The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-12
S- Railroads Deny Adjust | ment of Freight 1 Rates. iDIScRIMINATIoN IS
 TO BE CHARGED Freight Bureau Declares Carriers
 Are Stirling Competition. Petition sent to TraHc Managers hy Mr. KeaIhofer Warns Them of Discoutent Throughout coun-
 try--Counsei Engaged to | Fight for Justice.

Fight for Justice.
 The Montgomery Freight Bureau will appeal to the Interstate Commerce Commission for more equitable rali- road freight rates from Western points to MontGomefy ned Aeae 1ers conn rht WI,i be
 made to secure from the railroads what Montgomery business men and snip
 pers believe to be justice to this city
 ''The bridses have been burned be-
 hind us.' is the way one shipper ex- pressed 1t yesterday We have been
 working. over year along rlenSly they have refused to acknowledge our
 claims we will see if we haven't the
 law on our side"
 The decision to appeal to the Inter- state ComnIerce Commission was the result of a refusal by the railroads to grant a petition sent to them by II 5. ESeaIhofer, Manager of the Freight Bu-
 reau. This petition was forwarded to the traffic headquarters of all railroads
 entering Montgomery on November ,.
 Mir. Kealhofer has just received re- plies which are equivalent to rejecting the petition.
 By direction of Chairman W. Evan
 diver of the Freight Bureau MT. keal1 hofer has already taken steps to ap- | peal the matter to the Interstate Com merce Commission. Mir. Vandiver has
 been working with the railroad ofh- | n readiustment of freight rates to
 Montgomery. He secured some con-
 sessions but it is held that the carriers
 cfS city 's in such 'G a way as to act as de- terrent to It's commercial and lndustrial
 progress. .
 "On November 3rd," said Manager
 Kealhofer of the Freight Bureau yes terday. T sent, by instructions from
 Chairman Vandiver. petition to the
 in freight rates against Montgomery and asking for an adjustment. Upon
 my return from Washington l md let
 ters from the railroads denying our petition and stating that they will not
 be Justified in changing the rates 10 Montgomery.
 1 Vandiver of the Freight Bureau, to l prepare our case for presentation to l the Interstate Commerce Commission.
 Able counsel has already been consult | case Is an exceptionally strong one un- der the third section of the act for the regulation of interstate commerce | "We have riven every consideration
 to the matter. and have used all other
 means to secure recognition, for Mont
 gohery but the railroads have hatly | thereby forced by them to take the | action indicated.
 The petition sent to the railroads
 and which Is referred to by Manager 1 Keaihofer of the Bureau, is a lengthy | document in which the history of
 Montgomery's efforts to secure an ad- l The petition is addressed to c. B. 1 Compton, Traffic Manager, Louisville | and Nashville Railroad Company; Hai-
 Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company and l.. Green. Freight Traffic Manager.
 Southern Railway: co~ies of the pe- | Winburn, Vice President of the Gen. | tral Railroad of Georgia; E. F., Cost,
 Vice President of the seaboard Ar
 Manager of the Atlantic Coast Line; James Menzies, General Freight Agent
 of the Atlc .'1 Coast Line, and M M
 Ansley. General Freight Agent ot the 1 Western Railroad of Alabama.
 tt is understood that the represen- | ta9ives of the trunk lines wrote Mir.
 Kealhofer denying the petition. Some of the other officials have not answered '"' p'''' History Of EHOrta.
 "on May 3, 1905. at Montgomsry
 a0f W. F! vandiveT Tepresenting. the ! wholesale grocers and jobbng inter
 ests of this city. addressed the execu,
 lines on, the subject of rate adjust jnent. Ohio and Mississippi River Cross | ings to Montgomery. Alabama. On In
 vltation extended at the close S,. or ,1ins tnas l before a joint meeting of the Southern Freight Association and the southeast | ern MisStsSipDl valley AssOclatlOn, III 1 convention assembled, at Hot Springs,
 Virginia. May 24. 1905. Subsequent ap-
 peais were made at Atlantic City; New
 Jersey; July 70; 1905 by sa MT of EsG6i- ssIn1s Alabama: at Chicago, Illinois, in Sep
 tember. 1905. bv Mir, Vandlver and at
 Louisville, Kentucky, March 27. 1906,
 by Mr. Nandlver and MT. w. P. Lewis, 1 then Manager of this Bureau. These | arguments. were ably presented. sup
 ported by indisputable evidence. which
 we ask that you consider in connection
 with petition herewith, excepting the
 correction in rates caused by changes | made therein since the above petitions while we are grateful for the meet ling of our views to certain extent
 we still feel the relative adjustment to is our duty to ask further considera-
 Eve do not complain that Ire pres
 ent rates. are in and or themselves un- reasc nable, but that they are unreason- able because of their relative adjust ment to other points in contiguous ter
 rltory, and furthermore. that reduc7 tions have been made to those points
 without giving the same and proper consideration to Montgomery.
 Our contention is for a readjust- ment that will enable Montgomery to meet. but not extinguish, competition
 with other points serving the same territory.
 "Fhe underlying principle of rate construction is what students of polit- 1 ical economy are pleased to term place value'-it is one of the three creative powers of wealth. Transportation com panies are mostly interested therein be- cause 1t is the impelling power of their existence. While it governs. their ae- tions in all large natural producing sections, such as c0ah limo. lumber, ce- ment. iron, fruit, vegetables. etc, it IS also a potential factor in the distribu- tion of manufactured articles. such as rroducts from cotton and furniture | factories which have blanket rates l from their territorial location to cer- | tain destinations, originalir made to meet competition from other manutac- turing centres to the srrnr destinations. 1 Place-value is therefore created when | from a point where it has no value to | a point where it has value. or from point where 1t has Q certain value to point where fl has greater value. | we complain that dtscrimlnatloh has been made against Montgomery, l fnasmuch as the place value of cOmmod- tiles shipped from the West is higher at Montgomery. than uuou delivery Of | lfk" commodities to other destinations 1 in contiguous territory-and when | destinators are in direct competition | with Montgomery 70 an intermediate
 section that should be common terri | tory and served on an equal basis. or az near thereto as the construction or rates will nermit. .,.,- | You. gentlemen, are familiar with | the original adjustment from Ohio and | Mississippi River crossings to south | eastern basing or distributing points ! when efforts were made to enforce the l Fourth Section of the Intertate Com