The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1913-03-20
NOTABLE VICTORY
FOR THE PEOPLE
Upssttino Of Western ciassifiea.
ton 81 Means Much
RAILROADS LOSE sla CASE

cAatss~sa rhesas - lsss csmmIs-
sisa rssis tss tss shlpesrs so
cs~ewasss - the Wsse Osae-
u BY ths ossisisn.
Oss Aotnss. Ia. March 1.-THE peo-
0lo q tAs United States have had
Iowa 70 thank for Q number Of az
esaIsat things. aAA to the list must
- aoU addsd IN achievement that
nAens . great deal to the shippers Of
As entire west from the Aissisippa
- tAs Pacific. Especially are those
shippsfs under obdSstious to the Iowa
etats board Of railroad commissioners
aad its chairman. CnGord Thorns.
This schisvemsnt 10 the suspsnsioa
and revision. by the interstate com
Osrcs eommissioa. of IN entire freight
oaAssihcadOn. known - Western clas-
saaeation No. 81. and on March 81 the
several hundred changes made to con-
form to the commissions order will
20 into effect. Shippers and consum-
srs alike will benent BY the revision.
Iowa Leads the Fight.
iowa's commission was by no means
alone in the good work. but 1t took
the initiative in the case and assumed
the chief part Of the burden Of pre-
caring and trying It. Sixteen western
state railroad commissions united in
the fight, and Mr.. Thorne was the
chairman Of the committee represent
ing them. He gives much credit to
BENJAMIN L. Jacobson, who had gem
sral charge Of gathering the evidence
and preparing the specific cases for
trial. and to A. D. Beals. Iowa's rate
expert.
Mr.. Thorne today had this to say of
the big case and its outcome:
"one day during the summer Of 1911
I was seated in . hotel parlor in MIL
waukee. In one end Of the room there
were sixteen men In their shirtsleevss.
talking and listening occasionally to
. person standing in the center Of the
room; two or three minutes were al.
lowed to the gentleman talking: he
took his seat and another person told
short story; and 10 on. during the
course Of the whole day.
Powerful Group Of Men.
This small group Of men exercised
more power than any other similar
group. perhaps. in the United States.
Some nine hundred railroads. large
and small, interested In trafMc BE-
tween the Mississippi river and the Pa
cinc coast have organized what they
call = western classification commit
tee of about eighty-nve members.
These efghty-five men have selected .
subcommittee Of sixteen men. This
subcommittee, which 10 dominated by
one or two individuals. determines the
freight ratings on over 1000 articles,
on which 35.000.000 people have to
pay trafiic between about 10000
towns, located between the Mississip-
pi river and the Pacific coast. This
10 one Of the three important classifi-
cation committees in America, the
other two being the oficial, covering
the northeastern portion of the Unit
Cd States, and the Southern.
For the first time in the history of
American railroads an entire classifl-
cation of one of these three great
freight classification committees has
been suspended by the federal govern
ment And the committee have de-
scribed has been making revision OF
its former work. in accordance with
the decision which was rendered by
the interstate commerce commission
recently, known as the decision in the
case of Western classification No. 81.
The railroads have Just submitted to
the commission a list Of several hun
dred changes in this classification to
conform to the commissions order and
these will go into effect March 81.
The opinion in this case next to the
one rendered in the express case, is
perhaps the longest ever written by
the interstate commerce commission.
The case Is OF national Importance.
Many Of its features are unique, and
of profound concern to the consumers
Of the country.
Sixteen States United.
Many shippers and shippers or
sanixations were parties to this case.
But perhaps the most interesting fea-
ture was the fact that on behalf of
the consumers the railroad commits
sions Of sixteen great states appear
I'd. These states were Illinois, Wis
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri.
Arkansas. Louisiana, Texas, Okla
homa, Nebraska, South Dakota. North
Dakota, Colorado. Nevada, Washing
ton and Oregon. On the one hand We
had the representatives Of some nine
hundred railroads, and opposed to
them the representatives of sixteen
state governments, with the interstate
commerce commission as the deciding
tribunal. The hearing In the case
lasted about q year.
Western Classification No. 81 in
~~~1~~~.~~~
eooks Speak.
Books carry with them q charm Of
their own. They speak Of cosy indraw.
ings about the evening lamp. Few
things add 10 much of warmth ard