The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1915-02-20
RAILROADS AND
The CANAL.

lie Interstate tGUtDeTCe SOIi
mission last week granted tb,
transcontinental rail lines permis
sion to put in rates from eastern
points to the. Pacific coast lower
than those In effect to intermedi
ate points in intermountain terri
tory. The decree involved a par
tlal suspension of the "loug and
short haul" clause. and the Com
mission apparently deemed it wist
to issue an explanatory statemet
The carriers application was sup
ported by the plea that the water
rates from coast to coast via the
Panama Canal were dlverting
FROM the rail lines the carriage OF
certain "heavy commodities" To
prevent this diversion they wish.
ed to establish competitive
rates. Under the long and short
haul clause, they would be requIr.
ed to grant to iDtermOuntain
points rates 10 higher than were
put in TO the coast points beyond.
This would have involved, the
Commission points out, "double
loss IN revenue"
The grant of the relief asked, it
Is further explained, was also
deemed necessary in the interest
OF inland industries. "Tbere was
grave reason" the Commission
explains, ito think that the At,
lantic seaboard in the future
would have supplied, by water,
the Pacific coast with the cOmmO-
dities 10 question, and that many
industries in the ne;ghborhoOd of
Chicago would have either lost
their Pacific customers or have
been compelled to migrate to near
the Atlantic seaboar La the
exercise Of the discretion vested
by law, the Commission therefore
relieved the carriers of the neces-
slty Of lowering their intermoun.
tain rates to a parity with the re
duced rates to the coast.
The opening of the Panama
Canal, it appears, has affected
commerce in some ways not reck-
0ned upon. Canal carriers quoted
rates from cOast to coast averag.
ing 40 per cent, below the all rail
rate on some commodities. 1t
was asserted not long ago that
certain Pacific coast products
we're handled by water to New
York and thence by rail as far
west as Milwaukee-and that Mil.
waukee products had been ship
ped via New York to the Pacific
coastal rates lower than were
charge by rail carriers for the di
rect haul between Milwaukee and
Pacific coast points. The rate on
steel canal-borne was said to have
been fixed more than so per cent.
below the rail rate. The Com
merce Commission feared tnat in
dustries far inland would have
been placed at a heavy disadvan
tago in competition with coastal
industries enjoying The all water
rates.
The current attempt at adjust
ment is, we take it, largely expert
mental. Whether the rail carriers
can afford to cut their trans conti-
rates to q point low enough
to take the carriage Of heavy com.
modities away from the water car.
rlers seems at this distance rather
Whether the loss of
this tonnage, which would be off
set to greater or less extent 10 the
long run by the Canal stimulation
Or commerce and the increased
tonnage to be hauled by rail from
the coast to interior points, would
cripple them as seriously as its
at unremUnerative rates,
s question yet to be answered.
Any effort to shut off Canal CON-
petition is in our opinion fated to
Fail. The country is not to be de-
prived Of the ecOnomlc advan-
tages offered by the new aIl-water
route. The situation will doubt
ess work itself out in time.
Meanwhile, the result of the ex-
sanctioned by the CON-
nerce Commission will be awaited
With interest, from coast to coast.
Times Picayune.