The Green Forest tribune., 1909-09-10
SHORT WEIGHT ON RAILROADS
Farmer Not Treated Fairly in Regard to Claims for Loss of Grain
 and Coal in Transit.

There are a number of railroads that are not treating the farmer fairly in regard to his claims for loss of grain and loss of coal in transit, says American Agriculturist. These two items affect every farmer most seri- ously in the course of year.
 The farmer or the farmers eleTa- tor company weighs his grain care fully, load by load, as he hauls it into town, and the elevator loads it into the car. The car is billed out on the statement of weights fur nished by the farmer or the farmers elevator company.
 The Interstate Commerce Act, In section 20, reads as follows:
 That any common carrier, rail road, or transportation company re- ceiving property for transportation from point in one state to a point in another state shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property caused by it or by any common carrier, railroad or transpor tation company to which such prop erty may pass, and no contracts, re- ceipt, rule or regulation shall exempt such common carrier, railroad or transportation company from the lia- bility hereby imposed.'
 When the car reaches destination, it is weighed on a large track scale These weights are reported to the farmer, as he or his elevator con- pany must accept them in settlement for his shipment AS nearly as it is possible to determine, they are a cor rect statement of the amount of grain delivered by the railroad company at destination. Now, when the farmer compares the weights at destination With the weights which he shipped he sometimes finds a large discrepancy.
 The farmer takes his two state ments of weights to the railroad. He furnishes an affidavit as to the cor rectness of the weights made when he hauled his grain to the ear. He can prove just what he put into the car. He has a legal, legitimate claim for loss. The railroad turns him down because they say his statement of weights at point of shipment are not reliable. They impeach his hon. esty and refuse his claim He could go into court and collect the claim but that is expensive and the claim is probably small. So the farmer or hn farn1nr'c n1puatnr n the railroad to bluff them out of their just due.
 In the case of coal, the farmer buys a carload of coal Here, the proposi- ton is exactly turned around. He gets a bill of lading showing the amount of coal shipped from the mine The car arrives at his station and he carefully weighs out all the coal contained in the car. He finds that he often does not receive the amount of coal called for by his bill of lading.
 He presents this bill of lading to the railroad, together with a state ment of his weights, supported by an affidavit, and asks them to refund to him his loss. They decline on the ground that his statement of wagon weights is not reliable. "The farmer is dishonest,' say these rail roads. This statement of weights is not reliable,o they claim.
 The farmer can go into court and collect his claim. Certainly. But the expenses involved amount to more than the amount of the claim So the farmer pockets his loss and the railroad evades the law and pock- cts it's dishonest gain