The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-03
SHIPPERS PLEASED WITH RAIL RATE RULMG-- TOO SCATTERED
 TO AFFECT COST OF LIVING
Believed Roads, With New Life Blood, Will Begin Fast Service In Delivery With General Benefit to Everybody
By R. F. JOHNSTON

 D e a S e d than not with the award of the interstate com- merce commission, in that it recognized the financial status of the various groups of rail roads and made awards ac- cordingly. They are free in eX- pression of praise of what they term "businesslike" adjudi- cation.
 Regarding the effect on the cost
 of living, numbers of persons ex-
 pressed the belief that this would
 be so scnttered that it would
 scarcely be felt.
 In some business quarters, especially the building material lines, it appears to be felt that the certain status in which the railroads now find them selves will result in greater effort to move all manner of freight, including building materials. They think an easier movement of building materials will find early expression in a renewal of the structural activity that has de- clined since the car shortage reached the acute stage.
 RELIEF EXPRESSED There was no real censure of the 1 award of the interstate commerce com ! mission anywhere. and the general ex- pression was one of relief and confi- dence in an early betterment of busi- ness conditions following freer move ment of freight incident to the initia- tive which shippers seem to believe is about to ensue.
 The one positive effect of the in- crease in railroad freight rates on which all captains of industry appear I to agree, is that they will tend to pro mote transportation on the Warrior ! river. H. T. DeBardeleben. manager 1 of Warrior river transportation, says: The higher the rail rate, the more l transportation will seek the Warrior because the rates via the Warrior are 1 20 per cent under the all-rail rates. If rail rate is advanced another dol ! lar the Warrior river will absorb 20 | cents of that dollar, Under two dollar rail rate, the Warrior absorbs i 40 cents; under a five-dollar rail rate, ! the Warrior will absorb $1. Other points of the freight rate ad- vance may be subject of speculation, but any advance is to the advantage of the Warrior. because that absorbs | 20 per cent of each advance"
 COAL
 About the effect of the higher rates on the southern coal business in com petition with Kentucky and Illinois coal at New Orleans. Mir DeBardele- 1 ben said
 | or can 500 no diffaronoa 4L t | cause these other coals are handled by the Louisville and Nashville, the Mobile and Ohio, and the Illinois Cen tral railroads, all of which are in the southeastern classification"
 Other coal operators that were 1 seen appear to believe thnt the | new rail rates cannot hurt the Ala 1 bama coal business and may prove | of some benefit in the matter of export and bunkerage coal. by req
 son of the lesser advance that has been applied in the southern ter 1 ritory.
 1 PIE iron men are inclined to accent the new rates philosophically. except | as applicable 10 sharply competitive | territory in districts close to other iron producing sections.
 H. w. Coffin, vice president and general manager of the Alabama com pany. says:
 The award of the interstate com merce commission is about as good as | we expected, So far as our southern and export iron trade is concerned, we are, if anything, slightly better off. by reason of the smaller advance in the rates on southern roads. Alabama pig iron will also have an even break in the Pacific coast with other iron cen ters.
 AN OBJECTION
 The point where the increased rates will hurt us will be in competitive ter ritory like that of the Chicago dis ttrict. To reach points far away from us, but close to other iron-makine centers, we must shave our f. O. b. fur mace price. The new freight rates will add to the cost of reaching this ter ,ritory and, under ordinary conditions of trade we may he forced to a further lcurtailment of our furnace price. At first blush, the south appears to have come out fully as well as we could have expected. What the Ala bama iron producers -are most anxious about is the rates on the assemblage of raw material which were boosted so high during the war period That matter is still before the interstate commerce commission. Proper adjust ment of this matter would be of con siderable effect in the cost of producin 2 southern iron.
 "We cannot speak definitely with
 regard to the new rates until we
 have received the new tariffs and
 make study of them sn detail, Consensus of opinion appears to be that the lower rates granted in the lsouthern territory will tend both to increase the hold of southern shippers in the south and strengthen their posi- tion with reference to the export trade The higher rates on northern rail roads will tend to throttle some north. ern shippers in shipping to points ir the south, where they come in compe. tion with southern producers. It is only in northern iron consuming centeri close to northern furnaces that any real disadvantage compared with tn, present status of rates, is apprehended , Three Children Take
 PaSteur Traatmanf