Evening journal., 1905-05-18
ROBBINS TELLS OF
PRIVATE LINES
Declares to Senate c ommit
tee They Are Not to Get
Rebates
Mr., CULL0M ASKS QUESTIONS
BY William woln smith.

BY William Wolff smith.
Washington. D. c., May Isl wish
to deny as emphatioally as possible the
report that the private cars are employ
ed as means Of obtaining rebates" said
George b. Robbins. president Of the
Armour Car Lines before the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce yes
terday. 1t was the FIRST appearance of
a representative Of the car lines before
the committee. For weeks Of last ses-
sion the car lines were made the SUBJ
iect Of bitter attacks by commission
merchants Now, at the conclusion of
the hearings before the Senate commit
tee, they have been accorded an op-
pOrtunity to refute the many state
ments made before it and Il Is ex-
pected the testimony OF the car line rep
.rcsentatives will consume from week
to ten days.
AS so many accusations have been
made that the private car lines were
employed as a method of obtaining re-
bates, the emphatic denial of Mr.
Robbins evoked a great deal of inter-
est In the committee room. Senator
Cullon asked II he had understood him
correctly. 'I wish to repeat" said Mr.
Robbins, that the private car lines
are not utilized to secure rebates in any
shape, manner or form. After the pas
sage Of the Elkins law orders were
given to all the employees of the Armour
Car lines that no rebates should be
taken in any form and these instruc-
tions have been followed to the letter
I consider the present law to be as
broad as can possibly be framed for
the prevention of rebates"
IL was impossible for the Armour car
lines to supply everybody continued
Mr.. Robbins, but they did claim to
satisfy from so to 80 per cent of the
shippers using the cars. AS an illustra-
tion of the vicissitudes Of the business
and i'm support Of his contention that
the carrying Of fruits i'm refrigerator
cars was necessarily a business propo-
sition of a private mature, rather than
o duty which should be imposed upon
the railroads. Mr.. Robbins stated that
last year IL was estimated four thous-
and cars would be sufficient to carry
the Georgia fruit crop, but after the
crop began TO move an additional
thousand cars We're required which
necessitated the readjustment of the
business Of the company and the ship
ment of over four hundred tons of ice
in train-load lots from Lake Erie I'm the
midst of the summer. BY reason of
their arrangement, however, the
Armour lines were enabled to give
satisfactory service without increasing
the cost Of the shippers.
During the present season the North
Carolina strawberry crop suddenly
jumped to 200 cars a day. The car lines
were not prepared to handle this sudden
increase and for the past week an at
torney has been i'm North Carolina
adjusting the claims Of the shippers.
Mr.. Robbins estimated that the failure
of the company ito meet this sudden
demand for cars would cost the Armour
lines more than $4,000, adding (which
will be more than the profits from this
same business for a long series Of
years
"The agitation against the private
car lines. coupled with such losses ae
these, which are constantly occurring, "
he said, ''have greatly discouraged the
car lines from making provision to ex-
tend their business and is partly re-
sponsible for the shortage of cars in
North Carolina this season" He ex-
/ plained that under the exclusive con-
tracts Of the company with the rail-
roads they were required to pay the
claims Of shippers where losses were
incurred from lack of cars.
In reply to questions by Senator Gull
lom, Mr.. Robbins stated that he did
not consider the private car lines were
In any respect under the Interstate
/ Commerce law nor did he think they
could be properly placed under the
operation Of this law He said that he
did not think the private car lines
could live if placed under the jurisdic-
tion of the Commission. what would
be the result If the private car line.
went out of ibusiness?" asked Senator
Collum.
1T would be a most serious blow tC
the fruit industry of the United States,
was the response.