Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-11-21
REFUSE 70 CARRY OUT ,NsrRUc.
T,oNs or lMrERsrArE
TIL comM'ss'oN.
PERSISTENCE IN PREsENr
ATTITUDE DISCRIMINATION
Results in Unfair Rates 20 interior
Iowa Shippers - Commissioners
Therns Uses Marst aIltewn % IIlus-
tration in Plea 20 Commerce Board
Only ons Compliance With Orders.
=. 49, S.'gsst,-.s- y -. -, y
|oecial TO Times Republican.

have failed to. carry out either the let
ter or the spirit Of the instruction of
the interstate commerce commission
relative to revision Of rate schedules
east or west. The carriers are de-
clared to be practically In contempt Of
court in the filing Of the schedules they
have proposed.
This was put right up to the inter-
state commerce commission In let
ter from Chairman Clifford Thorne to
James s. Harlan, Of the interstate COM
mission, protesting on behalf Of Iowa
shippers against the schedules the car
riers have proposed as a compliance
with the orders of last June. 1t is de-
clared the carriers have continued the
old system of making rates in bliss
full disregard Of the findings OF the
commission that the said rate struc-
ture results in rates that are excessive,
unreasonable and unlawful"
$50 long as the railroads continue
to frame rates for Iowa cities to and
from the east. and to and from the
west, on the principle Of the combina-
ton Of locals in both directions, just
so long will the Industrial development
of Iowa be hampered and retarded by
an unnatural artificial burden placed
upon us by the railroads." wrote Chair
man Thorne. "Such rate structure
causes the combination Of in and out
rates thru practically all interior Iowa
cities to be on a sort Of plateau or level
far above the combinations thru Chi
cago. st. Louis, Kansas City, st. Paul
and other large cities In neiyhboring
states. We threshed out all this stu
alton thoroughly during the progress
Of the hearings during the past two
years. 1t resulted In definite order
by the commission that the carriers
should prepare and submit system
of single proportional rates applicable
west of the river on thru traffic NOV
ing in both directions that shall bear q
reasonable relation to the proportional
rate of IS cents fixed by the commits
sion on thru traffic moving to and
from the Missouri river. Taking the
Missouri river as = starting point that
proportional rate between the rivers.
when graded back across the state In q
proper and logical way. ought to pro-
duce set Of proportional rates which.
used in connection with the propor-
tional rates east Of the river. will yield
reasonable thru charges to and from
interior Iowa points"
An illustration.
It is this Instruction which 1t - de-
clared has not been carried out in let
ter or In spirit. Continuing Chairman
Thorne says:.4 a4.
"As an illustration Of the unreason-
able superintendent Of the proportional
between, tho rivers, consider the situ-
alton at a couple Of typical interior
points, Marphalltown 10 located on
the Chicago q Northwestern l51 miles
from the Mississippi river. The entire
distance between the rivers on this
railroad 10 354 miles. Marshalltown
should therefore have approximately
421k per cent Of the spread between the
river, or Pa cents on first class.
whereas the carriers propose TO give
her "a cents. A fair. superintendent on
fourth class would give Marshalltown
1912 cents, whereas the carriers propose
1853 cents
"A fair apportionment for Oskaloosa
would be II cents on first class. where
as the carriers propose 25.6 cents; and
6.S cents on class A, while the car
riers propose 9.s cents.
TN connection with this II may be OF
interest to note what the carriers pro-
pose in the western case on TRAFFIC to
Colorado and Utah. On that traffic
they proposed to Commissioner Prouty
to make Marshalltown take so per cent
of the spread between the rivers. In
this case, as we have seen. they pro-
pose on traffic from the east that Mar
shalltown shall take go per cent $3.50
of the spread between the the rivers. In
other words Marshalltown would pay
12o per cent of the spread between the
rivers on substantially all traffic from
the east reshipped to the west. We
insist that II Marshalltown is in a 60
per cent group on traffic to the west
she should be in the same eroup-or
100 per cent less so per cent-on traffic
from the east. Otherwise you Will
have practically all interior Iowa cities
disseminated against on their COM