The Daily Missoulian., 1914-06-11
The State Railroad Commits
sion Sets Forth Its Rea-
sons for Declining to Dis
turb the Present Distrib-
uting Rates in Montana.

Following is the text of the decision
the matter Of distributing rates in
Montana, an outline of which was
given in a news dispatch yesterday
morning; the opinion is signed by
Morley and Boyle, with a note of dis
sent by Hall, who reserves the right
to file q minority opinion:
Prior to the month of October, 1913,
and for a period covering about ten
months, complaints from various
sources, generally verbal, reached this
department, protesting against the
distributing rates sthen in effect. The
commission decided to take the matter
up on it's initial motion, and accord
ingly hearing was had on October 8,
1913. Prior to date of hearing the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern
Railway companies submitted to the
commission q revised schedule of dis
tributing rates with Il view of taking
care. of the iobbng interests and thus
causing the proceeding to be dis
missed. The revised schedules re-
ferred to- carried the same basis Of
ratemaking as was then in effect in
the state of Washington, and from
Spokane to points in the state of
Montana. The commission was not
convinced that adequate relief would
thereby be afforded, and on Decem-
ber 20, 1913, issued it's order No. 15,
promulgatng schedules of distributing
rates on ten classes, applying from all
distributing centers.
Thereafter, upon receipt of said or
der No. rs, the carriers petitoned for
a reopening of the case for the pur-
pose of introducing further testimony
which it was not thought necessary to
submit at the original hearing; being
under the impression that the prof
fered schedules would be acceptable
to the commission and the people. In
just what way this impression was
conveyed is not clear, but there was,
apparently, q misunderstanding as to
the commissions attitude in the mat
ter. A date was set, namely, Janu-
ary II, 1914, to hear oral arguments
upon the question of reopening the
case, and arguments We're upon that
date made by counsel for the defend
ants, supported by representatives of
certain jobbng cities, praying that the
carriers be given the solicited oppor-
tunity to lay before the commission
the additional and pertinent testi-
mony then in their possession. Re
opening of the case was granted anG
order No. rs stayed, pending final de-
termination of the question at issue.
The foregoing briefly outlines the his
tory of this proceeding.
Subsequent to suspension of order
Al, 4
Northern and Chicago Milwaukee and
st. Paul Railway companies placed in
effect, with the approval of this board,
the rates that had voluntarily been
offered namely, the Washington
scale, and these rates are in
effect today, with some slight modi
fications applying from Missoula tc
KaIispel on commodities Westbound
coming in competition with Spokane
Washington. Probably no case thai
has ever come before this board has
created the same amount of interest
and comment. The carriers have
sought to show that the effect of order
No rs would amount to confiscatior
of their property; that it would dis
rupt the basis of rate making in al
western territory and on interstate
traffic; that it would not serve thu
needs of the Montana jobbcrs nor at
ford relief to the people of this state
"A mass of testimony was introduced
at the hearing held April 20 and q, fo
the furtherance of these contentious
However that may be, as stated in thi
report, the investigation was instituted
for the purpose of rectifying irregu
larities claimed, by those directly in
terested, to exist in favor of OUTSIDE
competition. These same complain
ants, with few exceptions, have faile'
and even refused to give the commits
sion their Testimony and support. Il
fact this office has been the recipien
of dozens of petitions and resolution
from all parts of the state, eXpressin
the hope that freight rates will not b
further reduced at this time, but thf
we accept what the railroads have vo
unfairly offered. There is every il
dication that the situation has bee
influenced to the extent that the pull
lie mind has lost sight of the greN
ances which prompted this action; Il