The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-31
MAY SUSPEND FIFTY GENT RULE American Railway Association, Called for Special Meet
 ing, May Take
 Action. NEW HAVEN MAY BE GAMER The General Belief is That the Final Outcome Will be a Reduction
 to About Thirty
 Cents.
NEW HAVEN MAY BE GAMER

The announcement that at a special meeting to be held in Chicago, Febru- ary :, the American Railway associa tion may suspend indefinitely, the fifty cent per diem rule for detained cars, excites profound interest in New Ha- ven, among officials of the New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad company, the corporation, which for some time, has been the storm center of the per diem contest. Early last summer the New Haven company gave the required ninety days notice of withdrawal from the association, and actually withdrew in October of last year. Since then. the Boston and AL bany and the Boston and Main have given similar notice of withdrawal and for substantially the same req sons as the New Haven.
 The Nek Haven company beginning with about the first of last October, gave notice to it's several connecting roads, that it would withhold any pay ments in the nature of a per diem charge, pending adjustment on basis of what it considered fair rate. Since then there have been a number of metings between President Mellen and officers of connecting roads, but without much result. In the meantime,L the New Haven corporation, has charged up to itself the regular fifty cents per diem rate, holding it as separate sum. and it now amounts to some s700000 due to connecting roads. It is under stood that a diminished rate has late ly been offered President Mellen, but refused as being too high
 During the last few weeks the gen. eral situation has materially changed, and at junction points both the New Haven and the connecting roads have been unloading the cars of the other and sending them back as fast as pos sible so as to avoid the per diem As a secondary result, and as part of the general reduction of freight business, the number of foreign cars upon the New Haven line. which used to be some twenty thousand a day, has fall en to about nine thousand, those of the New Haven line, on other roads, which used to amount to five or six thousand, having also somewhat di- unfinished. In the times of active bus mess the balance of foreign cars against the New Haven road has amounted to about fifteen thousand a day, on which the New Haven would have to pay total per diem of about $7,500 a day, or considerably over s. O00,00 year, if the full per diem is charged.
 The situation raised, therefore, by the proposed meeting and action of the American Railway association on the local system is somewhat singu- lar one. It leaves the accumulated per diem undisposed of and still bone of contention. N If the per diem is suspended altogether it will leave the New Haven company a great gain CT. as it has always been so heavily a debtor road and the actual profit to that company, even on the present ba- sis of low freight business, would be some s2,500 day. and approximately higher as business revives.
 The general belief in official railroad circles here is that the final outcome will be a reduction of the per diem from fifty cents to thirty cents, or possibly twenty-five cents, which would leave the matter where it was before the fifty cents per diem went into effect Rail- road men here acknowledge that the present system of unloading at junction points is beginning to entail a heavy loss on both connecting companies. merely for the cost of unloading, As the New Haven company has been re ceivins new cars at the rate of about fifty per day under an old contract, the disposition of these cars later and their use in interchange projects new fac tor in very complicated problem.