The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-07
COMMISSION DENIES
 PULLMAN FARE AND ORE FREIGHT RAISE
20 Per Cent Increase In Pas senger Fares and 25 Per Cent In Other Freight for
 Six Months Granted
By FIRED H. GoRmLEY


 22l-2 First National Bank Building Montgomery, November 6.-tspe- eiaL)--ClainfnE the right of the state to continue to regulate charges and service of transpor- tation companies within the state, the public service commission late Saturday denied the petition of the railroads for nm increase of 50 per cent in Pullman fnres, refused to permit an increase of 2S per cent fin freight rates on iron ore and limestone consigned to indus trial plants, declined to estah- fish new rules for the storage of baggnge and permitted the rafi-
 roads to establish for six months
 beginning November 1 an incr~ase
 of 20 per cent on passenger fares
 and 25 per cent on other freixht
 rates.
 At the end of six months the rail- roads would be permitted to submit further testimony in support of a con tinuation of the rates for longer pe- rIod.
 The commission refused to aeouiesce in that portion of the petition of the railroads which said an undue bur den would be placed on interstate com merce if the increases requested were rot permitted in toto and stated that investigations convinced it that Tit is well within the law as set out in the Esch -Cummins act, both in the letter and the spirit thereof when it ad- hered to the well-established prinei- pie of the inherent right of the sov- ereign state to regulate ifs intrastate traffic"
 It admitted that the railroads were entitled to additional revenue, but an nounced that additional revenue could be granted to the railroads without permitting them to establish the rates which the interstate commerce cont mission has established on interstat 2 traffic.
 INJUSTICE CITED
 Citing the injustice of the rates pro- posed in one instance. the commissio, {, said the director general of railroads by general order No 2S increased rates on interstate shipment of coal from Jellico. Tenn. to Anniston 1S% per cent while It increased the rates On interstate shipments from one of the rrincipal groups of Alabama mines to Anniston Fl 3-7 per cent. Were an additional increase of % Der cent per- mitted intrastate traffic would be bur oened by the favoritlsm shown inter- state traffic, according to the commits sion.
 The commission did not mince words in denying the request for the 50 per cent increase in Pullman rates. "There IS nothing in the record that would tend to show that the carriers per form service that would justify their making surcharge for sleeping and parlor car passengers. said the da- cision. while it is true more cars are required to haul a given number of passengers in sfeepers than in coaches still the equipment is furnished by the Pullman company and thereby relieves the carrier of heavy investment for caches"
 The commission declined pointedly to grant the petition with reference to the storage of baggage and in the decision announced that the commission would comply with the act of the legislature of 1915, which fixes the rates for the transportation and storage of excess baggage.
 In this decision the public service
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