Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-09-27
Examiner Attorney of In
terstate Commission Holds
With B. F. Hurst ct al, in
Freight Rate Charge.
Complainants Held to Be
Subject to Undue Preju-
dice and Disadvantage by
Boise Valley Traction Co.
and Short Line.

Shippers in the Boise valley who
were party plaintiffs in the case of
B. F. Hurst ct al, versus the Boise
Valley Traction company and the Ore
gon Short Line Railway company. won
distinct victory from George T. Bell,
| attorney examiner for the interstate
commerce commission in their efforts
to eliminate discrimination against
fruit growers and shippers in the
Boise valley.
Givens & Barnes, well known Boise
attorneys who acted as counsel for
the plaintiff growers and shippers, re-
ceived copy of the report of the at
| torney examiner to the commission in
which he holds:
upon consideration of all the facts
of record we find and conclude that
the through rates on fruit in carloads
from points on the traction line to
points in defined territories, Colorado
common points and east, subject com
plainants to undue prejudice and dis
advantage to the extent that they ex-
coed the rates in effect from Boise,
Idaho, via the Short Line and it's
connections to the same destinations
An order giving effect to these con-
illusions will be entered"
WHAT ISSUE WAS.
The issue involved in this case brief
ly was this: A blanket rate from
Oregon Short Line territory in the
! fruit belts of southern Idaho has APP
piled to both main and branch lines,
but shippers of fruit in the Boise val
ley who shipped over the Boise valley
Traction company road to get con-
nection with the Oregon Short Line,
were required to pay an additional
freight rate to the blanket rate charged
by the Short Line. This was held by
the growers to be unjust and discrlm-
| nation. A number of them banded
together to take the matter before the
interstate commerce commission to Sc
cure the benefit OF the blanket rate
and remove alleged discrimination.
Examiner attorney Bell was sent to
Boise to take the testimony. He has
compiled his report to the Interstate
commerce commission and it will
probably stand as the commissions
findings.
The defendants are allowed 10 days
in which to file their exceptions to the
findings of the examiner before the
commission. If the commission adopts
the examiners report, 1t will become
mandatory for the Short Line and
Boise Valley Traction to come to a
rate agreement and the alleged discrim-
inatlon will be removed.
ATTACK MBiNATION RATE.
The through rates on class and COM
modify traffic between points on the
Boise Valley Traction company. and
all interstate points are the aggregate
of the intermediate rates to and from
Boise, Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian Or
Middleton. junction points of the trac-
ton line and the Oregon Short Line
railroad. The local rates OF the trac-
ton line from and to it's functions with
the Short Line, which are added to
the rates of the Short Line to make
the through rates, range from 10 cents
and three cents to 20 cents and six
. cents on first class and class p, re .
spectively, and from three cents to
, seven cents on fresh fruit. carloads,
the principal outbound freight of the
traction line.
The complaint in this case, filed lily
rs individuals and concerns engaged in
raising fruit, stock and farm produce
along the traction line. attacks the
combination through rates from and II
representative market cities through
out the country as unjust, unreason
able, preferential and discriminatory
The interstate commerce commission
is asked to require the defendants &c
establish through rates less than the
aggregate of the intermediate rates.
, DEMAND FAIR CHANCE.
This action was taken in order to
put the fruit growers located in Idaho
on a parity in eastern consuming mar
kets with those located in Utah. The
present Payette and Idaho Northern
) branches of the Short Line were form
! erly independent lines Prior to theil
t acquisition by the short Line the
through rates on fruit from points or
those lines to eastern destinations
] were made in the same manner as the
: through rates from points on the trac-
ton line. namely. by combination or
the functions with the Short Line. Al.
ter their acquisition by the Short Line
Y the blanket basis of rates was extend
ed to apply from the fruit shippine
points on those lines. A witness for
the Short Line admitted that II this
traction line were part of the Short
> Line the blanket rates would also he
applied from points on the traction
: line.
DENIES TECHNICAL OBJECTIONS
Concluding his summary of the cast
Attorney Examiner Bell says In part:
The Short Line. the only other de-
PENDANT represented at this hearing
contends that as the petition alleges
that the present pruhe rates are pre-
ferential and discriminatory and al
, the act prohibits only undue and un-
reasonable preferences and unjust dis
|, elimination. there is no third sector
/ issue between us. We are not i'm.
, pressed with this contention. Teehni-
|, cal objections to forms of pleading car
not be sustained. unless 1t. clearly ap-
! pears that some party to the case was
] mislead or taken by surprise, No such