The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-05-04
RATE MAKING As IT
AFFECTS NORTHWEST
Milwaukee & ST. Paul Official
Makes a Statement to the
Senate Committee.
DANGER IN INTERFERENCE
Many Elements, He Declares, Are
Taken Into Consideration in Rate
Making Which Commission
Could Not Understand.

Washington, May AIT a meeting
today of the senate committee James
H.Hiland Observation-Disclosures
jChicago, milwaukee, ana u!
railroad, was called upon, and made a
statement Regarding railroad rates
which specifically affect, northwestern
traffic.
Mr.. Hiland said in part:
Some of the objections to placing the
rate making power in the hands of the IN
%terstate commission are: II
gives the commission power to limit the
earning capacity of the railways by in
vesting it with authority to make rates
without providing means that will! prevent
notification Of the commissions order
by relative reductions on the part OF COM
peting railways, thereby maintaining the
correlation of rates originally complained
of, thus compelling reductions in revenue
without resulting in corresponding benefit
to the compliments.
I do not believe that it is possible for
any to establish interstate rates in all
parts of the United States III an equitable
manner without practical experience and
knowledge of the conditions in the locali-
the traffic officials consider the CONNER
cial and physical conditions. the density
Of traffic and the competition of one To-
cality as against another: SO that these
statement that it would curtail and limit
the earning capacity Of the railroads that
lldNS now overcome ulSdDllltlSS DIS 10 8lie
location in both commercial and national
geographic condition. If the commission
is invested with power to make rates 1t
must use a mileage basis. AS an illustra-
ton Of the injustice that may he lone in
the making of rates by q commission app
pointed with such arbitrary power might
state an inquiry recently was made OF me 4
why It was that a rate of 30 cents per 100
pounds was considered fair and reasonable
on lumber from the Pacific coast to Chi
cago, a distance of 2,240 miles, while a rate
| Op % cents nor 100 OOun6S was charcoal an
lumber from Ferguson, South Carolina, a
distance of only a little over 7GO miles.
must confess that was unable TO an
swer to the satisfaction of the inquirer
or myself why there should be such a dis
parity between the rates, because I did
not have any knowiedge Of the conditions
rounded the making of the rate from the
south to Chicago.
1t may be and have no doubt it is a
fact that there is a market for the lum-
Der manufactured at Ferguson at nearby
points which yields relatively a greater
revenue to the railway company than any
rate which could be paid on the long haul
to Chicago.
Therefore, If they We're obliged to fix
the rates from the Pacific coast or Fer
guson to Chicago by comparison with the
service performed, the railways necessar-
lily would be compelled to sacrifice par
t.cipation in the transportation of lum-
and this In my judgement is one of the
most convincing arguments that the rate
making. power without a fun knowledge
of all the conditions is the most destruc-
tive measure that can be devised for elm
mating connection.
Another illustration of this arbitrary
and destructive form of rate-making Is
the case brought by the chamber of com
merce Of the city Of Milwaukee against
the various railroads in the northwest,
complaining Of unjust rate charges on
wheat and other gram from points OF
shipments in Iowa. Minnesota and South
Dakota to Milwaukee, as compared with
rates on like grain to Minneapolis. This
case was really the result of an adjust
and the Duluth markets, which previous
~ had been made in lire with the recon-
mendat.on of the interstate commerce
commission by compromise agreement
which, as l call it, was acceptable to both
the interstate commission and
the complainant.
The making of rates depends entirely
upon conditions that exist in the localities
where the freight originates and the deS-
t%inationl to which the railway compan j!
required to carry It. These conditions vary
according to the resources and character
of commodities shipped to and from vari'
GUS parts of the United States SO that the
governing influence in the making of rates
on particular commodities in one part O.
The country would not necessarily govern
In another.
The we~..,rn country, particularly. woulc
suffer because the greater the distanc,
west from the Mississippi river the more
Sparsely settled is the country and neces
sarily the more limited the volume Of ton
mage.
Ninety-n.ne PER cent. Of tho complaints
that arc made 70 the traffic officials of tn
various railroads are not that the rate
themselves are unreasonable or unjust
but that discrimination and preference i
shown, and that is what should be rcgu
lated and the law enforced so as to pre-
vent the granting in any form, directly o
Indirectly, of preferential rates for com
muQitipS or .nIiVilualS.