Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1911-09-13
important Hearing Before
Special Examiner Prouty De-
velOpS Interesting Data Con-
Cerning Freight Charges.
LOCAL GROWERS WANT
SAME RATES AS COAST
Object StrenuouSly to Paying
More For Shorter Than For
Longer Haul in Marketing
Their Staple,

! The reasonableness or the unreas-
onableness of the freight rate on wool
ana hides and pelts from points In
New Mexico and Arizona to the east
ern seaboard was the subject of an in
| quiry conducted IN Albuquerque yes
! terday before Special Examiner Ward
| Prouty of the Interstate Commerce
| commission. The hearing was con-
| Quoted In the new United States court
room In the federal building and was
attended by representative railroad
men. attorneys sheep growers and
| dealers, and dealers in hides and pelts,
besides a considerable sprinking of
| local attorneys and interested citizens.
/ The hearing yesterday was part of
series which are being held throughout
the country. and Is the result of
! general complaint filed by the Ameri-
can National Live Stock association
and the National Wool Growers assoc
citation that the rates on the products
of their members in tho western
country are unreasonably high
At the close of the hearing yester-
| day r. w. Tomlnson. secretary of tho
American National Live stock associ-
! alton. who qualified as an expert on
railway rates. was invited to take tho
stand and make a general statement
concerning the attitude of the many
| local associations of sheep growefs
represented In his organization. Mr..
Tomllnson sharply criticised the rates
from various points in the west and
declared that the railroad companies
could earn n profit on vastly re-
duced rate. He said that the tariff
now IN force covering the shipment of
wool, hides and pelts, Is fair sample
of an unreasonably high tariff. The
rate from Colorado In what might be
called the Denver district to the At
lantic seaboard, was SIZE 1-2, with
an increase of from rs cents to 800
on the western slope, in other words.
some Of the Colorado sheepmen were
forced to pay $2.72 l-2 per hundred
pounds to get their wool to the Boston
market. This, he said, was far too
high. He considered that $l.25 would
be fair rate and one under which
the railroads could make money. Mr.
Tomlnson was of the opinion that
the rate In force from the southwest.
which Is S1.95 from New Mexico
points south and east of Albuquerque.
and $2.07 l-2 from points west OF
Albuquerque and In northern Arizona,
could be reduced In the same propor-
tion without any undue hardship to
the railroads. Tomlinson present
ed figures to show that with this re-
duction. basing his estimate on cars
loaded with minimum of $4,000
pounds and running trains of twenty
five ears, the railroad on the haul
from northern Arizona to Chicago
would earn 81 per train mile whereas
he claimed, the average earnings OF
the Santa Zee per train mile were only
SO. Mr.. Tomlinson's conclusions we're
sharply criticised by T. Il. iIoughton
for the Santa Fe who held that the
estimate was valueess as II was based
upon false promises Mr.. Houghton
said that the Tomllnson estimates was
based on the haul to Chicago, where-
as the Santa Fe's share OF he haul was
often only to Galveston and as often
To Kansas city. He held that the fig
ures presented had no bearing on the
matter under controversy and In this
he was upheld by Attorney George II
Smith. who represented the Harri-
man lines Mr. Smith declared with
some heat that Mr., Tomlinson had
added nothing new TO the information
of the commission on, the matter be-
fore the commission. Mr.. 7. j. Mar
chand. who represented the govern
ment In the hearing resented this
view and declared that MIR. Tomlinson
had added materially to the informa-
tiou before the commission.
The Arizona Railroad commission.
| which was a party to the proceeding.
was represented by f.. S. DePass OF
| Phoenix and w p. McNalr OF Doug
las. while the sheep growers of New
Mexico ana Arizona were represented
by prominent men In the sheep men or
is the contention Of the sheep men of
the southwest because Of tho
vastly increased expenses of the busi-
ness that the rate should be reduced
to something approximating the rate
from the Pacific coast to eastern
markets. The rate from Los Angeles
is sl.S0, as compared with $i.s6 from
Albuquerque, and $2,07 1-2 from
Arizona points. The southwestern
growers were of the opinion that II
was unreasonable for the roads to
charge more for the shorter than for
the longer haul.
Frank w. Brown, of the Browns
Finnegan company dealers In hides
and pelts with houses In Albuquer-
que, Phoenix, iGl Paso, Tucson and all
important points In Arizona, New
Mexico and old Mexico. was the first
witness. Mr. Brown objected 10 the
.. rates generally. declared that the So