The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-07-15
INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMITS
SION MAKES REPORT AFTER
sYEARs INVESTIGATION
GREATEST REDUCTIONS
ON SMALL PACKAGES
Thirteen Great Companies Were In
vestigated and 1t was Found That
Three Groups Of interests Controls
Business-HeIp Solve Living Cost.

Washington, July 15-Sweeping re-
ductions in express rates av-
eraging in general, approx
mately fifteen per cent. drastic |
reforms in regulations and practices;
and comprehensive charges in the
methods of operation, are prescribed
in report made public yesterday by
the Interstate Commerce Commission
of it's investigations into the business
of the thirteen express companies of
the United States.
Dealing with the identity of inter-
est between the various companies,
the report finds that while these COM
panies are separate legal entities, "it
is of interest to regard this fact that
by stock ownership and otherwise they
are so interlaced, intertwined and in
terlocked that it is with difficulty We
can trace any one of the greater COM
panies as either wholly Independent in
its management of the agency of
single railroad system. So that while
these companies operate separately
and compete wit beach other for traf-
fic, the express business may be said
to be almost family affair. An in
teresting genealogical tree, in fact,
might be drawn, showing common
ancestry in all of the large companies.
And while many names may be used
to designate these companies, it is
within the fact to say that aside from
the operations of the minor and dis
tinctively railroad express companies,
the express business of the United
States is managed by not more than
three groups Of interests"
The inquiry was the most extensive,
and, in wealth Of infinite detail, prob
ably the most thorough ever prosecut-
ed by the commission. 1t was con-
Quoted and the report was prepared by
Commissioner Frank X. Lane. 1t has
been in progress for nearly three
years. The report itself makes 900
printed pages. It involved an examin-
alton and comparison of practically
more than 6O00,000,O0O express rates
In effect in this country, in addition
to an examination Of millions Of way
bills and an investigation, through the
books of the companies, of their f1nan'
,cia1 operations and business methods
Commissioner Lane Is of opinion
that the conclusions reached consti
.tute a long step towards the solution
of that gravest problem Of the Ameri
can householder, the high cost Of liv
ing"
The great reduction of rates pro
posed is on small packages-that is
on parcels which weight less thar
twelve pounds. Rates on packages o.
more than twelve pounds were found
IN he more reasonable than those OF
smaller parcels.
Briefly stated, the new rate may b'
said to be based upon minimum
charge of 21 cents for one-pount
package. lHi5 10 q 90 ihSA -
ratio to the increase of weight ant
distance. at rates varying from three
.tenths Of cent pound to about l.
cents a pound Twelve cents a pound
according to the conclusions of tn
commission, is approximately the-high
est rate per pound for the creates
distance possible for a parcel to b
carried wholly within the. Unite
States, exclusive of Alaska.
1000 Miles for "a Cents.
W Packages Weighing two pounds, TO
instance, may be shipped 1000 mile
New York City to Chicago-for 2
cents and 1000 miles-New York Cit
n Denver-for 81 cents, the presen
rate being, respectively, for each 3
cents. A three-pound package WI
cost 27 cents for 1000 miles and J
cents for 1000 miles, the existing rate
beiug respectively, each As cents.
ten-pound package may be transporte
,ooo miles for AZ cents and 1000 mile
sor n cents, as against the existin
rates Of rs cents and $1.25, respectiv
~ The cost of transporting a twent
aye-pound package 1000 miles viii !
7s cents, against the present rate
A. 10 and for 1000 miles, SIS
against the present rate Of $2.25.