The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-10
RAILROAD NEWS.
Kansas Millers Win Something
of Victory.
Flour Rates Have Been Re-
duced by Three Cents.
WITHIN 2 CENT MARGIN
They Must Be Kept Close to
the Wheat Tariff.
Other Items of Interest to
Railway People.
WITHIN 2 CENT MARGIN

! Washington. July 1O.-The inter-
state commerce commission in an
! opinion by Commissioner Prouty an
nounced its decision yesterday in the
case of the Howard Milling company
against the Missouri Pacific Railway
| company and other carriers. The COM
| plainant alleged that the defendant
carriers unduly Disseminated against
Kansas mfllerS in favor of California
millers by exacting rates for the trans
| portation of flour which was 10 cents
! greater per 100 than the rates con-
temporaneously exacted for Transport
| tation of wheat from Wichita and 9TH
| er shipping points in Kansas to points
| in California. known as Pacific Coast
| Terminals and also by exacting rates
for the transportation Of flour which
were 35 cents per 100 greater than the
rates contemporaneously exacted by
them for the transportation of wheat
from the said shipping points to
Phoenix, Ariz.
The commission decided that the
flour rates between the shipping and
destination points should not exceed
the wheat rates between such points
by more than seven cents per hundred.
The commission says that there Is
no infiexible requirement that rates
upon grain and the products of grain
sh ould be under all circumstances the
same but rather that carriers may, in
Just regard for their own interests or
to meet special conditions, vary those
rates within narrow limits. When,
however, the relation has been estab-
lished, business developed and money
expended upon the strength of it, then
the carrier can not, in the absence of
some sufficient reason. change that re-
lation nor would the commission d.
rect such a change.
History of the Case.
This suit was brought before the in
terstate commerce commission against
the leading railroads operating in
Kansas by the Howard Milling COM
pany of Wichita about the first of
January. 1907. The case dragged
along until after legislature when, I'M
der authority given by a law enacted
during the last session.. the state board
of railroad commissioners INTERVIEWED
on behalf of the state of Kansas. That
put the attorney for the board into the
fight and he appeared before the COM
mission both on the Pacific and At
lantic coasts in presenting the Kansas
side of the case.
At present there is differential of
ten cents per hundred pounds in the
rates on wheat and flour shipped from
interior Kansas points to California
The contention made by the plaintiffs
has been that this ten cents was large
enough to make it possible to build up
a grain milling industry in California
at the expense of Kansas. California
shippers. under this differential, could
ship wheat from Kansas, mill it in
California, and place it on the mar
ket cheaper than Kansas millers could
! sell the flour after shipping it to Cali
fornia.
Attorney S. S. Ashbaugh appeared
before the commission in Portland and
spent two days before the commission
presenting the Kansas contention.
California millers were represented. A
! few weeks later Mr.. Ashbaugh again
| appeared before the commission and
made the final arguments in Washing
ton, D. c. California was also repre-
Sented at this hearing.
Mr.. Ashbaugh returned from Wash
| ington about two weeks ago and upon
his return stated that he believed the