Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-01
PACIFIC MAIL MANAGER CITES
FIGURES
Tehuantepec Railroad VIII Be Fin
ished June I and, He Declares,
viii XIII lsthmian
Commerce
By Associated Press.


oceanic canals today.
His att sntioi, was called 20 state
rnent made by Secretary Taft crltl-
cising the service between Panama and
San Francisco for it's part in contrib
uting to the congestion of freight at
Panama.
In reply he said:
Secretary Tafts statement was made
either through malice tending to injure
an American industry or through ig-
norance Of the causes of the difficulties
Of which lie has complained" Con-
tinuing, he said that the Pacific Mail
Steamship company operates nine reg
ular steamers on the Pacific coast
which steamers sail on schedules ap-
proved by Honduras, Mexico, Near
augua and other countries whose ports
are entered. The schedules provide for
connections with the steamers of he
Panama Steamship company from New
York by means of the railroad across
the isthmus. The schedules require the
companies to make connections and ex-
change freight, said Mr.. Schwerin.
Freight Accumulates
A description of the con iitions on the
isthnsus since the canal commission
took charge of the Panama railroad
was given by Mr.. Schwerin. He said
that freight had accumulated on the
wharves, all commercial shipments hav-
ing been held up by the movement of
canal materials and the difficulty, Mr..
Schwerin asserted, was due to "culpab bic
negligence on the part of the man
aging officials of the Panama railroad
and utter indifference to their obliga-
tions as a common carrier"
He explained this to some extent by
the statement that the equipment of the
railroad had deteriorated greatly dur
ing the two years prior to the sale of
the property to the United States.
"As soon as control Of the road passed
to the United States" said Mr.. SohWer-
in, ''the conditions described began to
grow worse. The railroad company
cut the wages of men who worked on
the docks, which caused a strike. AS q
result we are both paying higher wages
than we were before for the poorest
labor in the world.
''It became the understanding that
the United States had bought the rail-
road to build the canal and cared moth
ing for the commercial business across
the isthmus. Commercial business was
neglected and it was said by Secretary
Taft, Mr.. Wallace, Admiral Walker, the
former chairman of the commission, and
others connected with the building of
the canal that commerce was secondary
W lIG IIlONSHlcnI VI CdHdl ilcdISl
yS Uncle Sans Indifference
"It was that indifference that brought
about the congestion. 1t is shown just
the same in shipments by steamer from
New York. A steamship may be loaded
with commercial business and a rush
order be received for canal material.
The commercial business would be re-
moved and canal business substituted,
but we would be notified of the ship
ment of the business desired for west
ern ports and receive papers for the
business. The result is that we would
receive bills of lading and manifests for
goods that could not be found and our
ships would be delayed for days. We
found it impossible to segregate the
shipments for particular loadingS, all
Of which was due to the inefficiency of
the officers of the Panama Railroad
company"
Mr.. Schwerin said lumber shipments
from New York were held up so long
that there were bills for demurrage
amounting to $19.617 between August
10 and November 80, 1905, and the Pana-
ma railroad will have these to pay. He
said that the Pacific Mail steamships
were held at Panama for long periods
and that there was no way this COM
pany can enforce demurrage charges.
Refuse Coal
He charges that the railroad COM
pany had further delayed the Pacific
Mail Steamship company's ships by re-
fusing 10 furnish them with coal as
they are required to do under con-
tract and that no complaint was made
to Supt. Humphrey of the railroad
company and he said the fault laid with
higher officials.
Mr.. Schwerin said he had resorted
to every means to bring about i'm
lit
test to the state department. Mr.
Schwerin complained also that the
Panama railroad had arbitrarily re-
duced rates from New York 10 ports
on the Pacific coast, where the haul
was divided between the Panama
Steamship company and the Pacific
Mail. He said he was informed that
the reduction was a concession to the
steel trust, which had protested to
Admiral Walker, the former chairman
of the canal commission, that the rates
were cheaper from Europe to Central
America than from New York to the
same ports. Secretary Taft had then
taken the matter up, said Mr.. Schwerin.
and authorized a reduction of the
rates.
In the absence of a contract he
added. the rate could not be lowered
except by mutual consent and the ad-
justment of the rates is Impending.
mo Money In II
1t was denied by Mr. Schwerin that
his company had had a monopoly on
the Pacific coast, and he declared that
there had been no money in the busi-
ness between San Francisco and
Panama.
He complained of the criticisms of
the cd npany made by Secretary Taft |
and sa d as a result the company had !
been h Id up to ridicule. He asserted
that the statement of Mr.. Stevens that
the Paciac Mail Steamship COMPANY %
showed that Mr.. Stevens was a rail- |
road man and confused steamship |
methods with railroad methods where, |
as matter OF fact, they are totally
different.
Senator Knox asked Mr.. Schwerin If |
he had not smarted little under the
criticism OF Secretary Taft and II that
kueniinuea o. rszs Tws.A