Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-11
LOW RAJ TES
GRANTED TO
VORITES
FREIGHT AGENT LUCE CALLED
TO TESTIFY
"TRlED TO HELP ALL SHIPPERS"
HIS DEFENSE
Hioh Official of Hartman Line Called
Before Railroad Commission
to Tell of Discrimi-
nations

SAN FRANCISCO, Marcn 1O.-fe-
bates. plenty of them. but no discrim-
nations, was the defense of General
Freight Agent Luce of the Southern
Pacific before the state railroad COM
mission today.
Even the bundles of flimsy sheets
taken from the railroads books, each
telling of some advantage accorded one
firm over it's competitors, failed to al
feet Luce who gibly told why each
rebate had been granted: this to meet
eastern competitions; that, to meet
water transportation, and others for
something else.
Luce sat there calmly and justified
as well as he could four separate rates.
all below the published tariffs, on
shipments of sand by four corporations
| from near Monterey.
According to Luce the railroad had
helped every shipper it could and in
some cases had gone so far as to remit
| switching charges where no switching
was done, "just to make the shipper
| feel good" was Luce's naive explana-
| tion.
| Luce testified that the special rates
were made to meet water competition.
competition over short hauls offered by
| teams. and that 1t was the general
practice here, as in all the country,
| to extend advantageous rates to un-
| finished products that were later to be
manufactured. He further stated the
same rates would be granted to all.
under the same conditions.
Luce said most of the rates were
renewals of special rates existing dur
! ing or before 1905; that a few might
| have been granted in the early part of
| 1906, but that he thought none had
been granted in 1907 or 1908.
Favored Shippers
In explaining the manner in which
| the rebates were granted Luce said an
application was usually received from
a shipper, accompanied by his reasons
why the rate should be granted. He
added that the conditions were inves-
! tigated and If found to be as stated
! the rate was granted.
| Luce was asked whether the inter-
ests of the company were the chief
consideration in granting the special
rates. Attorney Dunno objected and
the commission sustained him.
The attorney general then amended
his question and Luce was allowed to
say the interests of the company were
among the considerations in influence
ing the granting of special rates.
Continuing, he explained that the
shipments were made at the published
tariff and that freight was collected at
this rate; that vouchers for the differ
Z
the special rate were then issued to
the claimants, and that they were re-
turned to and paid by the auditing
department.
IL developed from the testimony of
Luce that there We're 10 special rates
and that there We're regular published
tariffs, that would have applied on all
these shipments if the special rates
had not been made. He said this ar
rangement was in existence when he
took his present office il 1901 and
that prior to his incumbency he
thought the same practice had been
followed.
Attorney General Webb asked Luce
why he did not make the same rate
in all instances, and he said that con-
ditions varied in each instance, and
that each rate was made with the
special conditions in mind.
He added that the general policy of
the company was to make lower rates
to manufacturers than to consumers,
for the reason that other shipments
would arise from the first shipment of
raw materials to firms turning them
into finished products.
Low Rate to Gamers
The special rate investigated was
one made to the California Fruit Can
ners association. 1t provided for the
protection of one-half the regular tar
iff on all shipments of dried fruit from
the driers to the packing houses, not
including shipments to San Francisco
Luce said this rate would be extended
to all firms under similar conditions.
1t was called to his attention that C.
H. Chaddock & Co. had a rate of 65
cents ton on dried fruit from Malaga
and Flower to Fresno, and he was
asked why the same rate the California
Fruit Gamers association enjoyed was
not extended to this firm. He said the
association shipped no fruit between
these points and that if it did it would
be compelled to pay the same rate as
Chsddocll or Chaddock's rate would be
lowered to meet the one-half tariff en-
joyed by the association.
In the case of the Johnson Locke
Mercantile company no charge was
made for switching in and out of the
packing houses, where the engines on
the trains did the work. Asked to ex-
plain this Luce said no firm paid any
such charges and that the item ap-
peared in the list as a concession
merely to make the firm think 1t was
getting more than it was entitled to.
The commission then adjourned until
tomorrow at 10 a. m. Attorney General
Webb asked Luce to bring the pub
lished tariffs of the company with him
so he could make comparisons when
called on between published and spe-
cial rates. This he agreed to do.
The railroad commission was repre-
sented by Attorney General Webb and
Assistant Attorney General Benjamin.
The Southern Pacific was represented
by Attorney Peter Dunno, while o. K.
Gushing was permitted to examine the
witnesses in the interests of the Cali
fornia Traffic association.