The Cordova daily times., 1917-06-27
VICTORY |S WON BY STEAMERS
 IN DECISION

Sweeping victories were won by the Alaskan railroads and steamship com panies operating between Seattle and Alaskan ports in the interstate com merce commissions recent decision on Alaska rates, says the Seattle Times. The inquiry. originally instituted by the Samson Hardware Company, of Fairbanks, and by James Wickersham, the delegate from Alaska, was actual ly prosecuted by the interstate com merce commission itself for proofs ad vanced by the complainants were neg ligible.
 The interstate commerce commis- sion held hearings at Cordova, Juneau, Seattle and Washington, D. c. All steamship companies engaged in the Alaska trade. the White Pass & Yu- kon railway, the Copper River X Northwestern, the Valdez Dock Com pany, the port of Seattle, merchants of Valdez. Skagway and other Alaska towns, the Kennecott Copper Corpora tio hand others were represented dur ing the hearings.
 The port of Seattle complained that the Alaska steamship companies re- fused to absorb wharfage charges over the municipal wharves at Seattle. It was shown that these companies only absorbed charges on wharves owned and operated by themselves and that i they treated the port wharves just the same as privately owned piers The interstate commerce commission found that sthe port had no right to saN N a..l..fsf situation arose in Valdez, where the municipality owns a wharf the company refused to use. It was shown that the company wharf was conveniently situated and adequate for transportation purposes and that there was no evidence offered that wharfage rates were excessive.
 The Kennecott Copper Corporation. which owns the stocks and bonds of the Copper River & Northwestern railway, was alleged to be charging other shippers an unjust rate through the railroad. The commissions in- quiry showed that as the railroad lost money, the copper company, which had to make up the deficits and which supplied 84.8S per cent of the traffic handled was really conferring favor on independent shippers by quoting rates less than the cost of operation
 Though the White Pass & Yukon pleaded that it was a Canadian road and not subject to the orders of the interstate commerce commission, il submitted it's books to investigation and supplied all information asked by the commission. In the findings 1t is stated that the commission did not as sume jurisdiction over the railroad but as no determinations were found that point was immaterial. The White
 Pass had been accused of granting re
 bates of $2 per ton to the Northern Commercial Company.
 It was found that traffic of canner
 ies and several mining companies a
 scattered points was being handled
 by contracts instead of by published
 tariffs. These contracts were abro
 gated November l, following the pas
 sage of the act that created the ship ping board, and the condition com plained about was not before the com - mission. However, in its findings tn
 commission shows that the steamshi |companies when they made contract with the canneries, had to fix rate that would closely approximate tn
 cost of the canneries in handling thei
 supplies and shipments of canned sa mon in their own boats. Apparent the commission believed this practic
 was justified though 1t now is illega D In conclusion, the commission hold = in favor of the Alaska transportatio Q companies.
 n >-