Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-02
RATE PROTESTED
Tariff on Lumber Attacked as Dis
eliminating Against the Town.
RAILWAY COMMISSION HAS CASE
g. S. Elgutter and "JimmY' SheehRn
VIII Fight 1t Out at the state
House at LincOIn in
September.

The hearing of the complaint of the
Florence Lumber and Coal company and
the Craig-Katz Construction comapny
against the Chicago. st. Paul, Minneapolis
& Omaha road before the Nebraska State
Railway commission has been set for Sep
TENDER 8. c. s. Elgutter is representing the
compiainants and j. B. Sheehan OF ST.
Paul the railroad company.
In July Mr.. Elgutter filed two complaints
with the commission against the railroad
company, one for the Florence Lumber and
Coal company and one for the Craig-Katz
Construction company, in which he alleges
the Omhha road is discriminating against
the town of Florence in the matter of rates
to the great detriment of that town. He
complains Of exorbitant and unlawful
freight rates for carload lots of building
material. lumber, sand. rock and crushed
stone from Omaha to Florence, a distance
of five miles.
In the case of the lumber company repa-
ration is asked for excess freight charges
amounting to about 1900 and the construc-
ton company is asking for a return of
about $500 overcharges. The overcharge
to the construction company was on about
800 cars of crushed stone which was used
in building the Fort Calhoun m~acadamized
road for the county. The material was
shipped from March Is to December /, 1907,
and the rate charged by the railroad COM
pany was 2 cents per hundred or about
$2 a car. The rates were raised about
the time the construction company was
ready to ship it's material.
Prior to the raise in freight rates in
March, 1907, the railroads made a general
charge from Omaha to Florence of s. a
car for such low grade material so the
I ANa -
except that the railroads still maintain the
old rate Of IS a car on coal and fee.
On lumber a raise was made from IL
cents per hundred to 4 cents per hundred,
or S24 a car. BY making this raise from
Omaha TO Florence the Omaha road, which
has a monopoly on the business. the COM
plainants aver, has practically removed
Florence from fifty to 100 miles distant tc
Omaha on a tariff basis and has discrim.
mated against concerns requiring carload
rates.
To show the discrimination the petition
~recites that the charge for shipping the
crushed stone from Weeping Water &c
Omaha is the same as from Omaha tC
; Florence, while the former haul is fifty
miles. as against five miles to Florence
! The compliments want Florence put OF
a the same basis as other suburbs Of Omaha
MAlNt AAahio VI NV " fikh HlAlEs
! are made. at the rate Of from 50 to IS pei
car.
Big Traffic at Ogden.
Reports from ogden show that railroad
traffic is increasing rapidly on the Harri
man lines oonverging at Ogden. The train
masters report shows that in one day, fiv,
{ loEg double-header freight trains were sen
east and a like number west. while thTe-
trains were sent north and two south
s None of these trains had fewer than fort!
cars and most had fifty cars, nearly a mil
in length.
i G.. a $. May Not Renew u. p. Pact.
1t IS announced from Denver that tn
: Colorado & Southern will not renew II
contract by which it turns over to tn
Union Pacific at Cheyenne the big iron or
traffic 1t receives fro the Wyoming
fields. The contract expires next spring an
|, the Colorado & Southern intends to exten
its line from Wilmington to Cheyenne an
4 build an entirely new line between Ions
mont and Lafayette, making a saving c
y nine miles between Longmont and Denvel
a Considerable work has already been don
between Longmont and Fort Collins in tn
reduction OF grades and the building OF ne
81 bridges so that train loads may be increase
from 800 tons TO 1000 tons.
Fort Collins to Hudson.
= The filing with the secretary Of state {
- Colorado Of Incorporation papers Of III
Burlington Interurban Railroad compan
with a capital OF $4,000. has aroused col
siderable interest around Fort Collins whei
It is thought the plan IL to build from Fo
Collins 30 Hudson and then expand II
& new road proposes to make connection
. with the Burlington at Hudson and tbs
run over the Burlington lines b Denve