Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-11-02
EVIDENCE ENDS IN
S4OO,0O0,0O0 R. R.
RATE BOOST SUIT
Interstate Commerce Commission
Closes Hearing of Western
Shippers Case
ONLY AN ENTERING WEDGE
Decision Against Lines Will Halt
Increase in All the Ad-
vanCeS Planned
ONLY AN ENTERING WEDGE
ASSOCIATED Press)


CHICAGO, Nov. 1.-Presentation of
evidence in the rate hearing before the
Interstate commerce commission was
closed this afternoon. Arguments on
the evidence will be heard by the COM
mission at Washington on December
IA and after due deliberation the COM
mission will announce what it Is gen.
orally considered will be the most i'm
portant decision 1t has ever given.
The hearing was instituted at the in
stance of shippers who rose in protest
when western railroads announced
that rates on fifty different commod1-
ties would be advanced. Opposition to
this became general and the railroads
agreed not to put the new rates INTO
effect until the interstate commerce
commission had conducted hearing
at which the shippers should be heard
as to the fairness of the proposed ad-
vances.
Hearings were held at New York and
Chicago, conducted at first by an eX-
aminer, but later, owing to the para
mount Importance of the case, Com
missioners Clark and Lane assumed
the duty 1t took the shippers only
few hours to introduce evidence, but
an imposing mass OF statistics and tes-
timony went into the record for the
railroads.
ATTACK RAILROAD EVIDENCE
The shippers were represented by a
number of attorneys who confined their
efforts largely to attacking the rail-
way evidence rather than to original
testimony for themselves. Railway
men admitted that the advance in
rates on the fifty commodities which
formed the basis of the hearing was
merely an entering wedge, the ultimate
purpose being to advance rates all
along the line. According to the ship
. pers the final effect Of this policy
would be to place a tax of $400,OO0.00O
on the consumers.
In a general way the argument pre-
sented by the railroads was that In
creased rates were necessary for the
following reasons:
F'irst-Increased wages to employees.
Second-Increased cost of mainte-
nance and operation.
Third-Public demand for increased
efficiency and expansion of transpor-
tation facilities.
The position taken by the shippers
was that the railroads were receiving
a generous return on their actual in
vestment and among other things they
sought to show on croSS-examinatlon
that the low rate of earning shown in
the statistics presented was due more
to over-capitalization than to low
rates.
During the examination Oh OldIlAcy
H Johnson, assistant freight traffic
manager of the Rock Island road, Com
missioner Lane asked some pointed
questions "I have found in my ex-
perience" he said, that railroads find
very little difficulty in raising rates
without much justification and at any
time they see fit. II there were no
restraint placed on the railroads could
not the roads advance the rates with
out end?"
"Cf course, If the railroads were ut
terly Indifferent to public opinion and
were not a body of fair-minded men,
the rates might be raised endlessly,
but this would not be done as the
railroads only ask q fair profit" re-
piled Johnson.
"Ts it not a fact" asked Commits
sioner Lane, ''that deep down in the
mind of the traffic manager he knows
that even the present rate is too high?"
This brough' a laugh from the crowd,
during which the witness replied in
the negative.
ADMITS RATE AGREEMENTS
''In the course of his testimony john
son admitted that no general advances
in rates were made by the railroads
without agreement with other com
petitors. "If they did," he added, sit
would mean going out of business"
Attorney Ellis, representing Iue CII-
cago, Milwaukee and st. Paul, intro
duced tables showing the effect which
the proposed advances would have on
traffic in South Dakota and North Da-
kota. The tables showed that the in
creased revenue on 1884, 667, 800 pounds
of wheat, coarse grain, flour and other
mill products would amount to $246675.
His tables showed that of the proposed
increase, which on all commodities he
estimated at $56S, 900, nearly half would
come out of the farmers of the two
Dakotas. Ellis declared that while
railroad rates have been standing still
the farmer has been earning $3.50 more
an acre from his farm. The road, he
declared, is asking only an increase OF
13 cents an acre for freight charges
on farm products.
"That's not so bad" said the wit
ness. "We helped the farmer to get
that $3.50 and for our share we ask
only 13 cents"