New Ulm review., 1912-09-18
SHIPPERS ovERPAy HEAVILY
on FREIGHT -
Box Cars Stenciled With In.
correct Weights Amounting
to Many Tons.
Track Scales Found Imperfect.

Some very interesting facts have
been CLEANED by the commission
which has been investigating railway
weights for some time past. These
facts we're shown up at the hearing
last Friday morning at the federal
building in St. Paul. According to
the testimony the freight cars used all
over the state have been going about
with incorrect weights stenciled on
sheir sides and as rule shippers have
T. had to pay freight on all the way from
1 to $4,000 pounds too much weight.
Besides this the railway and ware
house commission has discovered that
the railway track scales are, most OF
them, incorrect, the one in the yards
! at the Northwestern in New Ulm being
more than $4,000 pounds "off" and
another one on the Omaha lires at St.
Paul over 1900 pounds off. The
St. Paul Dispatch gives the story of
the hearing a. follows:
OF ,967 cars used to move hay,
grain, coal and straw in Minnesota
between April l6, 1912, and August Is,
1912, only 500 we're correctly stenciled
- to weight, and roads collected for
transporting 2, 1884, $50 pounds of freight
which in reality was simply the over
weight in cars and not freight at all.
This was the testimony given by c. F.
Staples of the state railroad and
warehouse commission, before Judge
C. C. Prouty, chairman of the inter-
state commerce commission, at the
federal building here this morning.
Judge Prouty arrived in st. Paul
Thursday to conduct two days hear
ing on irregularities in the weighing
Of freight by shippers and railroads.
The court room was filed when the
hearing opened at ] P. N. Practically
al the railways In this section we're
rspressnted by their attorneys. Com
missioner George Rice of South Da.
kots and Counsel P. W. Daugherty
were present, and ). 81. Henderson,
commerce counsel from Iowa.
According to Commissioner Staples
of the lO,967 cars weighed by the
Minnesota weigher, 6,254 were over
the weight stenciled on their sides,
4,2O7 were under weight and 506 were
correct, or within one pound of the
weight claimed.
The variations ran all the way from
20 pounds to $4,000 pounds. One car
belonging to the Omsha line, numbered
across the state with its supposed
weight stenciled in large figures upon
it, but when q state weigher got it on
a set of track scales, it was found to
be just $4,000 pounds heavier than
supposed.
Few of the cars weighed up to- ex-
pectations. For instance, Mr.. Staples
said, 261 cars belonging to the Chi
cago, Burlington & Quincy railway,
weighed in the aggregate 143, 200
pounds more than the amounts
stenciled upon them, while 131 showed
m aggregate weight of 69,s40 under
the weight claimed. Only 20 were
found correct. On the Great Northern
1,459 cars aggregated 390,170 pounds
over the weight claimed, and GAG
showed 229,33o pounds under the
weight claimed. One hundred and
seventy-one were correct. On the
Northern Pacific, 1872 cars showed an
overweight of 29o,64o pounds; 6s6
showed an underweight OF 326,53O
pounds, while lis we're correct. Other
cars on other lines showed porpor-
tionatel similar inequalities.
"When q car is overweight" Mr..
Staples said, ''the road collects for
moving more real freight than it
really moves. For instance: If q car
Is stenciled as weighing 40, 900 POUNDS,
but really weighs 40, 100 pounds, and If
apparently 10000 pounds of freight is
nut in it so that the whole weighs I
81, 600 pounds, the shipper should pay
for only $1,000 pounds. The seller
gains and the buyer loses" L
Mr.. Staples added that 1916 cars
had been selected, which were ab.
clean and which had not been
Affected by weather conditions. OF
these choice cars, 1874 were found to
be $4,000 pounds overweight. This
was an average of 352 pounds to the
car. A total of 1,77s we're found to be
,nderweight 944,62o pounds, an
average of 53l pounds to the car. A
;otal of 364 we're correct. From these
igures it may be deducted that the
hipper loses through underweight on
lean cars.