The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-14
Freight Claims Not Paid Promptly

To the Editor of The Age-Ierald. The editorial in last Sundays paper en-
 titled, Freight Claims Paid Promptly T
 properly belonged under the heading,
 "Adrift With the Times" it bordering so
 closely on the humorous as to suggest
 work of the entertaining Paul Cook.
 So far from any change of heart among
 the carriers in the matter of returning
 overcharges; the fact is, making the
 statement advisedly, the only substantial
 improvement in refuno4ng such claims
 comes from improved methods of recover
 ing these unlawful collections, experience
 having taught shippers how to avoid
 many of the Instructions so generously
 piled in the path of any who would ap- proach a railroad treasury to recover has
 own money. The statute of limitation. i two years, was frequently invoked to 1 avoid returning a patrons money. But recently the courts have decided this | period to be six years-practically remov-
 ing it as cover. Shippers generally are
 awakening to the fact that overcharge
 claims bear both interest and penalty and ] recent court decisions Sustaining suits to ! test penalty and interest laws) are doubt less back of the apparent eagerness dis played by some carriers to return money unwittingly taken and ignorantly CD re- tained. Particularly is this true of small overchargeS which, heretofore, would not warrant shipper bringing suit to recover. The custom that federal courts and some state courts now follow, assessing against the carrier interest, costs and attorney fees in cases where unreasonable time has been taken to refund unlawful col- lections, is doing more to insure accuracy in rendering freight bills than anything else
 There is probably no reputable system of accounts in existence whereby a custo- mers indebtedness cannot be determined accurately and a correct bill for same rendered; yet, the railroads would have the public believe that rate padding can- not be detected by their accounting de- partments without attention being called to the erroneous collection (commonly called "overcharge'D by freight payers claim. Somehow, they detect rate shrink age (under charge) with a facility that compels admiration and an eagerness most creditable to their sense of duty. When mingling with railroad officials around the banquet board, individual members of the interstate commerce commission are doubtless often moved by the spirit of the occasion to spout con- gratulations along the line quoted in your editorial, but when expressing them selves in the cold print of formal opinions the combined views of the entire body are found in quotations like the follow ing;
 When an undercharge occurs it is
 promptly discovered by accounting de- partments of carriers when revising the billing and demand is at once made on shipper for payment. With equal fa- cility overcharges are also discovered by accounting officers. But from complaints which reach us it seems to be the duty of no one in the interior organization of many carriers to see that the amount is refunded to the shipper. And when an overcharge is detected by shipper him. self he is able. in the great majority of cases, if we may form conclusions from the numerous complaints now before us, to secure it's repayment only after his patience has been sorely tried by the ef- fort and delay required in order to secure serious attention to his demand" And this;
 'fIt is not too strong a statement of the fact to say that certain carriers seem at times wilfully bent upon with holding for as long period as may be possible moneys to which they are not entitled.'
 The brutal "knockers,' these interstate commerce commissioners!
 The old-time railroad basis for rate making, 'all the traffic will bear" is burdensome enough when applied alone but when overcharge is added the shipper feels justified in complaining, although his complaint wins from the press the appellation "knocker' Accepting your definition of a 'knocker,' it is evident that the carriers failed to grasp the op- portunity afforded to suppress the tribe
 when they neglected to voluntarily insti- ute refunds of overcharges which they held in defiance of law and in contempt of right So far from claims being paid promptly, the assertion is made without 1 fear of successful contradiction; the money belonging to patrons, unlawfully 1 held by carriers through abuse of their opportunities to charge more than the l lawful rates, is ample to operate the roads for good portion of the year. A custom as unwarranted in principle l and so outrageous in practice-taking and keeping patrons money under the guise of "overcharges'-is repulsive to enlight- 1 ered civilization, and an awakened public sentiment will, in the near future, rele- gate the practice to the discard along with piracy, slavery and like evils. | Under the spur of righteous criticism l from some of their long-suffering victims, a few carriers are making feeble efforts | to undo their wrongs by offering re- funds in occasional instances, but the ! amount of such tenders is infnitesimal in relation to sums withheld and does not amount to "a drop in the bucket" as compared with amounts carriers re- tain. There are certain lines of industry I in which freight charges bear a rela- | lively large proportion to total volume
 of business that cannot exist without
 maintaining expensive traffic departments l largely to recover money collected by carriers above tariff rates.
 l The editorial referred to might appro- priately be dated ten years ahead, or l be taken as a prophetic vision of con- ditions yet to come, but so far from 1 correctly reflecting the situation as found by the man who pays the freight | it misses the mark too far to be taken | seriously, however sincere the optimistic | spirit prompting it. The shipper finds
 described therein his hopes, but not his | experiences, and as he respectfully
 reaches the end of the article he is moved | in sorrow-with no rude intent-to mourn:
 Iris false, 'tis pity: and pity 'tis, tis l false DEMPS A. ODEN.
 Birmingham, December F, 1916.