The San Francisco call., 1909-05-24
SHIPPERS WILL
FIGHT GRADED
RAILWAY RATES
Meetings to Be Held Simultan-
eOusIy Today in San Fran
cisco and Portland
Appeal Against Application OF
Spokane Decision to Be Pre-
sented to Commission

Portland the shippers OF the FaCiHC
coast will align themselves against
the forces OF the trans-Missouri and
Mississippi railroad combinations
which are seeking, by an arbitrary
process OF rate making, to damage
the coast distributor, wholesaler and
manufacturer. The local meeting will /
be held at ? .. M in the rooms Of the
Merchants exchange traffic bureau, OF
which William R. Wheeler is manager. /
and preliminary plans will be made for |
the preparation OF a case to be pre-
sented before the interstate commerce /
commission in Washington June 9.
Representatives Of all local CONNER
cial and industrial bodies will be pres
ent at the meeting.
The attitude of the shippers at Pa
cifc coast terminals in opposing the |
policy of the railroad is developing /
a similar spirit in all the important
shipping and receiving points in the
Pacific slope region. and bitter fight 1
is probable this summer.
At the meeting today Wheeler viii
address the shippers primarily on the
so called Spokane rate case and its ef-
fects.
POLICY OF HILL ROADS
The policy Of the Hill roads, the
Great Northern and the Northern Pa
cifc is to make St Paul. and Chicago
the great distributing points for all the
territory between those cities and the
Pacific. To accomplish this they have
established a graded rate from st.
Paul west; given coast points the
same rate from St Paul that obtains
from New York That neutralized the
inherent advantage which should ac-
crue 10 commerce between New York
and coast points owing to the possible /
water competition. Furthermore, they /
have given intermediate points, such /
as Spokane, rate from ST. Paul less 1
than the normal rate, governed by 4
water competition. That has the ef- /
feet of precluding Seattle, Tacoma and /
Portland jobbers from entering the /
Spokane field. For the local rate be-
tween Pacific ports in the northwest l
aud the interior point is too high for /
fair competition. In adjusting the |
Spokane rate the railroads have based |
it. virtually. on an imaginary /
through rate from the shipping point |
in the middle west TO the seaboard. |
This 'ima ginary" through rate is 25 i
per cent less than the real rate TO the
Pacific port point
So far the Hartman lines have not
invoked the principles of the Spokane
case, so san Francisco has not yet suf-
fered. But the policy is as applicable
in the Hartman system as in Hilps.
Its application would injure the San
Francisco wholesale business and kill
the manufacturing interests here, for,
by an application of the system of low
intermediate rates and high locals, the
50 N~sr 1C1, tcfv ~
could te irredeemably lost to San
Francisco and Pacific coast points.
In discussing that aspect of the case
yesterday afternoon Wheeler said:
When the hearing in this matter
comes up before the interstate com
merce commission June there should /
be . strong delegation from San Fran
cisco and the Pacific coast-strong in
numbers and in interests.
REALTY INTERESTS AFFECTED
For this is the broad question of
the industrial life Of the coast. 1t is
10 be borne in mind that the distributor
and the manufacturer by no means rep
resent the only interests which would
be affected by this new scheme. In
the last analysis the San Francisco real
estate owners are the ones whose in
terests are the most greatly imperiled.
II the wholesaler, the distributor or
cisco eventually finds it impossible to
distribute his wares and products
throughout the interior he can, at a
comparatively small pecuniary loss,
close out his business, vacate the
premises he is occupying and move to
Chicago. St. Paul or sonre other mid
die west point to which the railroad /
policy is not inimical, and re-establish
his business at the most favored point
cfo raf
Not so fortunate or mobile is his
landlord. His buildings would be left
vacant and would remain unoccupied
until another tenant was found. And
IL would be a difficult matter to find
another tenant if the proposed sched-
ule should remain in effect"
ST. LOUIS CASE RECALLED
BY a curious coincidence Of history
repeating itself it was just 10 years
ago yesterday that Wheeler appeared
in St Paul. with various shipping and
distributing interests OF the coast, be-
fore the traf7c officials of the North
ern Pacific and the Great Northern
railroads. At that time he delivered
strong protest against the graded
rate. which was put into force for
points west Of st. Paul. Then the
Hin lines expected that the Southern
Pacific would also apply the graded
rates, but as the Southern Pacific was
connected by boat with New York via
New Orleans it was not to its advan-
tage to follow the Hill lead.
Shortly after that the jobbers of
St Louis brought suit against the
Southern Pacific before the interstate
commerce commission for an estab-
lishment OF a graded rate favorable to
st. Louis. II was agreed during the
pendency Of that action that the north
ern roads should be governed by the
decision OF the commission in that
case. The commission decided that
the Southern Pacific could not be
forced TO apply the graded rates fav-
crable to st. Louis, and on that show
ing the Hin lines discontinued their
application Of the graded rates.
SITUATION Is DANGEROUS
But now the Hill roads have re-
applied the graded rates in a manner
more dangerous to the coast, and. as
the Hartman interests might seek
10 do for Chicago or Omaha what Hill ,