The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-03
OREGoN,s DREAM.

The last issue of Golfers Weekly
contains a brief article from the pen
of some Oregon man, in which the car
shortage problem is settled once and
for all. Oregon, says the author, pro-
poses to pass a reciprocal demurrage
law, and then it will sit back and
watch the railroad magnates fall over
themselves in their eagerness to place
cars at the disposal of Oregon's ship
pers.
Poor, deluded Oregon! What
mighty disappointment is in store for
her! Did not Kansas settle the car
shortage problem in this self-same
manner two years ago? And isn't 1t
greater problem today than ever?
What is reciprocal demurrage 2"
asks the Oregon man. and he answers
the question himself this way: 1T is
the peoples Big Stick with which in
that state the railroads will be COM
PEELED to supply cars when needed, or
pay a given sum as a penalty each day
during which they delay in doing so.
It may be the peoples Big Stick all
right, but the railroads have hold OF
the business end of it. and if the Ore
gan programme is carried out the
shippers will get the worst OF It,
been enforcing demurrage against the
shippers for years. this Oregon writer
continues:
Immense sums have been thus col
Iected from the manufacturers and
grain dealers and others who ship in
car lots. 1t is proposed now in ore
gon to make this excellent rule work
both ways. Apply 1t to both shipper
and transportation company. In jan
uary a law Will be passed-and the
bill therefor will not rest long in the
desk of any committee chairman,
either-for reciprocal demurrage' the
car shortage will then be at an end.
The request of the shipper for a car
will be command for a car; for every
day in which the car is not supplied
after the first "a hours the railroad
must pay the shipper So"
Which works out very beautifully
on paper. In practice, however, 1T is
only a dream. AS has been heretofore
explained in these columns. when
railroad company wishes to collect de-
murrage. all it has, to do is to say to
the shipper, stand and deliver" The
railroad company has the shippers
goods. and he cannot get them until
he pays both the freight and the de-
murrage, and the longer he demurs
the more he has to pay in the long
run.
On the other hand the shipper has
no hold on a railroad company IL it
fails to deliver him the cars he orders.
The only thing he can do is to file his
claim for demurrage against the COM
pany. The railroad company refuses
to pay it, of course, and the shipper
can bring suit in court If he wishes.
He has to prove that he complied
with the law in ordering the cars. He
has only ordinary lawyers, while the
railroad has high-salaried men. There
are innumerabIe technicalities which
the railroad attorneys interpose. 1t is
expensive to the shipper, and If he
fights the case through to the end and
finally gets a verdict, his costs and at
torney's fees are far in excess of what
he collects from the railroad COM
pany.
Rather discouraging to the shipper,
isn't it?
Perhaps some wise Kansas legis-
lator will this winter find a way to
make the reciprocal demurrage law
effective. 1t is to be hoped SO. The
Oregon plan evidently won't work un-
less there is more to it than is out
lined in this article in Golfers.
Oregon Is having a beautiful dream,
but it is apt to turn into a nightmare
If 1t goes ahead and enacts a law
placing the reciprocal demurrage at
$40 a day. That is an unjust rate.
No freight car is worth that The
railroads would ask for nothing better,
for they will collect demurrage from
the shippers a hundred times to once
where the shipper collects 1t from
them. They will forget to assess 1t
against a few favored shippers. while
the ordinary shipper will be compelled
to pay for every hour that he keeps
cars loaded over the time specified. 1t
sometimes happens that shippers can
not unload their cars promptly just as
1t happens that railroads cannot al
ways promptly furnish cars when or
dered. The railroads will get the best
of the deal. and they could ask for
nothing better than a law legalizing
charge of $40 day for demurrage.