The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-11-23
Jobbers of State Will Fight Re-
auctions Unless are Accord
ed to Them Also by the
Railroads.
Shipments from Larger Cities
of Virginia to the South Will
be Greatly Lessened---Com-
mission to Delay Rates to
Grant Hearing.
tBy GEORGE III. MANNING)

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Nov. az
A decision Is expected Monday by the
interstate commerce com mission as TO
whether 1t will grant hearing TO the
Virginia shippers following their petit
ton to be allowed reduced freight
rates to North Carolina in the same
proportion as those agreed upon be-
( tween the railroads and North Caro-
lima. The commission began con-
sideration of the Virgin brief to-
day.
Citing the comparison between the
proposed new rates of 81 cents per
hundred pounds from Cincinnati to
Goldsboro. with CT cents per hundred
pounds from Virginia cities to Colds
boro, n. c., the attorneys for the Vir-
ginia cities claim ii is discriminatory
to charge Virginia cities three-fourth
of the rate from Cincinnati to North
Carolina cities for a haul Of one
fourth the distance.
Their Obierfson
Their objection is based mainly on
| the contention that the new rates de-
stroy the whole present relationship Of
rates to the Southern States and If
North Carolina is granted lower rates,
Virginia should also he favored.
| The Larger Virginia Cities as they
are known 10 the Interstate commerce
COM lI1{SE4tll Iff pQIE0SSS Va 4 ait bN4tNN
| ing are the cities of Richmond. Roa-
noke, Lynchburg, Petersburg and Nor
/ folk. Through their attorneys IN
Washington they watched with Inter
est the negotiations between the rail-
roads the North Carolina corporation
commission and the special session OF
/ the legislature which reached the
agreement regarding a new set of
rates, and then notified the interstate
p IA nh
the new proposed rates were
filed with the commission they wished
ito have a hearing. Following the
filing Of the new rates by the railroads
and Commissioner TRAVIS last Friday,
/ the attorneys for the Virginia cities
notified the commission that they pro-
/ posed to object to the new rates and
the new rates were approved by the
commission.
yirginia's Advantage.
! Heretofore freight rates to and from
! North Carolina and the Western States
| through the Cincinnati gateway have
( been so high compared with rates TO
/ Virginia and Tennessee that iohbers
! In the larger Virginia cities have been
| able TO buy in large quantities in the
| West and resell to North Carolina mer-
| chants about as cheaply as they could
chants. through long years OF bust
| ness association, have established Gre
/ dts with Virginia merchants and, al
! though they might be able to save a
4 few cents occasionally by buying d.
/ rect from the West, this would en-
/ tail the establishment of new credits.
so they continued to deal in Virginia
| But under the new agreement reached
| between the railroads and the State
| of North Carolina the state obtained
| a wholesale reduction of rates from he
West. while the rates from the West
| to Virginia remained the same. So
! that in order to continue to compete
| with the Western mechants on sales 10
North Carolina the Virginia tohbers
must overcome the difference In rates
which amount to about fifteen cents
per hundred pounds-meaning a loss
to Virginia jobbers of fifteen cents on
every hundred pounds of goods they
sell in North Carolina.
An example of the way in which the
new rate will work against the Fir-
ginta jobbers and to the advantage of
the North Carolina and Western ner-
chants may be seen from the follow
/ ing. examples:
How IL Works.
The Richmond jobber buys goods
| from Cincinnati. or the West, paying
! the Cincinnati 10 Roanoke rate. local
| first-class, of sixty-two cents. Later
| he sells TO the Raleigh merchant and
ships to him by local first-class rate,
sixty-two cents more--totaI. si.24.
/ often the Roanoke merchants buys
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