The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-30
BEGIN ARGUMENT IN
 ROADS, APPLICATION
 FOR RATE ADVANCES.
Counsel for Roads Sum Up Evidence-Brandeis At tacks CIaims-Cl0se
 Argument Today

Washington, October 29.=Argument on the application Of S5 eastern rail- road systems for general advance in freight rates was begun today before the interstate commerce commission Counsel for the roads summed up the evidence presented in favor of the in- crease and representative of shippers to oppose the application. The argu- ments will be closed. by agreement, to- morrow morning.
 Reviewing arguments presented by counsel for the roads, Louis Brandeis, the commissions special counsel, de- clared In his address that the only new fact adduced to justify their pleas was the European war. No specific showing had been made, he said, as to the injustice of any existing rates and he expected the opinion that if the commission saw fit to grant the ad- vance, thereby modifying it's previous ruling, 1t would exceed its lesal pow CTS and invade the province of Con gress to declare governmental polices
 Nothing New Brought Out
 F.. B. James and F F. Paulson, rep resenting shippers of brick and tile Frank Lyon and Charles M. Johnson, representing Pennsylvania coal pro- ducers; Luther M. Walters, represent ing lumber and live stock shippers, and Rush Butler, counsel for the Chicago Association of Commerce, all argued that nothing had been brought out at the new hearings to justify the ad- vance of any specific rate.
 Eight hours was allowed for argu- ment, the time being equally divided between those advocating and those opposing the application The case for the railroads was opened by George S.. Patterson of the Pennsylvania system, who was followed by D. J. Minnis of the Wabash 0. E. Butterfield of the New York Central and others who dealt with specific features of the eases Mir. Patterson urged that the proposed increases were reasonable and declared the roads were not asking for them "as a matter of grace
 Amplifying his position, MT, Brandeis presented a table compiled from the sta tistics introduced by the carriers to sup port their claim that revenues had fallen off greatly in 1913, and in July and Au- gust of the current year. This indicated, he said, that while there had been an to,VUD,VJU utcItdSo III SloSS ltNCnuc ioSe August, the actual result had been an in- crease of $eO000O in net revenues. The decrease in gross revenues, he said, was due to the European war and with the decrease in business handled would so an increase in capital cost because of Idle equipment Yet that elemtn. he argued, vas one upon which the commis- sion had only the opinion of various witt nesses as to it's duration.
 Basis for Rates
 'The question then is,' he added, If it is an element on which the determination of just and reasonable rates may be prop erly be based"
 Bankers had testified, Mir Brandeis said, that railway credit abroad was de- clining and the rate of interest they must pay for new capital going up. a condition which must last several years after the war ended. This also was classed as a field of consideration outside the com missions proper scope; but MT Brandeis insisted that even if considered it would have little bearing. The total of rail- way obligations to be renewed within the next P months. he explained. was $500 HO,000 on which an advance in the inter- est of 1 per cent it would mean but $5.- 0o0,0 0oo. This. he insisted, should be dis trbuted over the s1,500,000000 in annual revenues of the carriers of official classi- fication territory.