New-York tribune., 1906-08-30
EXPRESS MEN HEARD.
NO RATE RULINGS GIVEN.
Commissioners AdUisc Carriers That
Nezc Lac Viii BE Enforced.
TFr7m Tae TrihlIne Bureau. ]

washington. Aug. 29.-The express COM
,snies made their petition and arguments for
-.ore time - obey the rate law to-day before
,be Interstate Commerce Commission. and got
,nar consolation and no promises Like the
railway men who appeared yesterday. they
,ss.red. The Tribune predicted. that the law
vas going 20 be enforced and that the best
.hins = do WAS &c obey ir
Chairman KnarT and Commissioners Clem-
,nts, Cockrell, Lane AMI Clark did the listen
sg bit viii make 10 dec isicns and grant no
Axors until Commissioners Prouty and Harlan
ioiE them fOr deliberation rhe last of next
seek In the mean time :hey advise all COM
mon carriers 10 do their best 10 get in line with
he new regulations, which have got TO be OBJ
.erved Almost az the outset OF to-day's pro-
eeedngs Commissioner Clark. who was head
e the brotherhood of Railway Conductors and
Who is. intensely practical, asked a question
that apparently was in the minds Of all the
iaymen present. He inquired why it was if
all the agents OF the express companies hal
The rates 10 various points and could tell the
customers how much IL would cost 10 send a
package Of weight TO any place that the
companies could not immedia .ely file all these
rates with the commission instead of pleading
Cor several months of delay.
Commissioner CockreU said that as he nm
a citizen finding out how much the express COM
pany wanted him to pay: the kick" OF the
citizen was usually at having to pay that
much.
Frank H. Platt, who was present as general
counsel Of the United States Express Company.
said that this was entirely a misconception;
that the public as rule was entirely satisfied
with eXpiess rates; that in all the fifteen years
Of his experience he had never heard Of
Complaint or. II so. it had hecr so long ago he
bad forgotten about IT,
Ng. Crosby. the vIce-president and eenaro,
manager ST the United States Express Com
paTy. thought he could explain the deiav IN
making cut the rates for ding and did go into
an elaborate explanation OF how the several
millions Of rates were made up from the original
sheet But up 10 the close of the hearing there
did not seem to be any definite answer TO Com
missioner Clark's question.
Each Of Tie express representatives had a long
explanation handy TO just how much work
the making out OF the tariffs involved. Mr.
Plait said there were 1.010 sheets, with S75
rates TO a sheet in their straight tariff alone;
that there would be over 5000 pages in the COM
peted volume. and that they had 5000 of their
own offices to deal with, TO say nothing of as
many more Offices in the companies with which
they had combination arrangements. All of
uleSe combination rates, ne said. had to be
worked out But il was not explained at any
stage Of the hearing just how the express COM
panies were working and earning dividends
while all this clerical work being done.
Among the express officials present were ].
r. Bradley, general traffic manager. American
Express Company New York (also representing
the National Express Company; W. II. Burr,
Western Express, Toronto; c. H. Crosby, vice
president and general manager United States
Express Company, New York: ID. s. Elliott, gem
eral manager Great Northern Express Company,
ST. Paul; N. 7. Jones, superintendent of traffic,
United States Express Company, New York:
Charles L. Loop vice president Southern Ex-
press Company Chattanooga; John ID. Ludlow.
traffic manager. Wells Fargo & Co. Express
(also representing Pacific Express Company;
Frank H. Platt, general counsel United States
Express Company; J. Zimmerman. superin-
fendent of traffic. Adams Express Company.
4 brief hearing was also accorded TO repre-
sentatives Of lines that have been established by
large corporations for the purpose. primarily, OF
taking care of the switching Of those concerns.
F. B. Montgomery, Of Chicago who repre-
sented the international Harvester Company,
submitted inquiries on which he wanted rulings.
The inquiries were largely technical. One of the