The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-14

elry salesman. the tax would be s5 a day, ana if a house had five commercial trav- elers out this would amount to s25 a day In the event of a loss by the rail- roads the question will arise regarding the exact value of the goods lost and the railroads will contest the claims of the commercial traveller owing to the fluceuat- ing value of merchandise of this sort. commercial traveller may start out in the beginning of season with a line of samples having a sale value of 5000, but
 in month or even less the value of these samples may be reduced owing to a change of styles and a decreased demand for certain lines. If a salesman placed a value of 5000 on his samples in the be- ginning of the season. two weeks later he might be justified in reducing the value possibly to 5000. Then in the event of a loss of these samples by the railroad the question will arise whether the first valuation was justified or the second val nation not sufficiently high The penalty for any misstatement of value according to the interpretation by the interstate commerce commission is severe
 Commercial travellers are left without any protectiAl if the railroads may be able to establish by testimony which they may secure that the values have been either over or understated. Values at the best are comparative and certainly there will be questions arising constantly re- garding values placed on baggage. This will lead to long, drawn-out litigation in the event of losses by the railroads The chief profit which will arise from conci- tions of this kind will be to the attorneys wh.' will be employed by the railroads and who represent the concerns in the litiga- tiop which must necessarily arise. If the question of values placed on samples were | left to the discretion of commercial trav-
 elers instead of being an arbitrary meas
 ure, there would be little objection to this 1 law on the part of commercial houses or
 their representatives. Even though these houses carry floating insurance they would
 not object to paying a tax on few hum | dred dollars to the railroads in order l to insure some extra protection.
 Travellers Help Railroads
 Il may he estimated that the commer- | cial travellers of the United States of which there are more than S00,00O. contrib ute fully 60 per cent of the passenger
 and freight revenue of the railroads of
 this country. Commercial travellers are
 really the advance agents of the railroads
 and go out to secure orders for freight
 which is shipped over the railroads and for which the railroads exact the highest
 possible rates. The railroads do not grant any special concessions to commercial | travellers on account of the role they play | in securing business for them. On the
 contrary railroads are constantly increas- | ing passenger rates when possible well
 as excess baggage rates from time to
 time.
 It would seem that the commercial in-
 terests of the United States have been suf- | ficiently harrassed and disturbed by ad- | verse legislation without now adding fur | ther to their troubles. Gradually legisla-
 ton of the sort embodied in the Cum
 mins' amendment will eliminate commer- cial travellers as part of the merchandis- ing of the United States and the railroads
 will suffer in far greater proportion than | they are anticipating.
 l It may not be so visionary to predict