's schedule namely, the uniform
distribution rates for all towns, regard
less of their size, and the systematic clas-
sificatioR of goods shipped. He felt that
the commission would make no conces-
sions along these two lines. He declares
that any town in which there are manu-
factories and distributing stations should
have the same rates as the larger cities.
The rates have been granted to some Of
the Southern Minnesota towns, Winona,
Albert Lea, Red Wing and others that
are on the Chicago lines, from Chicago,
and it made it all the more necessary
that sister towns be given the same priv
ileges by the commission, in order that
things shall be maintained upon a fair
level.
The first road to file an objection to
the schedule was the Minneapolis & st.
Louis; then came the Great Western,
whose refusal to adopt the rates included
that of the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pa
cific. The Great Northern filed it's objec-
ton. including the Willmar, Sioux Falls
& Eastern, and other roads are expected
1
which these protests will be received is
Sept. z. The hearing upon them is to be
held two days later.
The protests are substantially the
same, differing only in minor details,
phraseology, ETC. They state that, under
the schedule of rates submitted the roads
would rot be enabled to realize fair earn
ings because of the unreasonably low
rates The existing distance tariff, they
| argue, IS not unreasonably low, but those
submitted are unreasonably low and con-
fscatory.
The distributing rate is also held to be
too low land is said to be made without
regard to the density or volume of the
business, besides being made in such a
manner that 1t would discriminate against
certain places and persons
Inc protests recite the conditions which
render the separation of state and inter
state earnings in reports by themselves
impossible. The two industries are so
lnterm1ngled as to render such a distinc-
ton out of the question.
In order to determine the unreasona tle-
ness of the tariff rates, the companies
aver, 1T would require an examinat flo,
OF the interstate rates and an apportion-
ment with other states over which the
MI commission has no Jurisdiction.
Inc time for making such exaunina tfone
Sney mold, as allotted by the commission
Is entirely too brief for the anoo,1nt -
| work involved u