The Daily Missoulian., 1912-07-28
new FREIGHT RATE
IS OURS
CORRESPONDENT TELLS or THE
LONG AND HORT. HAUL CON.
TEST AND GOOD RESULTS.

readers of The Daily Nissoullan
noticed All article in n recent issue Of
the Mssoula Sentinel with reference to
The matter Of new freight rates 10
reading the article II was quite prop
erly signed "A Missourian. and while
only one single class rate from one
single point was reviewed there are
several thousand more that are of
much greater interest to the people of
Missoula
The writer of this article dwelt
solely upon thee first-class freight
from New York to Missoula, which by
the way Is one of the reductions
brought about by the application OF
the Spokane tariff TO Missoula as
maximum and is In fact the smallest
reduction of any In the entire tariff.
Perhaps this "Missourian" only car
ries one rate In his head at "a time;
or II may be the effect Of this knowl-
edge OF one-cent reduction from
New York set up such a "brainstorm"
that II excluded all other more favor
able rates from further consideration,
However. there are three things that
stand out clearly In "Missourian's"
article. First. desire TO lambast Joe
Dixon, second. absolute ignorance OF
the freight rate situation: third, an
indication that the writer does q very
small amount Of shipping. with ref
erence TO Senator Dixon's part In the
a tcfy of
been going on for the past two years
Il would be necessary to go back some
20 odd years 10 the beginning of the
now famous Spokane case" For
more than two decades. Spokane has
been fighting steadily for Pacific coast
terminal freight rates Their fight
has been one of the most notable IN
the United States. both for its vigor
and its persistence, yet very little OF
Importance was actually accomplished.
Figuratively speaking the Spokane
shippers We're fighting with bows and
arrows against some giant railroad
corporations that stand fortified be-
hind laws enacted by congress. II the
"Missourian" would procure a copy OF
the act to regulate commerce. turn to
=,
shall be unlawful for any common
carrier subject 10 the provisions OF
this act TO charge or receive any
greater compensation in the aggregate
for the transportation OF passengers
or OF any like kind OF property. un-
der substantially similar circumstances
and conditions. for q shorter than for
q longer distance over the same line.
IN the same direction the shorter be-
Ing included in the longer distance
Ard he would lind that the same
section. as amended, bas not the words
-uate. substantially the same cir
cuzsts-ees and conditions" These
were stricken from the law by the
Dixon amendment
Soon after the election Ot Senator
Dixon he became interested In the
freighi-ra,e fight and found that the
case of the !nteFmoaniain complain
ants was los, before /; was begun. He
found that the power delegated 10 the
interstate commerce commission by
congress was very much restricted and
that before any real benefit could be
accomplished, the law az II stood must
be changed Then came his amend
nent known thereafter as the Dix
on long and short haul bill" for the
most part the old fourth section,
stripped of the famous loop-hole az
forded by those five small words,
"under substantially similar circum-
stances and conditions" II began TO
stir things. Railway traffic men be-
gan to start to Washington, but the
finish was already in sight.
The bin carried and after its pas
sage the shippers found changed
condition. They discovered that they
were on q new footing-a vantage
ground was secured for them through
the efforts of the United States sem
Ator from Montana And what has
been the result? Probably our Mis-
souri, friend never ships In carloads:
probably ne doesn't intend to ship
any more; but little research on his
part will disclose the fact that there
has been "A vast number OF heavy re-
ductions In commodity rates In effect
since June 10 from eastern points to
Montana, varying from per cent to
35 per cent per 100 pounds, also sew
eral hundred class rate reductions
varying from 1c 70 22c per 100 pounds
that he has evidently failed to remem-
ber Furthermore, since July 90, there
has been "A still further reduction In
commodity rates and on August 22 a
still further reduction In class rates
will become effective and on account
OF the long and short haul clause, In
n o case will the rate to Missoula be
greater than to Spokane.
Before June ID the one rate that has
30 impressed "Missourian" the first
class rate from New York 10 Seattle,
was 50; New York 10 Spokane $3.50;
New York 10 Mssoula, 1851. After
August 22 it will be: New York to
Seattle, $3.70; New York to Spokane,
$500; New York to Missoula, S335.
with several hundred thousand more In
preparation. And to whom does the
credit belong? Not to Poindexter or
Jones of Washington; not to Borah of
Idaho; they helped, but Joe Dixon led
the fight; he won he should have the
credit. and the people of the whole
state OF Montana, in fact, the whole
northwest, will have some millions OF
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