The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-15
SWEEPING REDUCTIONS IN EXPRESS RATES
BY INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION
Of five persons in this country either
sends or receives by express. in the
course OF q year. from eight to ten

these packages is thirty y-four pounds;
the average express charge is SO cents;
and the average haul is 200 miles. It
appears that very small proportion
OF the express traffic of the country
results from direct shipments from
the farm to the city home.
Commissioner Lane carried his in
vestigations into the express business
OF several European countries. In
those countries where the parcels post
system has developed traffic in small
packages. the lighter weight packages
c2efre found to predominate. 1t was
Jed that In foreign countries, the
no. ~ 'er received few parcels
weight more than ten pounds per
that in the United States the express
traffic in food commodities is chiefly
between the producer and the COM
mission merchant, and that the rates
appear to have been constructed with
view to fostering and encouraging
the growth Of that traffic at the ex-
pense OF the light package traffic.
The investigators have devoted a
year to the constructive work of re-
forming the bases of express rates of
devising simpler and more easily un-
derstood means Of stating those rates,
and OF preparing new rules for the
government of carriers Of express
traffic.
or foremost importance is the re-
quirement that all of the express
companies shall Join in the establish
est lines OF communication between all
express offices and shall publish
through rates to apply between those
points. The same provision gives the
shipper the right to name the route by
Wnlcn MS property shall be carried. 1t
is believed by Commissioner Lane that
these provisions will effect an i'm
provement in the service and a great
economy to the carriers, which now
haul shipments oftentimes by circuit
GUS routes to avoid turning them over
to connecting line.
Radical Departure.
The most radical departure from ex-
isting methods lies in that adopted of
applying the new rates. In the United
States there are $4,000 express sta
tons. To name rates from each of
these to every other one require the
statement OF more than 600,000,000
different races. These schedules now
occupy several hundred volumes of
tariff department of the commission
The rates themselves are intricate and
involved, and it requires expert au-
| thortty to determine the lawful rate
between any two points.
The problem Of reducing this enor-
nous volume of rate schedules to a
genuinely practicable compass is one
to which Commissioner Lane devoted
most serious attention. He has evolv-
any point in the United States to all
other points may be printed on a
single newspaper page.
The nrst step in the consummation
OF the plan was the division Of the
United States into blocks, each ap-
proximately fifty miles square. Rates
are proposed between each Of these
blocks. treating all cities and towns
within each block as common points
Each Of these blocks is one degree OF
longitude in length and one degree OF
latitude In width. To every express
station within each Of these blocks the
rate ts the same from any other given
block. Thus the rate is stated as be-
tween blocks rather than as between
cities. Supplementing this block sys-
tenn OF making rates which constitutes
each block zone Of origin or of des-
tination the rates are stated for each
package weighing from one to 100
pounds. The express companies will
be required to publish a directory OF
express stations which will show the
block number within which each sta
| ton ie located, and at each station
there will be fled single-sheet tariff
which will give the rate from that sta
tion to all other blocks in the United
States.
To illustrate: New York city is To-
Gated in block $50. Some twenty 9TH
er towns and villages are included in
that same block. Chicago is located in
block S38. which also contains a score
or more Of cities and towns. A ship
per in New York wishing to send q
package to Chicago will learn from
the directory the block in which Chi
| cago is situated. Then, turning to the
single tariff sheet he will ascertain the
number Of the scale Of rates. which
block 952 and block 83s.
This method Of stating rates, the re-
port claims will avoid the great body
Of complaints arising out Of under
charges and overcharges the present
| method Of stating rates being so con-
fusing that not even the express agents
are able to discover the lawful rate
between two points. The director of
express stations is also to state the de-
livery limits in each city within which
the express company gives service up
on it's tariff rates.
Double Collections.
It Is found that the large number
Of double collections Of express charg-
age which has been prepaid does not
bear sufficient evidence OF this fact.
Accordingly the report presents q set
Of labels and way bills in different
colors which the carriers are required
to use. and in the event that the pack
age does not bear any labels the ship
ment Is to be delivered to the con-
signee without collection Of any charg-
es. the carrier bearing the burden Of
discovering where the mistake lies.
The present system requires the
rates as the system proposed by the
commission. However. as each agent.
under the new system, will be obliged
to know only the rates that apply be-
tween his station and each Of the other
blocks. he will have to consult only
$50 rates to md the proper charge
from his station to every other station
within the United States.
Through this system the common
rate area on short hauls 10 reduced
from an area Of about $500 square
miles, which 10 the average area Of
each main block to an area Of about
rate methods embrace much larger
common rate areas.
For instance, the rate. per hundred
pounds from Boston. New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington
ana Richmond to Seattle. Tacoma.
Portland, 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. 1880. Under the COM
missions system the rates will vary
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