The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-03-06
ANALYzEs EXPRESS RATES.
The jacksonville Board of Trades
:. Traffic Manager Points Out GIar-
ing Mistakes--A Letter to
HI.rk

ing Mistakes-A Letter to
{. E. Clark
Washington, d. c., Feb. 27.-What
is regarded by attaches of the office
, of the Interstate Commerce commits
sion Is the cleanest-cut and most logi-
cal analysis of the new express rates
of all the protests filed so far, espec-
tally as it applies to the state of Flor
ida. was received by the chairman
E. e. Clark of the commission this
week. The letter was written by H. s.
Kealhofer. traffic manager of the
Board of Trade of Jacksonville. Mr..
Kealhofer's letter Is az follows:
Jacksonville, Fla, Feb. %, 1914
Hon. E. E. Clark, Chairman Inter-
state Commerce Commission, Wash
ington, d. c.
Dear Sir: l beg to acknowledge and
thank you for yours of the 18th inst.
concerning express rates.
had the pleasure of attending the
meeting of the Florida shippers and
express representatives held in Ocala
on the 18th inst, and was one of the
committee appointed to discuss the
matter with the express officials. 1t
is true that we decided to give the
rates from Florida fair trial, and
especially for the reason that there
were a great many reductions, and at
the same time, there were number
of advances, and further, the attitude
and declaration of the Southern Elk
press officials was to the effect that
IL the old reduced rates were restored
they would insist on all of the rates
being restored. thereby transferring
the complaint from sections now hav-
ing advances to those which now
have reductions. OF course, we did
not like this attitude of the express
company, and so for the sake of har-
mony and with an earnest desire to
give the rates fair trial, we decided
to accept the present status with a
reservation to the effect that we
would not drop our investigation I'M
til We. had been completely satisfied
that conditions would be materially
improved under the new rates.
1t seems to be the concensus of
opinion of the Florida shippers that
an injustice has been done them by
someone. From the time of the first
agitation of the express matters be-
fore your commission, the general
protests and complaints were made
with a view of securing a revision
downward After the decision of your
commission in this matter, the ex-
press companies heralded far and
wide the great number Of reductions
that would be made under the new
scheme. and in view of all of their
protestations, it was never supposed
for an instant that they would slip
in such a proposition as an advance
in the rates on Florida products; the
rates on which have already, on
several previous occasions, been the
subject of complaint on account of
being unreasonably high. 1t was
thought by the shippers, and was the
general impression of everyone, that
the maximum rates prescribed by the
commission would not disturb the COM
modify rates which were already
established on the lower basis, and
had apparently been the result of
long study of actual conditions, and
necessities of the Florida growers, re-
lating to competitions, and the
general needs of the shippers, and
also with view of stimulating this
valuable traffic from the largest fruit
and vegetable shipping section in the
United States. AS stated to you in
mine of the 9th inst, the express
companies would not, or did not, give
publicity to the fact that such rates
would be advanced, and from general
information which we have received,
it was exceedingly difficult for hume
rous shippers to ascertain what rates
would be in effect February l, toI
within a few days prior to that date.
You can therefore imagine why
there was such protests by the ship
pers of Florida when they realized
what had bbeen accomplished by the
express companies. They never ex-
pected to have taken away from
them, that which they already had,
but they had every reason to believe
that the commission would require
the express companies to retain in
effect all special rates where they
had already been established lower
than the maximum rates prescribed
in their decision.
I may state that the protests