The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-10-23
RATE
REALIGNMENT
E. G. Wylie Predicts Establishment Of
New Status Of Transportation
Charges for Iowa
Cities.
URGES STRONG PROTEST
Hearings of Fifteen Iowa Rate Corn
plants Will be Heard in Des
Moines by Commission
er Harlan.

A new status In freight rates is
being established, according to the
statement made yesterday by e. G..
Wylie in connection with the hearing
of fifteen Iowa freight rate cases to
be held in Des Moines under Inter
state Commerce Commissioner j. S.
Harlan, commencing next Saturday
morning
Mr.. Wylie believes that the present
condition of freight rates is to be
superseded by something that has
logical and scientific foundation. To
Isubstantiate his argument. he points
to the recent decisions Of the inter
state commerce commission, which.
he declares, repudiate the theories on
which railroad companies have relied
In their defense
Il was asked few days ago II
realized that there was widespread
sentiment through the country to the
effect that the present chaotic and
baseless condition Of freight rates
ought to be superseded by something
that had logical and scientific foun-
dation," said Mr.. Wylie.
1T is my judgment that there has
not been in years such solidly based
belief that there ought to be an TN
derstandable basis for rates. In the
past there has been a general but
rather indefinite impression rather
more than conviction that as general
pronocifion tho note, u,orn u,;&borf
rhyme or reason, but of late there
have been quite number of cases
settled by the interstate commerce
commission that serve as straws show
ing that the wind is blowing toward q
new status. Take the Spokane and
other intermountain cases; the Denver
decision. the Salt Lake City decision
and others in which the interstate
commerce commission repudiated the
theories on which the railroad COM
panies relied as their defense.
Cities Shou!a Protest.
Speaking of the Denver case. In
the past the rates from the Missis-
sippi river cities to and from Denver
we're fixed by adding the local rate
between the Mississippi river and the
Missouri river to the local rate be-
tween the Missouri river and Denver,
blu. under the commissions decision
this excess transportation tax borne
by the Mississippi river cities has
been slashed nearly in half, and in
terror Iowa has more than an acad.
emic interest in this new Denver rate
condition for the reason that many of
the rates, say between Des Moines on
the one hand and Denver and vicinity
on the other hand, are nearly as high
as the rates of st. Louis, Quincy or
Rock Island, and In other cases Des
Moines' rates are even higher than
these longer haul rates of the Missis-
sippi river cities.
Therefore, all wide-awake cities.
such as Des Moines, have had either
to ask realignments of their own
rates or possibly be driven out of ter
ritories in which they have enjoyed
satisfactory commerce.
1T stands to reason, for instance
that where the interstate commerce
commission has ordered reduced
rate put into effect between the Mis-
sissfppi river cities such as st. Louis,
Quincy, Rock Island and Dubuque on
the one hand, and Denver, Colorado
Springs and Trinidad on the other
hand, OF ~ cents per 100 pounds, Des
Moines can not be pleased to remain
on its old rate basis of AZ to As cents