The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-07-13
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1F'l0|R } A|IsNC0|M' v W
Freight TrafficsManag ON g.
WI Tells Of te-Making
and Of Rates.
THE. COMMISSION TO ADJOURN n 10 \
Will Take Recess Until July 23.
Willard8Absent Oh Accout1tSof@
Sickness in Family,

Sickness IN u ai11iiy
Freight TRAFFIC Manager r. s. Dnvant,
OF the Norfolk and Western ilvvny,
occupied the stand during all Of yester-.
day before tho Corporation Commission
In the freight ratio hearing. and he will.
not complete his testimony this week.
The commission will at tho end Of the
afternoon session to-day adjourn until
July 23d, and will then resume for one
week, and not sit during tho month OF
August. igg 53 ,3 IA isE js99l S55sl ss G8}
There were two sessions YESTERDAY. and
there will be two to- day. Commissioner
Willard did not sit yesterday, having
been called to New York on account Of
the illness Of Mrs. willard 3.8
asasS6 Mr. Cooke examined the witness for
his company during the morning session..
and Mr. Braxton took hold OF him n the
afternoon. 3aS # X 4 II Il GGSl
IA ''Do you think 1t practicable for your
Interstate business to be operated IN SVir-
rlna under the proposed system, and
outside under the Southern or official
classification 2" the witness was asked s.by
Mr.. Cooke. s q 53i5 Fl M @ u ~ XXI s3
businesscould DO run only at
serious disadvantage, as the confusion OF
several systems would be Q serious draw y
f back 4 6I Il
i!'',Are the present rates just. fair and
reasonable charges for the services ren-
Sdered by the road r.
39' IT do not consider them thoroughly
just and fair, but}I do consider them
reasonably low" s}.s3
With Mr.. Braxton.
@ When the afternoon session convened,
Mr.. Braxton took Mr. Davant in hand
and fired a volume Of questions at him,
concerning the rates, and the method
or rate making on his road. Id M
Rate sheets, classifications and all the
other subjects relating to the depart
ment whchsis presided over BY the Wit
ness were thoroughly sifted, and the Wit
ness was put through severe cross-ex-
ANNA ton, embracing perfect fusilade
of questions. ~ $
r. rs 1t not q Gfact'"S asked Mr.. Braxton.,
that the main reason why your road
changed to the official, classl fication was
to enable 1t to raise its rates r.
"rhat was one OF the considerations,
I but not the only one =
testified that at some points
the company was operatlhg under two.
iflcations and he admitted, ~ an
iswer to a question, that matters would
be simplified by having but one cclassift-
Z cation. 49, }a
b Asked il he was not using two classifl-
cations on his Durham line, and doing It
voluntarily, witness said the first point
OF the proposition was true, but that5tt
was not done .volunt rily. He said h he
was .impelled to this course on account
oe the fact that competitive lines were
doing the same thin 8. u
i.I ask you II 1t would not bS very
much simpler for the shipper to have t6
deal with one, rather than two classifl-
cations e. d
"That is undoubtedly true. "a
Cause More Confusion.
Witness, however, thought the promul-
cation OF the proposed Virginia GIG IS
cation would cause more con fusion than
cher n 4, S,g $E !,
Ia took for example shipment from
Abingdon. Va, to Johnson City. Tenn,
where he said the Virginia classification
would apply from Abingdon to Bristol
and the Southern classification from
Bristol to johnson City He declared that
the shipper was entitled to any legit ate
combination OF rates, and tho Norfolk and
| Western always tried to give them tne
benefit Of them.
Witness was questioned briefly by Com
hand 81 Mr.. Braxton.3 Mr.. B raxton now
read into the record some extracts from
the classification and tariff rates pro-
posed by the commission, and this caused
some thing OF a lull In the examination.
Resuming the witness was asked many
questions concerning the makeup OF the
Southern and official classified tlons, re-
spectlvely. but the subject appeared rat n
OF a complicated one to layman.8 55
Witness said within the past six years,
there had been nine hundred and sixty
four reductions and one hundred and
seventy-four increases in class:tlcatlons,
showing that frequent changes take place.
He declared, in his Judgment, that the
rates Of his roads are reasonably low, and
| said they were controlled largely by COM
petition. $..55
LIN answer to question, he said the
"reasonableness' of O rate was very
much of an unknown quantity. and tho
term was therefore hard to define.
The commission at $50 o'clock took 8
recess until II o'clock this morning,