Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-05-14
MUCH MONEY REFUNDED
Nearly a Million Dollars Oh Ex-
cessive Freight Charges by
Railroads Ordered
Paid Back
From Brooklyn Eagle

From Brooklyn Eagle
Washington, May LHundreds oil
thousands of dollars in excessive rail-
road freight charges have peer paid
back to shippers on orders issued oy
the Interstate Commerce Commission
Scarcely a day passes without restitu-
ton being directed by the commission
in the interest OF small shippers who
nave been imposed upon by arbitrary
freight agents of railroads.
This is a phase of the work Of the
Interstate Commerce COMMISSION
which rarely gets into the newspapers.
In most instances the refunds are SO
small as to be deemed not worthy OF
newsnaper headlines. In the aggre-
gate. however, the benefits growing
ont of them are greater than reforms
resulting from sensational crusades on
the part Of the commission which loom
large in the public eye.
Every few days the commission
issues a batch of orders. They repre-
sent complaints filed with that body
by individuals protesting against ex-
cessive charges on shipments OF goods
by the railroads. On Friday last
eighteen such orders were issued by the
commission, and one-half of them were
notices of refunds by railroads of over
chsrges required by the commission.
The refunds In some cases were appar-
emily trihing-only $3.50 in II in
stance, and ranging as high as S2,oOo
in another.
There have been about $4,000 orders
of this kind representing compulsory
refunds, in the two and a half years OF
the operation of the rate law. There
have been, in addition, nearly 5000
other cases of restitution where the
railroads made nc protest against sat
isfying the claims made by shippers.
The total refund of overchargesi in these
cases runs well up toward a million
dollars. This does not include, OF
course. the enormous savings of cash
to big shippers growing out OF general
rulings by the commission, laying
down orders of broad application. In
these cases the commission has saved
many millions Of dollars to shippers
and incidentally the consuming pub
lie.
1.-THE general public" said a mem
her of the commission, lis rapidly
learning that the laws prevent the
railroads from gouging individuals
who want to send goods by freight.
The folks out West appreciate this
more thoroughly than Fasteners do,
and are constantly appealing to us to
keep the roads in check. They under
SsrandAasat II they are evesehaEged-to
any amount, no matter how small,
they can compel the roads to make
restitution. Here is a case in point
which explains the operation OF the
law and tells how every man or house
wife may be protected:
"Mr. Smith, residing at Alexandra,
Va. want to ship some household
goods to Philadelphia. Without
knowing the rate, we will assume that
he is charged by the local freight agent
20 cents per hundred pounds. The
shipper protests against the rate, but
gets no satisfaction, and his goods
are forwarded at that rate. He writes
a letter to the commission, complain
ing that in his opinion the proper
charge should have been l5 cents per
hundred pounds. The commission
writes at once to the nearest railroad
official. and the latter, on examining
the schedules, is apt to csnclude that
the shipper was overcharged. Where
upon. he notifies the commission that
the point is we'll taken, and that a re-
fund covering the difference will be
made.
"You know it is a criminal offence
under the Hepburn law for a road to
charge more than the published rate
or to give rebates below that rate.
This latter offence brought a s29,oOo,-
600 fine to the Standard OIL Trust.
Strictly speaking, a refund to the Alex
andria shipper would be a rebate and
contrary to law. But by a broadruling
the commission sanctions restitution OF
his character. We have a blank form
which the railroad officials fill out
offering to furnish a refund, to which a
shipper is clearly entitled and the COM
mission approves the transaction.
These are known as voluntary restitu-
lions and there have been more than
5000 of them during the operation OF
the rate law"
There is a second class of refunds
where the railroads protest against