The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-06-11
MONEY RETURNED ON RECEIPTS
Estimated That Railroads Will Be
Required to Refund No Less :
=. Than 100000.
SHIPPERS MAY ALSO COLLECT
Will Be Able to Secure Difference Be-
tween Rates of Commission and
Those Actually Charged.


will be in operation again on all Min
nesota railroads in about thirty days,
las result of the United States SUI
preme court decision in. the Mime
sofa rate case according to Attorney
General Lyndon A. Smith. /
Meanwhile, every purchaser of a
ticket on railroad in Minnesota, for
transportation between points with
in the state, will be given a receipt,
if it is asked for, and-will get re-
fund when the ~two-cent fare becomes
operative. ..s .. @-~ ,,..-..-: !
T. Every holder of a receipt for pur-
chase price of a passenger ticket in
Minnesota, at any time after June l;
1911, except in the case of the Min
neapolis and St. Louis road, will be
able to collect the difference between
two cents and three cents mile by
filing claim with the state railroad
and warehouse commission.
All shippers of merchandise who,
since June 1, 1911, have paid the
rates demanded by the railroads in
Minnesota, and who have expense
bills, will be able to collect the diff
ference between the rates ordered by
the state commission and those act
uallY collected, by the railroads, (.
Shippers may also collect the diff
ference between commodity rates,
fixed by law and the rates actually
charged since June I, 1907. -.
The total of such refunds is esti-
mated at $3,OO0,O0O. 49, !
The state legislature established
the principle in 1909 that the rail-
roads would have to return to ship
pers the excess tariffs collected if the
state won the case in. the supreme
court.
ct usually takes about thirty days
to get the mandate and remittitur of
the supreme court said Attorney
General Smith. GAS soon as that is
received, the lower court should dis
miss the cases. It is then up to the
railroad companies to obey the state
law without any further delay. They
might delay the matter some by ap-
plying for a reargument, but it is
very seldom that the supreme court
grants a reargument, and in this case,
the decision being unanimous it is
most improbable"
Three classes of rates are affected
and the effect is different in each
case. The state railroad and ware
house commission established mer-
chandise rates, effective Nov. Is,
1905. The state legislature passed
the commodity rate law effective June
1, 1907. It also passed the two-cent
passenger fare bill, effective June /,
1907 z.s ,....: -: T. ; ..s.-.,E q, =
The railroads put the merchandise
rates into effect and continued them
into effect until June 1, 1911, and the
roads did the same in the case of the
two-cent passenger rate. The COM
modify rates were not enforced, as
they were enjoined by the United
States district court.
What the railroads owe to shippers
and travellers is found in the differ
ence between the merchandise rates
that the legislature established, and
those that the railroads have kept in
force since June 1, 1911. They also
owe the difference between all three
cent-a-mile fares collected and the
two-cnt-a-mile rate, since June /,
1911, except in the case of the Min