Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-10-18


Americas, is member of the executive
committee from the third district:
The Georgia Shippers Association
which was organized for the protection
of the shipping interests of the state
and more particularly for the purpose
of resisting the unreasonable advances
il freight rates proposed by the rail-
roads of Georgia in their petition now
pending before the Railroad Commits.
sion, is confronted with an enormous
undertaking.
Georgia shippers should thoroughly
understand that their interests and
their prosperity are vitality at stake in
the outcome of this case.
They should understand that the
railroads are asking the Railroad Com
mission to throw away the present
freight rates of this state, made by the
Commission, and to approve a new
and higher scale of freight rates made
by the railrads.
They should understand that the
railrads are asking the Railroad Com
mission to throw away the present
Georgia Classification, made by the
Commission, and to adopt the Southern
Classification, made by the railroads.
They should understand that this is
no ordinary reight rate case, involving
only few rates and a few questions
of classification, but is the most i'm
portant and far-reaching freight rate
case that was ever tried before the
Railroad Commission of this or any
other southern state.
Involves Every Rate.
They should understand that this
case involves every rate on every ar
ticle shipped by freight, and that it
involves the classification of every ar
ticle shipped by freight.
Whatever may be the feeling of the
shippers and receivers of freight, at
least the railroads do not fail to ap-
preciate the magnitude and far-reach-
ing consequence of the case. They do
not fail to appreciate the fact that mil
lions of dollars of increased revenues
depend upon the outcome, and they are
conducting their end of the case with
due regard for the Importance of the
consequences.
They spent two years in the prepera-
ton of their petition, which embodies
their proposed new scale of rates and
them proposed Southern Classification.
They devoted months to preparation of
the data, exhibits and arguments which
they are now presenting to the Rail-
road Commission in support of what
they ask. They entered the hearing of
the case, which commenced last Aug
ust II, completely and perfectly pre-
pared. Their leading traffic officials
are constantly attending the sessions
of the hearing, day after day. Their
conduct of the case is in the hands of
able counsel.
Railroads Spending Money.
Moreover, the railroads have expend-
&c thousands of dollars in a campaign
of newspaper advertising to influence
public opinion in their favor They
have undertaken by adroit publication
o. fallacious arguments to convey the
impression that they are not seeking
to advance the freight rates of Georgia,
but to revise" them; that they are not
seeking to increase their revenues, but
to remove determinations; that
thew are not asking the Railroad Com
mission to throw away the system OF
freight rates made by the Commission,
hut to make the rates of'Georgia con
form to the long and short haul prin-
ciple"; that they are not attempting to
lay additional burdens upon the ship
ping public by substituting classif1ca-
ton of their own for a classification
made by the Railroad Commission, but
to attain uniformity of classification
in this and other states"
Shippers and receivers of freight
who have taken the precaution to make
their own investigations are not misled
by this publicity. They know exactly
what the railroads vans. They know
that the railroads are asking the Rail
road Commission to allow them to levy
an additional tax of millions of dollars
per annum upon the shipping public or
this state: and they know, Furthermore,
that the railroads are making this
request at a time when their operating
incomes, over and above all expenses
of every kind, aer now running at a
high-water mark almost unparalleled
Railroads Earnings Huge Sums.
The Bureau of Railway Economics
which is an establishment in Washing