The San Francisco call., 1904-12-16
THE NEW BILL OF LADING.

y
draft follows bill of adng point
exchange This process has the vadaon and support OF the law
Of carriers railroad, being carrier,
sponsbe the safe delivery of the which paid
caused BY what the law recognizes as the act Of God that is to
w bv something unforeseen and aa;nst Which foreo1srno i'm
possible
The views of the President repe ing the need of proper
are 1Toran1T nm s7onorted b % bi+; ~ hf & b 81 - d og p
al OF the leading railroads the for the avoiding
their liability This combination has prepared
and printed the number Of 5ooooo bills of adng Of
classes One OF these forms advances the freight per
and guarantees the shipper against loss OF his property IN transit
The other form does advance the rate but expressly provides
that the railroad shall be responsible for any loss The shipper
may take his choice The rst form turns the railroad into an in
surnce company, and the shipper pays per premium
insure him from loss The second form makes every shipper his
o" insurer ana both forms eVad the OF the railroad
common 1t is announced that if this scheme work it
tickets ading and traveller will insure him
self by paying higher price for his ticket he will uninsured
cheaper ticket and the railroad will be responsible for kill
ing wOundng him.
first publicity was given to the new bill of ading by the
bankers Under the existing system property
ships market adng
He borrow money and the bank draft goes forward with the
bill OF adng the consgnee and paid when the property sold
But the bill Of adng OF the first class carrying the per
advance IN the freight marked mot negotiable which
that IS not commercial paper has no mobility and cannot be used
the railroad from all responsibility for loss Of the propert
IS not negotiable for the property at owners risk and
bank took the bill would become the OF the property and
This proposed change threatening ever ap
Peed IN the history OF commerce 1t works backward into the
whole field production and exchange and forward into the whole
field Of consumption Under the small shipper would disappear
o11IS' III
s LIABILITY nor can bs do business 9 +b by @ @ ~ b; d;
represented by the bill Of adng is because he this
that he small shipper He competitor factoring the
products of the country, has absolutely
sar protection producer the consumer But
the bill OF ladng destroys him. 1t gives capital
the hands OF the big shipper the monopoly OF the factoring of the
products OF the country Such capital negotiate
bill OF adng does need credit all 1t ship
the bill OF adng OF the
form OF increased rate and charge the advance off to the
1t VIII be seen then that the bill OF ladng creates auto
macay the factoring and shipping of all the products
OF the country Taking advantage Of the contracual relation that
necessarily exists between the common carrier and the shipper this
bill releases the railroad from liability
in methods thorough far reaching and injurious
at we believe the courts VIII nvadate the bill adng
restraint OF trade and against good
lie policy. President Roosevelt has exposed rebates
and declared that they Commercial methods
by their effect The rebate favos shipper
arrangement destroy competition factoring
shipping OF the products OF the country 1t automatically
such business The egg Of which the Standard Oil
hatched rebate 1t is perfectly plain that of
ading analogous because its
effect the As the rebate legislative pobon
must be this substitute for It.
The bills go January next The banks
sounded hearing which the shippers
imperecty prepared called before
Commission No conclusion has been reached by
but the hearing resulted in the uniform bill ladng
mee representing all the railroads. agreeing postpone use of
the bill until February 1905 This extension
duer covering the whole country protests but
with testimony the injurious of ladng One
banker in nutshell when he said Under the common
ers liability law we always knew that the bill OF ladng would
produce either the goods the money To this the
pleaded that the increased losses of property
esa to increase freight rates 20 cent the roads
stand the loss To this it properly answered that the
and the loss let it be reduced greater
and discipline But is
losses caused by themselves In 1903 their total earnings
S3427o5I their losses only S376oS and their profits
SIo74S76 From this it does appear that they mpov-
erished under their liability carriers.
The of California vitality this matter
and bankers and commercial bodies should keep informed
about it
RECOGNITION FOR LUTHER BURBANK