Arizona republican., 1909-12-03
RAILROADS
 VIEWPOINT Matter of Rate Reductions Announced "Wednesday TALK OF THE TARIFF MEN Comment on Criticisms Made in Afternoon Pa pers Yesterday and Some Further Estimation of Lower Schedules.

1
 and passenger agent of the s. F.. P. fl & F. railroad. was asked if he de-
 sired to be further interviewed in re-
 gard to the matter of the rate re-
 auctions announced to the Arizona Railway commission and set forth in
 considerable detail in yesterday morn
 ing's Republican. He said he did not i; l he had said ali that he thought nec-
 essary to cover the situation. and be-
 lieved the people understood it. Later
 in the day. however. after the publi- | cation of the evening papers, MT. Hastings revised his former conclu- | sion and said he felt that the erro- neous deductions in the afternoon pa- pers made a further interview desir- able. He began by reading d head 1 line which said. Does New Schedule Reduce?" and he answered the ques- ton real quick. and without hesi- | tation, Tit most certainly does" r Mir. Hastings began by taking sx- ception to a statement which said | in substance that the rates announced | by Hastings and Stubbs will result
 in rate increases and changes which
 will be detrimental to Phoenix ship pers. Speaking for the Santa Fe. he
 denied positively that there is any
 increase or any proposed increase in
 the schedules submitted to the com
 mission. of the rates to any point ] on any Santa Fe line in Arizona and
 challenged that the contrary could not be shown. or that any of the
 changes proposed in the rates to
 Phoenix or locally on the Santa Fe
 lines, can be detrimental te Phoenix shippers" Continuing. MT. Hastings said
 All changes are not only net re-
 ducticns. but are reductions in any
 sense of the term. All changes are
 downward. and no increases are pro-
 posed in the announcement to the
 railway commission. If any reduction ,in rates is beneficial to the people of Arizona generally, then these reduc- tions should be because they reduce
 rates on the things most generally shipped by the average person. One objection made in an afternoon paper seemed to be that the reductions were not all that was asked for by the Maricopa Commercial club in its pe-
 titions to the Interstate Commerce
 commission Though it is a fact in
 respect of Phoenix that the reduc- tions asked for were not all made. in
 respect of many othesAxeductions asked
 for by the railway commission and in
 measure granted. they affect the
 whole territory, while the Maricopa
 club very properly confined it's re-
 quests to this locality, exclusively.
 "One particular criticism seems to
 l.. tE ..g
 rates between Fl Paso and points in
 southern Arizona. including Phoenix.
 but in the complaint of the club to
 the Interstate Commerce commission and as late as the recent hearing of the cases in San Francisco. the traffic
 manager of the club particularly re- fers to alleged exorbitant rates exist ing between Fl Paso and Phoenix. and asked that they be reduced"
 Mir. Hastings stated that as his name had been linked with that of Mir. Stubbs in the criticisms referred to, and as there were some differing conditions respecting the two roads. he did not feel like speaking in an- swer to what seemed to be a joint | arraignment without the permission of | Mir. Stubbs He therefore called up | MT. Stubbs by telephone and recited | to him some of the comments that | had been made concerning the new | schedules MT. Stubbs, he said. au- thorized him to speak in his behalf | as follows. the framing of the state | ment, of course. being in the language | of Mir. Hastings. as there was no written message between them:
 "The present basis of rates under which the rate in one direction is less than in the other, an inconsis- tency which he felt was indefensible in the local rates on his lines dhe Southern Pacific lines). and the gen. eral reduction of, local class rates is a more equitable basis: also that the in regard to Fl Paso and Los Angeles jobbers reaching terri tory in southern Arizona is one not | by the Southern Pacific at either point, because of the we'll known low rates of the eastern lines to Fl Paso and the low rates forced on rail carriers from the west by | water competition at Los Angeles. The reduction of the rates from both | of these points is in line with the petition of the Maricopa club and in general are very greatly downward. though in some instances raises were | necessary to overcome the inconsis- tencies in the existing rates. These rates generally. in the territory. mean a much smaller revenue to the com pany on the same tonnage than here tofore."
 Resuming the interview on his own account, MT. Hastings explained as the intimation that the re- duced rates do not apply to the gen. eral shipper or the greater portion of the general freight tonnage: ''The class rates apply on almost all less than carload shipments into Arizona