Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-02
SHIPPERS
RECEIVE REBATES
]. S. LEEDS TESTIFIES IN
PRIVATE CAR INQUIRY
Witness Is General Manager Of Santa
Fe Refrigerator Dispatch-De-
cares This Practice Is
Necessary to Company
BY Associated Press.


CHICAGO, Nov. admitting that
rebates are given to shippers in the
California fruit service by practically
all private car lines, j. S. Leeds, gen.
eral manager of the Santa Fe Refrig-
orator Dispatch, enlvened the inquiry
being conducted here by the interstate
commerce commission to show the re-
lations between railroads and COM
panies engaged in the business of re-
frigerating freight in transit. Mr..
Leeds said these rebates were neces-
sary to his company because all his
competitors were granting them. He
asserted that he could not break up
the practice without precipitating rate
war,
The testimony today was confined to
the business of the Atchison, Topeka
&c Santa Fe railway and the Santa
Fe Refrigerator Dispatch, which cor
porations, according to officials of both,
who were on the stand, are owned
by the same interests.
Mr.. Leeds occupied the witness stand
the greater part of the day and was
followed by Edward Chambers, freight
traffic manager of the Santa Fe rail-
road, who prefaced a mass of unim-
portant testimony with the statement
that the stock of the corporations men-
toned is owned by the same interests
and that the corporations have the
same president.
The commission this afternoon Or
dered the taking of the deposition of
Edwin T. Earl of Los Angeles, Nov.
10. Attorney Urion for the Armour car
lines again endeavored to have fixed
date for closing the testimony in
the inquiry, but his motion was de-
MED.
Commissioner Prouty questioned Mr..
Leeds regarding the cost of refrigera-
tion in the California fruit service and
he said a charge for refrigeration Is
iustihable for the reason that the re-
ceipts for mileage are insufficient to
pay earnings on the expensively con-
structed cars.
Cost of Maintaining Cars
Mr. Leeds figures the cost of main
tenance of cars at twenty-one cents a
day and the earnings for sixty-six
miles at three-fourths of a cent q mile,
maintenance SIS and net earnings $67
year. The cars cost about $11OO
each.
In response to questions by Com
missioners Clements and Prouty, Mr..
Leeds admitted that he has paid re-
bates to shippers of deciduous fruits,
but insisted that there had been no
discrimination in favor of any one or
more shippers. The rebates, he said,
amounted to $40 a car to Chicago, SIS
to Buffalo and Pittsburg, and $40 to the
Atlantic coast.
A protest was made by attorneys
for the Armour car lines and the
Southern Pacific railway against the
loose manner of examining the wit
ness"
Commissioner Clements had called
attention to testimony given by Mr..
Leeds in hearings at Chicago a year
ago and asked Mr.. Leeds to tell the
commission again of these practices" "
The attorneys said that il Mr.. Leeds
had evidence of concrete cases where
rebates had been given 1t would be
all right for him to tell of these cases.
Mr.. Leeds then told of what his
company had done and said that he
was powerless to break UP the prac-
tice
"Why can't you break it up?" asked
Commissioner Prouty.
Because it would precipltate war
that might bring the charges below the
cost of refrigeration" said Mr.. Leeds.
J. II. Call of Los Angeles, special
counsel for the commission, asked Mr..
Leeds If it were not fact that Santa
Fe Refrigerator Dispatch is a part of
the Santa Fe railway, organized as a
matter of convenience"
Mr.. Leeds suggested that the organ
ization was a matter of necessity"
but he declined to commit himself as
to the detailed relations between the
two corporations.
Replying to questions by P. D. Dunno.
counsel for the Southern Pacific, Mr..
Leeds said it would be impracticable
for a great railway system, having
connections forking out beyond it's ter
minals, to handle its own refrigeration
business.