The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-03-13

struction to the agents designed to as
sist them in diminishing the number
of errors made at the time the freight
is delivered. Again. two years ago we
took the revising work of eight prin-
cipal stations, among them Topeka and
Kansas City, out of the hands of the
agents and placed it in charge of re-
vising bureaus under the jurisdiction
of the accounting department. These
bureaus, which are manned by q of
the best rate experts Obtainable, under
take to correct all errors in freight
rates for freight delivered at those
eight stations, before the freight bills
are made, out or any charges collected;
and to correct all errors found to exist
in way-bills made at these eight sta
tions, where expert rate service is not
available and could not be commercial
ly maintained. The benefits both to
the large stations and to the small sta
tons is hard to estimate by one not
perfectly familiar with conditions be-
fore and since these revising bureaus
were established. What errors escape
the bureaus are pretty sure to be
caught by forty-one expert rate men in
the audit office who go over a part Of
the work of the bureaus and all of the
work of the agents that has not pre-
viOusly been gone over by the bureaus.
The standard of skill in the audit office
is maintained by two rate experts
whose sole duty is to review the worl.
Of the audit office force. thereby en-
abling me infallibly to know the quality
Of the work performed by that force.
Nearly 1900 Errors.
1.-The results of these and other
schemes to better the work are mani
fest Immediately by comparing the
number OF shipments moving over this
road with the number of overcharge
claims received. The number of over
charge claims averages about 1000 per
month and the number Of shipments
about 100000 per month; SO that, after
the audit office has done its work,
there remain about 1000 errors to be
rectified by claim, or about One-half
of one per cent. of the number of ship
ments moving. This showing in itself
is not bad, but it does not tell the whole
story. Out of these 1900 claims about
300 are known to arise from causes
that neither the agents nor the audit
office could detect: from errors made
by other roads in assessing freight
charges on shipments passing over the
Santa Fe and delivered to cOnsignees
by those roads; from erroneous descrip-
tions on the part of the shippers of
freight put up in packages: from dis
putes about weights. This leaves then
only about 800 overcharges per month
out of 100000 shipments. that the rail-
way could have prevented. These facts
are not founded on guess work, but on
actual HSuT0S cOmpllcQ Win palnSta X
ing care every month for the sole pur-
pose of measuring the standard of
performance of the agents and of the
audit office force
The Work Of One Month.
Mr.. Strickland concluded these otser-
vations by volunteering some addi-
tional facts about the work of the
audit office force. He said that during
January. 1914, this force discovered e.
536 Overcharges amounting to SIC, "a
every one of which it attempted to re-
fund and thereby prevent an over
charge claim; and it discovered 1857
undercharges amounting to $12,639. IS
which undercllarges it set about to col
lect from its patrons. He further added
| that the overcharges generally exceeded
the undercharges in both number and
| money, because of the fact that the
audit office took no cOgnizance of an
| undercharge for less than % cents
| whereas it took cognizance of all over
charges for 10 cents and above He
also extended an invitation to any who
might be interested to inspect the ma
| chinery and methods by which the
foregoing results are being produced.
The Santa Fe agent at lola lately ad-
vised Mr. Strickland that the lola Fruit
company sent 5000 freight bills. COW
ering several years business, to the
Sprague Auditing company of Chicago
and received them back with a state
ment that it's experts were unable t.
find a single error in the entire lot