The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1921-06-23
CARRIERS DECLINE
TO REDUCE RATES
TELL SHIPPERS THEY CANNOT
CUT FREIGHT CHARGES ON
BUILDING MATERIALS

Announcement was made by the As
sociation of Railway HDecutives re-
Gently that they had rejected an ap-
peal from shippers of building ma
terials for reduction in freight rates
for such goods. The rejection is bas-
ed on the contention of the rail car
riers that they cannot make the
riers that they cannot make the re-
no reduction in operating costs and
insufficient increase in business to
restore the proper relation of net to
gross earnings.
The action of the carriers follow
Ell in a series of conferences held in
Washington June 2 and 3 between
traffic executives of important rail
carriers and representatives of asso-
Citations and shippers interested in
the movement of sand, gravel, crush
ed stone, ebert, Stag, asphalt, tar,
cement, lumber logs, brick, tile, ter
IA Gotta, tale and ether building mate
rails.
The carriers were urged by repre-
sentatives of the building tile and
building brick interests to reduce the
rates on these commodities by elm
mating the advance of 40 cents ton
and applying the percentage advanced
under ex parte "a to the rates in
force prior to general order %. Rep
resentatives of other shipping inter-
ests asked for reduction equaling
commission in ex Iarte "a.
"The tonnage directly affected by
the requests" the carriers stated,
"approimates 25 per cent. of the
total tonnage of the railways Of the
United States ord the carriers are
asked to yield o. this traffic approx
imately all of the increase author
lied by the Interstate Commerce
Commission in ex parte "a"
"It cannot be overlooked that there
are many articles analogous to those
above mentioned on which the de-
mand and the equity of reduced rates
could be equally as pressing and as
great as they are with respect to
the commodities mentioned, and 1t
would be difficult, if not impossible,
to prevent the inclusion of these ana
logous articles in any reduction IN
rates such as is requested This
substantially more than the 25 per
cent. of the total tonnage of the rail-
roads above mentioned would be other
directly or indirectly involved in the
requested reductions. The seriousness
to the carrier of the proposal is thus
evident.
No Surety of More Traffic.
The conferences developed that
while, in the opinion of various ship
pers reductions in freight rates would
stimulate the movement of these COM
modities, the fact remained that this
was altogether conjecture, and that
there was no assurance that any re-
duction in freight rates would sub
stantially increase, the movement OF
this traffic. 1t was admitted th2t re-
ductions in the selling prices OF
some of the commodities mentioned
far exceeded the present total freight
charges had failed to create any
broader markets.
"It was also clearly brought out
that the hope of reductions in freight
rates has resulted in hesitancy on
the part of consumers and dealers to
place orders, and because of this i
was urged that the carriers prompt
llv announce their conclusion in order
that the present uncertainty may be
cleared"
The representatives of the carriers
concluded that, under existing con-
ditions, no general reduction in freight
rates could be justified or made effec-
tive, and they they were IN no con-
dition to accept the far-reaching con-
sequences of the reductions requested.
The carriers, no less that the ship
pers, it was asserted, were anxious
to work toward "a lower level of
rates, but they held that this result
could not be accomplished until there
was such a reduction in operating
costs and increase of business as
would restore the proper relation OF
net to gross earnings.
In notifying the shippers Of this
action the carriers referred to the
"acute distress" of the railroads, ana
said in part:
"The reduction in wages recently
authorized by the Labor Board, but
not yet realized, is more than offset
! by the decreased volume of business
due to the world wide conditions af-
fectinp, generally speaking, all busl-