The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-29
HILAND'S OBJECTIONS.
c. NJ. & st. P. Official Tells Why COM
mission Shouldn't Make Rates.

Washington, April 29.-James H. Hi
land, third vice president Of the Chi
cago. Milwaukee & st. Paul railroad,
appeared before the senate committee
on commerce today. He said in part:
Some of the objections to placing the
rate making power in the hands of the
interstate commerce commission are:
It gives the commission power to linn
II the earning capacity of the railways
oy investing it with authority to make
rates without providing means that will
prevent notification of the commission )
order by relative reductions on the part
of competing railways, thereby main
tanning the correlation of rates original
Iy complained of, thus compelling re-
ductions in revenue without resulting in
corresponding benefit to the complain
ant-.
I do not believe that it is possible
for any commission to establish inter-
state rates in all parts of the United
States in an equitable manner without
practical experience and knowledge of
the conditions in the localities where
relief is demanded.
If the commission is invested with
power to make rates, it must use a
mileage basis. AS an illustration of the
injustice that may be done in the max
ing of rates by a commission appointed
with such arbitrary power, I might
state that an inquiry recently was
made of me why it was that rate of
so cents per 100 pounds was considered
fair and reasonable on lumber from the
Pacific coast to Chicago, a distance of
| 2,240 miles, while a rate of IS cents per
hundred was charged on lumber from
Ferguson S. c., a distance of only a
mile over 700 miles I must confess I
was unable to answer to the satisfac-
ton Of the inquirer or myself why there
should be such a disparity in rates be
cause / did not have any knowledge in
regard to the conditions that surround
ed the making of the rate from the
south to Chicago. It may be, and I
have no doubt it is a fact, that there
is a market for the lumber manufac-
tured at Ferguson at nearby points
which yields relatively a much greater
revenue to the railway company than
any rate which could be paid on the
long haul to Chicago. Therefore if they
were obliged to fix the rate from the
Pacific coast or Ferguson to Chicago by
comparison with the service performed,
the railways necessarily would be COM
PEELED to sacrifice participation in the
transportation Of lumber from one point
or the other. Which IS IN my judgment
one Of the most convincing arguments
that the rate making power without
full knowledge of all conditions is the
most destructive measure that can be
devised for eliminating competition.
The making of rates depends entirely
upon the conditions that exist in the
localities where the freight originates
and the destination to which the rail-
road company is required to carry it.
These conditions vary according to the
resources and character of commodities
shipped to and from various parts of
the United States, so that the govern
ment influence in the making OF rates
on particular commodities in one part
of the country would not necessarily
govern IN another. The western coun-
try particularly would suffer, because
the greater the distance west from the
Mississippi river the more sparsely set
tied is the country and necessarily the
more limited the volume of tonnage
Ninety-nine per cent of the COM
plants that are made of the tariffs of
the various railroads are not that the
rates in themselves are unreasonable or
unjust, but that discrimination and
preference are shown, and that is what
should be regulated and enforced so as
to prevent the granting in any form di-
rectly or indirectly of preferential rates
for communities or individuals