Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-07-15

sents a set of labels and way bills
in different cOlors which the carriers
are required TO use, and in the event .
that the package does not bear any
label the shipment is to be delivered !
to the consignee without collection .
of any charges, the carrier bearing
the burden of discovering where the
mistake lies.
AREA REDUCED.
/ The present system requires the
/ statement of about 200 times as many
rates as the system proposed by the
commission. However, as each agent,
under the new system, will be oblig-
ed to know only the rates that apply
between his station and each of the
other blocks, he will have to consult
only $50 rates to find the proper
charge from his station to every
other station within the United States.
Through this system the common
rate area on short hauls is reduced
from an area of about $500 square
miles, which is the average area of
each main blOck-to an area of about
$50 square miles. The present eX-
larger COmmon-rate areas.
For instance, the rate, per hundred
pounds, from Boston, New York, Phil
adelphia, Baltimore, Washington and
Richmond to Seattle, Takoma, Port.
land, San Francisco, San Diego, Reno,
Sacramento and many other points
embraced in the region west of the
Sierra and Cascade mountains is now
the same $3.50. Under the commits
sion's system the rates will vary with
the distance between any two points,
from $9.S5 to 81 a hundred pounds.
SOME SLIGHT INCREASES.
While there has been an almost
uniform reduction in charges upon
parcels weighing 80 pounds or less,
. the rates on packages Weighing 80
pounds or less, the rates on packages
Weighing more than 80 pounds have
. not been materially reduced. In some
- instances, the commissions proposed
=. rate basis shows a slight increase of
!. the charges on heavy packages. This
indicates the belief Of the commission
that the rates OF the express compan-
les per 100 pounds are not, on the
particularly manifest from an anal
L ysis of the rates for distances of 200
L miles or less, which are scarcely dis
Il triOuted on the heavy weight traffic.
BY the terms of the commission
e order the changes in the regulations
e methods and practices of the express
e companies; the Reconsideration OF
T express matter; the changes in the
u billing of packages; and other admin
istratiye reforms are required TO be
e put into effect practically immediate
S, ". The rates proposed, however, will
IS Lot become effective before some
6 time next autumn. The commission
has fixed Oct. as the date for the
r beginning of a hearing of the repre-
IS sentatiyes of express companies anC
a shippers as to why the rates pre-
IS scribed by the commission should no
Is 90 into effect.
E CAN'T AGREE on RATES.
= On every question except that o
- rates, substantial agreement ha:
I been reached between the commits
sion and the companies. The latte
4 express their willingness to conform
u lhtAA buoAItSS Operations " any &c
1 quirements the commission nigh
make; but they expressed anXiet!
( concerning any serious reduction o
their rates lest it might seriously al
feet their revenues.
Commission Lane makes vigorou
attack, in his report, upon the sc
called scale of graduated charges b.
3 which the express companies nov
determine the rate which shall appl
10 a package of given weight. Thi
scale is held by the commission TO b
Z unreasonable, discriminatory and al
bitrary. The report says:
1T is the product of years of shrew
manipulation has no Justification /
the minds OF the express men then
selves, and is the richest example We
} brought TO our attention of a tart
I based exclusively upon the theor
that the charge should be what til
Z traffic will bear"