Putnam patriot., 1910-08-05
 The Demurrafe Laws.

Ht spccidf Iuiicc cpohaSus Vi sHS Hartford Courant in Boston, writes as follows concerning the effect Of the recent act Of Congress on the present State law regarding demurrage rules by the railroads:
 It may interest your readers to know what is reported here as 10 the adop- ton of the national demurrage rules by the railroads. Some months ago na- tional convention of state railroad commissioners adopted code of rules governing charges to shippers and con signees for detention of cars. At that time there was doubt whether the in- terstate commerce commission had jurisdiction over the matter; therefore, the commission then contented itself with recommending" to all the rail roads of the country the adoption of these rules. The recent amendment of the interstate commerce act June, l9f0l has so broadened the powers of the commission, that there Is no long, CT any doubt about their jurisdiction over this subject.
 An inquiry recently made of traffic and operating officials of the various New England railroads reveals that il is their unanimous opinion that the New England railroads have got to fall into line with the rest of the coun- try and adopt the national demurrage rules There has been some discussion about the effect of demurrage statutes in Connecticut and Vermont, but it Is reported that the different railroad companies interested have been sever ally advised by counsel that these de- murrage rules directly affect the use of instrumentalities of interstate com- merce, and that any stale statue, con- fiIcting with the national demurrage rules approved by the interstate com merce commission, is necessarily un- constitutional as being regulation of interstate commerce.
 In view of the practical certainly that She national demurrage rules will be soon in force in Connecticut, as well as in the rest of the country, II becomes important to those interested 10 know what these rules are.
 In the first place the free time for loading and unloading ears is fixed at X hours, beginning at : a. III. after the ear k placed, and the eonsignee Or shipper l. notified.
 This Is apparently reduction Of the free time allowed in New England from 91 10 4s hours. On the other hand, as the S hours are now reckoned from the time the car is placed, the ac tuai free time Is in most eases al pres ent much less than 96 hours. X postal card is mailed when the ear is placed for unloading, announcing the fact to the com ignee, and he may not get this until some time has elapsed. More .aar | hal k.. ef ear placed after a. m. on any day, the tree time does not run until : a. m. the next day, So that the actual free time may be considerably more than 4s hours.
 The national rules are also quite strict in their provisions to meet cer. tain complaints against the existing rules.
 |. No charge can be made for de tention of ears caused by bad weather
 :. if cars ordered so as to come at proner intervals are, by fault of the railroad company "bunched,s so that they cannot be promptly unioaded, uo demurrage can he charged.
 The new rules will probably not practically affect most of those who have sidetracks of their own. Anyone has a right to exact from the rniiroad an agreement that he shall have credit for every car unioaded in one day to offset an extra day taken for un nloading another car. Very few owners of side tracks use more than two full days oo the average for loading or unloading cax- While shippers and consignees would probably prefer the existing de mursaGe rulcs to the national rules. they wiil stse sealise that the whole ceansSy, including New EnglanA. witl cain h peouptness of sesvice by hav- inG sAe na1fonal 1e0urfaee rules evesywheee enforced. These 3z iess nkhhood sf the car shortaRes fPum uAseA all bs1tnsu psslo1feal3y sufIess- These C Alsp . tsn ssaasney to coaGes- tioa ef yaRds on1 s1AfnGs. which is per haps s6o ehtuf enuR ef 1elays h fFoighs sren4
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