Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-08-21
ROADS SAY THEY.
MUST REVISE To.
OBEY UNCLE SAM
(BY NED M'INTOSH.)

ATLANTA, Ca, Aug. N.-That the
railroads of Georgia are compelled to
ask the revision of ratesin Georgia
they are now seeking, or else stand in
the position of disregarding the man
dates of the Interstate Commerce COM
mission, was the statement of Randall
Clifton, assistant freight traffic mana
ger Of the Southern railway, whose tes-
timony for the carriers was completed
before the Georgia Railroad commits
sion at the Monday SESSION OF the hear
ing upon the petition of the railroads
OF Georgia for revision of Georgia in
trastate rates.
Mr.. Clifton declared that, although
the railroads of Georgia have long rec
ognized that there should be a revision
Of rates in Georgia so that all cities,
large and small, should be allowed to
compete upon the same footing, the
carriers had hesitated to disturb the
commercial conditions of the state, I'M
til the order of the Interstate Com
Terce commission, January 1, 1916, fix
ing new interstate rates into Georgia
and the southeast made it necessary
for the carriers to ask a revision of
Georgia rates in order to remove dis
ordinations between the Georgia rates
and the interstate rates and place them
OH parity.
The carriers will not enter into the
presentation of the proposed class
rates and rate bases from the several
Georgia cities. 1t will be sometime
yet before the railroads have COM
pleted the presentation of their case,
and after that the opposition, consist
ing of certain interests such as the
fertilizer mixers, and the larger cities,
which at present have rates such as
forbid smaller cities from competing
with them, will have their inning
That this will be one of the longest
hearings in the history of the state is
apparent At the adjournment Satur-
day the Railroad commission an
nounced the dates for sittings in the
hearing up to and including September
s. 1t is estimated that the hearing
will only be well under way by that
date. The sittings announced by the
commission are for the following
dates:
August 81 to 26, inclusive.
August 20 to September /. inclus-
i've.
September to September 8, inclus-
i've.
In explaining why the railroads are
under the necessity of asking the re-
vision of rates, Mr.. Clifton cited the
shreveport and other cases where rates
between points within a state were
lower than rates for similar distances
between points within the state and
points outside the state, and in which
instances the Interstate Commerce
commission had ordered the railroads
tc publish rates within the state re-
lieving this discriminatory condition.
Mr. Clifton pointed out that the change
in interstate rates has brought about
conditions in Georgia whereby discrim-
inations exist and that the present
Change sought, is, therefore necessary.
In making these proposed changes,
he said, it would be necessary to in
crease some rates which are now abb
normally low, but that others would be
decreased.
i He showed that under the rates ex-
listing in Georgia today certain COM
nodities, such as brick, lumber and
live stock, do not bear their proper
proportion of the revenues and operat-
ing expenses of the railroads, and that
in many instances shippers in this
state are not paying rates equal to
those paid by shippers in nearby
states; that there is discrimination in
fovor of the larger cities of the state as
against the smaller cities. 1t is the
purpose of the railroads, he said, to