Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-03-22
NOTABLE VICTORY
FOR THE PEOPLE
Upsetting Of Western Classical
ton 81 Means Much.
RAILROADS LOSE BIG CASE
Chairman Thorne Of Iowa Commits
sion Tells How the Shippers and
Consumers Of tho West Bene-
1T by the Decision.

Consumers Of tho West Bene-
III by the Decision.
Dcs Molncs. la. March l3--lho PEG
pie az the United States have had
Iowa to thank for a number oi OK
ccllcut things. aud To the list must
be now added an achievement that
mcans a great deal TO the shippers OF
the entire wptt from the Mississippi
to the Pacific Especially are those
shippers under obligations tn tn" iowa
state board of railroad commissioners
and it's chairman. clifford Thorn".
This achievement is the suspension
and revision by the Interstate com
ucrcc commission. of an entire lrelRn'
classification. known M Western c'aS
Rficatiuu No b. aud on March 81 'he
several hundred changes mad" To con
| form to the Commission's order VIII
so into effect shippers and consum-
erg alike will benefit by tho revision
Iowa Leads the Fight
Towns commission was by no means
alone in the good work, but II tooh
the initiative in the case ana assurh'o
the chief part OF the burden OF pre-
pairing and trying It. sixteen western
state railroad commissions united In
the fight. and Mr.. Thorue was the
chairman of the committee represent
ing them. He gives much credit o
BENJAMIN l.. jacobson. who had gen
eral charge of gathering the evidence
aud preparing the specific cases to'
trial. and to A. d. Deals. lowas rate
expert.
Mr. Thorne today had this To say o.
the big case and it's outcome;
One day during the summer OF l9ll
was seated in n hotel parlor In NH
waukcc. In one end Of the room there
were sixteen men I'm their shirtsleeves
talking and listening occasionally t'
person standing in the center of th'
room: two or three minutes were nj
lowed to the gentleman talking; NJ
took his seat and another person tol'
; short story: and so on. during TIT
course of the whole day.
Powerful Group Of Men.
This small group OF men exercises
, more power than any other simila
, group. perhaps. in the United States
, Some nine hundred railroads. larg
I and small. Interested In traffic b'
Y tween the Mississippi river and the Pa
I cifc coast. have organized what the
! call a western classification commit
: tee OF about eighty-five member
! These eighty-five men have selected
subcommittee OF sixteen men. TIL
, subcommittee. which is dominated b
70 one or two individuals. determines I'll
d freight ratings on over 1000 article
II on which 35.OO0.OO0 people have
a. pay traffic between about 2O.O'
% towns located between the Missisr'
:. pi river and the Pacific coast. Tn
n, In one OF the three important classi
cation committees in America. u
other two being the official. GOVERN
the northeastern portion OF the Un
cd States. and the Southern
~ For the first time in the history
American railroads an entire classi
cation OF one of these three gre
freight classification committees h
been suspended by the federal Cover
80 ment. And the committee ! have
scribed has been making n revision
" its former work. in accordance wi
the decision which was rendered
W the Interstate commerce commissi
80 recently. known as the decision In
1T case OF Western classification No.
| L.. ht,f I'D
''e the commission a list of several HI
dred changes in this classification
= conform to the commissions order "A
these will go into effect March
The opinion In this case. next to
one rendered in the express case,
n, perhaps the longest ever written
the Interstate commerce commissi
The case il of national importan
MANY OF It's features are unique. 9
Der OF profound concern to the consum
on, nf the country.
In lu Sixteen States United.
ar MANY shippers and shippers
our CARNATIONS were parties to this C;
ms But perhaps the most interesting
crn ture was the fact that on behalf
lac the consumers the railroad conn
lth sions of sixteen great states app
~ ed. These states were Illinois. '
edy consin. Minnesota. Iowa. Misso
EN-. Arkansas. Louisiana. Texas. o
Tor homa. Nebraska. South Dakota Nc
III, Dakota. Colorado Nevada Wash
ton and Oregon. On the one hand
-- had tho renresentatives of some
. hundred railroads. and opposed
them the representatives of six'
state governments. with the inters
Iar- commerce commission as the deci'
ana tribunal The hearing in the
hat lasted about a year,