The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-19
CONTINUE FIGHT ID PREVENT ANY
 RAISE IN RATES
Southern Shippers to Again Voice Protest at Atlanta Hearing on October
 Sixth
sv Assoeiases Press

1 Washington. September lS--Southern shippers w'll continue their fight over the proposed increase in the freight rates at the hearing to bo held in Atlanta oc- toher 6, which was granted today by the interstate commerce commission at the | request of inc Southern Traffic league. The hearing in Atlanta will be devoted: to consideration of the north-bound | freight rates
 The hearing. which opened hero Mon- day and concluded today, has been de-
 voted entirely to consideration of rates on south-bound freight. and to financial estimates involving the capitalization and net earnings of northern and southern carriers.
 The commodities to be taken up at ths Atlanta hearing vii, be pig iron. rice products, tropical fruits. tanning extract. clay products, sulphuric acid, cotton see products. hides, cotton factory products.
 burlap bags. and others which may be ! added to the list by the southern shippers.
 When l. W. Rouser, traffic manager fo.
 the Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron com pany of Birmingham was called to the
 stand he stated that he was not prepared
 to submit all his exhibits at this time.
 and asked that a separate hearing bs ! held in the south. A motion embodying
 this request was made by c. E. Cotterill, counsel for the traffic league. l Traffic men from Florida. North Caro-
 lima, Louisiana and Chicago testified be- l fAr | the proposed advances. w. D. Nelson ot
 Jacksonville and Charles $ Hoskins of | Tampa were on the stand. Edgar Moul- ton, assistant general manager of the l New Orleans joint traffic bureau, dis
 cussed in detail the rates from New Or- 1 leans.
 ! Answering an inquiry, the railroad ad- ministration representative stated that
 an increase of cent on lumber was made
 about year ago, and that rates on lurn.
 Der were not under consideration at the | hearing.
 l H. c. Barlow. traffic director of ths 1 Chicago Association of Commerce, op-
 posed the advance from Chicago to New
 Orleans and the Mississippi valley.
 The south is now paying an undue pro. portion of federal taxes, as the present | freight rates are nearly twice as high as in the north. M. G. Moore. rate expert
 of the Mississippi railroad commission. stated in discussing the effect of the 5 per cent tax on transportation. I In concluding the hearing F. w. Gwath- tmey, representing the railroad adminis- Y tration. objected to the action of the
 southern shippera in widening the scope of the session of the I. c. C., which. he
 stated, was called for the purpose of ad- visinG the director general in the appli- cation of permission granted in 1918 to
 raise class or commodity rates between official classification and southeastern territory.
 He said that the southern shippers ha ! taken advantage of the opportunity af- 1 forded to air any and every local griey-
 ance, In failing to present evidence on the many claims which have been sub
 mitted outside the scope of the present | hearing, the railroad administration
 does not recoenize the justice of those
 claims" he said
 In reply, MT. CotterilI maintained the right of the interstate commerce commits.
 sion to conduct any investigation it
 wishes, and W. r, Chandler of the BoS, ton Chamber of Commerce reminded tho 1 commission that consideration of the fundamental structure upon which rates
 to the southeast are based is essential. l Mir. Chandler stated that this was the
 first time in the history of southeastern freight rates that an attempt had been
 made to make all rail rates the basis,
 and that such action would result in tho disruption of present relationships.