The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1907-09-14
SANTA f LOSES
IN CAME WITH
SH|FTY RIVAL
Switching Agreement Be
tween Roads Proves to
Be a Lemon"
YARD LIMITS FIXED
Southern Pacific Takes Ad-
vantage and Shippers
Gain Little
BELT LINE REVIVED
Discovery of Real Condi-
tions Reopens Old
Proposition
BELT LINE REVIVED

OAKLAND, Sept 13.-Has
the Santa Fe been handed lemon
in the recently promulgated
switching agreement with the
Southern Pacific?
Merchants and shippers are
asking the question, while the
railway agents on both sides of
the bay who have been advised
are studying the situation at Oak
land with no little interest.
Quietly but no less forcefully it
has dawned upon the Santa Fe
that its supposed unrestricted
switching arrangement is full OF holes,
that the agreement is not all that IT
purports to be. that Santa Fe shippers
outside of a limited zone in Oakland
are little better off than they were be-
fore the agreement was made upon
which the hopes of many freight con-
signees was based for free and omen
use OF the Southern Pacific lines in this
city.
When the agreement was made the
Santa Fe people supposed that they
would gain the privilege (right, they
call thunder the Hepburn rate 1aw)
to use the Southern Pacific tracks upon
payment of reasonable charges for
switching. The agreement provided that
Santa Fe cars should be moved under
certain conditions within the yard
limits" of the Southern Pacific com
pany in Oakland. That was evidently
satisfactory until after the agreement
was effective. Then II was discovered
to the pain and surprise of the Santa
Fe people that the Southern Pacific
company had fixed the yard limits"
Those limits were Sixteenth street sta
tion on the north and Alice street on
Southern Pacific declined to switch
Santa Fe cars unless the Southern Pa
cihc was given pro rata on the reve-
nue. for the Santa Fe haul west of the
Missouri river. This meant that the
Santa Fe gained little or no advantage
from the agreement. for considerable
portion of its business would be done
IN East Oakland and In the district
north of Sixteenth street, especially at
the stockyards. where heavy shipments
Of cattle from the San Joaquin plains
would be made.
If the Southern Pacific demands
cut from the freight revenue on the
business of the Santa Fe outside of
the arbitrarily fixed yard limits" in
Oakland, the incentive for the Santa
SO strong as 1T would be IL 1T could
move its cars as the company supposed
the switching agreement to mean
Disclosures as to this agreement have
led already to a revival of the Union
belt line railway scheme That has
been dormant since the East Oakland
manufacturers. who fathered it. came
to an understanding as to open switch
ing with the railways. But the dis
covery of the alleged yard limit has
set the belt line people to thinking In
vestigation of the agreement has been
begun by the representatives of the
belt line people. They have been given
to understand that the Southern Pacific
company is refusing to switch on any
spurs freight not consigned to the own
ers of the spurs. In other words, a
shipper who does not control a spur
cannot get a car moved adjacent to his
place of business. even though he shall
have obtained the spur owners per-
mission to use the siding.
The chief interest renters. however,
around the outcome OF the switching
situation. The Santa Fe people main
tained. months prior to the signing OF
the agreement. that the Hepburn law
entitled them TO come into Oakland
over the Southern Pacific company's
tracks. provided they paid a fair price
as switching charges. They said that
the law entitled them to an unre-
strlcted territory. The yard limit re-
striction has taken them by surprise
With the probable inrerjection of the
belt line again the railway game In
Oakland appears 10 be in fair way
to take on new life-