The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-06-02
GRANITE AND THE RAILROADS.
Value to New England OF the Inter-
state Commerce Commission.

The value to New England indus
tries of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission as a court of appeal may per-
haps be illustrated blythe findings OF
the commission, in train of the hear
lings recently accorded to the whole
sale granite dealers. Although the
decision will not be made until next
October Commissioner Charles A.
Prouty, himself a Vermonter and ia
miliar with the granite business, made
| it evident that the commission will
not lack an intelligent presentation
of the facts upon which the manufac-
turers of Barre, Quincy, Westerly and
other centres of the monumental trade
have based their complaints.
When the Roosevelt proposals fol
rate regulation were before the coun.
try one of the stock examples of the
lneedlessness of governmental interfer-
ence was the benefcence of the rail
roads toward the granite industry OF
New England. 1t was assiduously re-
presented that only on account of the
very low rates at which stone was
hauled to every part of the country
was it possible to exchange our rocky
hillsides for gold. The complaint now
lodged with the commission by the
Wholesale Granite Dealers Associa-
ton is that under the so-called "Sou-
thern classification" monuments
|tombstones, gravestones and similar
PARTICLES take the first-class rate, if
they are sent into the Southern States
by a manufacturer who is law-abid-
ing to the extent of obeying the regu-
lation that the real value of an arti-
Gle shipped must be declared. Nomi-
nally these commodities may go in
carload lots at fourth-class rates or
in smaller lots at third-class rates,
but only upon declaration that their
value, to which the carrier is liable,
does not exceed 81 per cubic fooot.
AS no monumental work upon which
any labor whatsoever has been expend-
ed is worth so little as this, the whole
sale value running from SO to $40 a
cubic foot, the manufacturer has no
recourse but to pay a rate which be-
tween Boston OF Barre and any point
of the Far South will often exceed
the value of the monumental work it
self.
1t was openly charged at the hear
Ing by representatives of the granite
dealers and the transportation COM
mittee of the Boston Chamber OF
Commerce that this classification was
established for the purpose of aiding
1.-THE granite industries of the South
which, having a shorter haul, would
find the rates relatively less exorbi-
tant and would be gamers from the
unfair competition.
1t appears that stoves, typewriters
sewing machines, grindstones, terra
Gotta ornaments and various other
things which are carried at fifth and
sixth class rates with unrestricted
valuations, net the roads a far lower
income than that contributed by the
! consignments of the monumental
trade. The railroads, from the figures
cited, appear to be overtaxing this
industry, and from the consumers
standpoint to be adding to the cost o.
dying.
! The defence set up by attorneys rep.
Presenting the Southern Railway anC
lay mainly in the liability of monumen.
tai works to damage in transit liza
bility which the compliments claim
! is in fact very low. AS the defense
were not prepared with figures or
this point second hearing was or
dered by Mr.. Prouty to take place or
June % When he announced infor
mally that in his opinion the present
Southern classification rates are mo-
so bad per Sc as the restricted valua
ton, which makes it practically i'm
possible for conscientious New
England manufacturer to reach Sou
thern markets at all, he left it no
| in doubt that the argument in favor
of maintaining fair competitive con
ditions in this industry Throughout
the country will be duIy set forth t
the whole commission.