Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-23
THE JERSEY RATE CASE:
A TRAP OR A TRIUMPH?

FIAHE EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER erred IN
2 announcing in one edition yesterday
that the decision of the Interstate Com
merce Commission in the Jersey rate case
was a victory for Philadelphia. That in
depreciation is a short.visioned interpre-
tation and we regret that President Trigg,
Of the Chamber Of Commerce. considers the
decision a triumph and feels that the
Chamber is entitled to credit for having
aided Philadelphia in preventing u deci.
sion which would have been unjust and dis
criminatory to tho interests Of her business
men" It would have been much more to
the point If President Trigg had stated
that the Chamber is entitled to much credit
for having aided New York in the main.
tenance of a principle utterly antagonistic
TO the interests Of this port and devised
10 perpetuate the extraordinary artificial
advantage which it has been public policy
to grant Manhattan.
The Jersey ports petitionod to be put on
the same rate basis as Philadelphia. That,
obviously was against this city's interest,
but It was a mere incident OF the fight.
What the Jersey ports were undertaking
to establish in principle was that the high
and costly service Of shipping through New
York, including lighterage, should be re-
fiected in the New York rate; that this eX.
pensive service should not be given for
nothing; that the Jersey ports. where there
was no lighterage service, should not be
on the same basis as New York with its
lighterage charges. They sought, in other
words. to establish the principle that the
rate should parallel the service, that the
more costly service should pay the higher
rate
Had the Jersey ports succeeded in their
plea, 1t is true that temporarily they
would have been put on the same rate
basis as Philadelphia, but 1t is just as
true that the principle under which they
would have got the decision would have
compelled almost Immediately a new diff.
ferential in favor of Philadelphia over
Jersey, the service being cheaper, and
'double" differential over New York. When.
however. Philadelphia sustaIns the New
York plea and rejoices in the fact that
the Interstate Commerce Commission re-
fuses to charge New York for the service
it gets, the whole Philadelphia case is
tossed away. What good is a general who,
in order to win a skirmish, loses the deci-
siye battle and ruins his army? a few
more such victories and we should indeed
be lost. What does it advantage us to
prevent Jersey ports from being tempo
rarily put on a level with us il at the
same time we aid in buttressing the claim
of our chief competitor to valuable artificial
advantages without corresponding cost?
We pointed out when the Jersey rate
of Philadelphia rested in a victory for the
Jersey ports; that is, victory in prn-
ciple. At the time the Chamber Of Com.
merce was so afraid of the Jersey ports
being put in the Philadelphia rate zone
that It seemed utterly to lose sight OF the
main issue. We believe that the argu-
ments Of Philadelphia, which INTERVIEWED
were somewhat modified as a result Of our
protest and that the city's spokesmen con-
tented themselves with protesting strongly
against putting Jersey ports on an equality
with Philadelphia; but we take it, never.
theless, that a far-seeing statesmanship
would have been quick TO grasp the true
significance Of the fight and would have
been energetic in opposing the New York
claim TO service without cost.
IT. is not sufficient for the Chamber of
Commerce to be sincere. It's sincerity, of
course. is taken for granted. But it ap-
pears TO have been fighting with field mice
when a lion was loose in the pasture. We
had not thought that the day would como
when a great commercial body in this city,
at the very moment that strenuous fight
was being made to break the shipping mo-
nopoly OF New York witt its attendant
peril 10 national success in the war. would
actnally applaud a decision which is an
tta0nistic to everything the port authori-
tIes have contended for in the last quarter
of q century. and when the president OF
Tho Chamber Of Commerce would be jubi-
iant because "the decision Of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission has the effect
VI nelnialnlpg he existing dinerentlals