Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-23
TWO CITIES UNITE
IN WAR ON ROADS
Washington Joins Baltimore in
Conflict to Retain Free
Deliveries.
MASS MEETING FRIDAY
TO MAP OUT PROGRAM
Gathering in Maryland City Will
Decide on Course Which Capital
Men Will Follow.

| listed in the plan to carry before the in
terstate commerce commission their fight
| to prevent the discrimination by the
! railroads of the free store door freight
delivery service in this city are today
| marking time. awaiting the action Of the
| Merchants and Manufacturers Associa
| ton of Baltimore in the same matter.
mass meeting of the Baltimore as.
sociation's members is to be held Friday
and not until they have decided what
action to take will the local interests
affected by the discrimination of the
free delivery service take any steps to.
ward bringing the matter to the atten
! tion of the interstate commerce com
mission. The freight and Transportation
committee of the Chamber Of Commerce
decided upon this course of action yes
| terday. and the committee of the Retail
| Merchants Association acted similarl,
| the day before.
NJ. ID. Rosenberg. general counsel O
the latter organization, returned to Wash
lngton today and had a long conferenc,
with Secretary Charles j. Columbus re
gardinS the local freight situation. Mr.
Rosenberg was of the opinion that tn,
, local associations and individuals hat
done wisely in awaiting the action o.
the Baltimore merchants
Cans to Direct Fight.
President Andrews found it necessary
to leave Washington last night on a
business trip. and in his absence Isaac
Cans. second vice president of the Re-
tail Merchants Association, will be in
active charge of the fight to be waged
by that organization. Before leaving
Mr.. Andrews announced shat he has
selected Morris Hahn as chairman OF
the freight rates and transportation
committee of the association.
Late yesterday afternoon both the
Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio
railroad companies notified the interstate
commerce commission that beginning Sep
tember 1 they propose to discontinue the
free store door delivery service which
has been in vogue in this city for many
years. The companies notifications were
in the form of supplements to their tariffs
on file at the commission.
Baltimore Men Here.
A. f. Beck. traffic manager of the
Merchants and Manufacturers Associa
ttion of Baltimore, had a long confer
enee with President r. p. Andrews and
Secretary Charles j. Columbus Of the
Retail Merchants Association of Wash
ington yesterday afternoon regarding
the freight situation. Mr.. Beck said
that a meeting of the traffic committee
OF his association will be held today.
To morrow the executive committee
will act on recommendations which ii
will make. A mass meeting of the en-
tire membership of the association has
been called for Friday.
Mr.. Beck said that since the announce
| ment that free store delivery service
| is to be discontinued in Baltimore an
average of 500 telephone calls has
| been received daily at his Office from
Baltimore merchants who are anxious
to know what steps the association
planned to take to retain this service
Because of the vast volume of business
handled the discontinuance Of free de-
livery will be a great blow to Balti-
more merchants, Mr.. Beck told Mr.. An
drews. The comparison of the loss by
| the discontinuance between Washing
ton and Baltimore will be as cents te
dollars, he said.
| Mr.. Beck said he was glad to flint
| that the commercial organizations o
Washington and the individual firm
more in the fight for free deliver.
service or lower rates By this CO
operation the merchants of both citie
| can expect to be more successful II
| their fight. he said.
Under Additional Expense.
| Inquiry among the wholesale estab
lishments of Washington today de
veloped the fact that they will b.
| placed under an additional expense o
| considerable amount if the free stor
delivery service now given by the rail-
roads is discontinued. And this in
| crease of expense, 1t Is predicted. viii
! be reflected in retail store prices. II
many wholesale establishments 1T vii
mean that heavy teams or auto truCh
will have to be provided In otne
, concerns 1t will mean that they VII
| have greatly to increase their presen
hauling facilities. The discOntinuanc
| O. free delivery will necessitate tn
employment Of additional help In man.
instances. The proprietors OF som
firms say that their annual exPens
for hauling will be from $500 to $1,000
! Others estimate their additional eX
penses will amount to $4,000 and more
THE discrimination of free stor
| delivery will mean an addltlona! an
nual expense , OF iaGm .aid W SifIO H Bradbur, m bur
manager of the Washington Wholesal
Drug Exchange.
"A large proportion o. our goods is nov
| delivered to the store door free or cost L
u.s. In most instances the freight charge
are paid by the manufacturing concerns
! IL the free delivery service rs dlscon
| tinued II will mean that we VIII nave t
| pay for the transportation OF goods iron
, the freight yards To our uoOT. II sWIl
| mean a direct tax on the local WhOlesal
drug dealer who now pays charges o.
but a small proportion OF the goods he re
| ceives."
There are two large wholesale drug es
tablishments in Washington, but ther
| are three or four retail stores which d.
! a large wholesale business. All OF then
will be affected by the discont- nuation O
! free delivery, ii Is declared. The man.
retail establishments also will be put un
der additional expense. for a cOnsiderabl,
| proportion of their goods are shipped +
| them direct from the manufacturer an,
| do not pass through a wholesale estab
! liShment.
Means Much Inconvenience.
1--WE receive a considerable proportion
of our goods by free delivery and tn
discrimination of this service will b
felt by all wholesale grocers" said N. II
Shea, wholesale grocer. II cannot esti
mate at this time what the additiona
expense as the result of having to han
all our goods will amount to each year.
Inquiry among other who esale grocer
developed that while they viii be Yreatl
inconvenienced as the result of the dis
continuance of free delivery thew vii
not be put under much additional ex
pense as they all have sufficient haulin
facilities at the present time.
| Discontinuance of free store delivery 4
CONTINUED on Eighth Page.l