El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-24

press men themselves. 1t is the rich
est example yet brought to our atten-
I ton Of tariff based exclusively uro1
| the theory that the charge SHAH -
[ what the traffic will bear" In tbe
| change Of the graduated scale VII
! come the greatest benefit, as even
I where the rate per hundred weight i.
! not reduced, still the rates for smaIIeT
! packages are. Take as for example
( there is no reduction in the rate peT
J hundred pounds between San Fran
cisco and Ell Paso, yet there is a re-
I duction in the package rates.
Corporation Relationships.
Intercorporate relationships received
| great deal of attention by the COM
| mission. The commission says: The
/ system of interlOcking directors and
/ the mutually of stock holding inter
eStS is shown, and II may fairly be
/ said that the study shows concluslvely
I that every express company Is close
! ly related to, if not aDSoluteIy domi-
mated by, railway interests Among
the directorate Of the Adams Express
company is Charles Steele, who is al
so a director in Il railway companies,
and Geo. F. Baker in 20 railway COM
panies. 70 illustrate what a great
benefit this is to the railway compan-
les it may be noted that the highest
| percentage paid by this express COM
pany is paid to two of the lines IN
which Mr.. Baker is a director, /. G.,
81 II percent TO the chicago, Bur
lington & Quincy and the COLORADO q
Southern railways. The express COM
panies not only hold large amounts
of stock in each other but larger
amounts of railway stock, Wnlle the
railway companies are equally inter-
eSted in the holdings OF the express
companies The American owns %
percent of the stock of the National
Express company. Many interesting
facts are given in this part OF the IN
YestigatiOn, but it certainly is a good
,r,1a 81 hrrr int AZ m
in keeping the money in the family,
and at the same time obllterates from
the express voca bulary the word
competition"
wealth of Express Companies.
The all important question. however,
for the commission to decide was that
of the rate adjustment. II only the
amounts invested by the express car
riers necessary for the conduct OF
carrying business were to be consid-
cred, the reductions would be very
great, but il was decided that there
were other factors to be considered
1t is enough to make anyone enVlous
to read of the returns made by some
of the companies on the Investments
a. for example, the Great Northern
Express company, which was organ
lied February, 1892, issuing 1000
shares of stock from which SlOO,OUO
was realized. No other investments
have been made except that taken from
the earnings. yet since 1892 that com
pany has disbursed in dividends S4,-
900. No cash was realized from
the issuance of $4,000 shares by the
Northern Express company, but the
entire capital stock of 100000 was
given to the Northern Pacific railway
in consideration of that company eX-
ecuting a contract giving the eXclus-
i've rights for a term OF 80 years TO
do an express business over that line
For the fiscal years June 80, 1907, TO
1911, inclusive, that company paid ulYI-
dends aggregatng 81, 100000 In addl-
ton it has accumulated equipment TO
the amount of $21S,50O, and has in
vestments in stocks and bonds TO the
par value of S1,023,000
Railroad Contracts Valuable.
The enormous profits some OF the
express companies have made on their
actual investments would indicate that
there should be the most radical re-
auctions in the rates, although the
interstate commerce commission rules
otherwise. 1t is ruled that the mere
horses, wagons, desks, stationery, etc,
can not be taken as the value of
property used in giving an expedited
movement to freight by rail carrier
1t IS the opinion that the railroad
furnishes the property that is the most
valuable, gives the greater portion OF
the service, and that the real asset OF
an express company is the contract
which it enjoys with the railway COM
pany. 1t is claimed that il is the rail-
ROAD property winch gives the greater !
part of the service upon which rea-
sonable return should be allowed. This /
viewpoint of the commission viii be |
to many shippers, al /
though the adjustment ordered will al /
ford a great relief to the mercantile /
INTERESTS and shipping public.
Rate Divisions Established.
For the purpose of future rate max
ing, the United States has been dlvld- 4
ed into five zones. or grand subdiyis- |
ions, and $50 blocks Each zone is 4
TO cover a territory in which /
traffic conditions are similar, that is
cost of service, density Of traffic, pop l
ulation, etc For example, zone one (
covers the territory north of the Ohio |
and the Potomac and east of the Miss 4
issippi rivers, in which there generally /
obtains a lower grade of freight, pass
snger and express rates A block is
the square formed by one degree OF
latitude and longitude, an unvarying
length of 50 miles and a variable
width of from 62 TO 45 miles, accord
ing to location.
A statement of the present as com
pared to the proposed rates from New
York to FL PasO on packages from
one to so pounds, as we'll as the rate
per hundredweight, may prove Of IN
-erest TO the shippers of FL Paso, and
at the same time give them some
dea Of what the reductions will mean
t follows: .
Rates New TOF