Arizona republican., 1921-11-27
 CROSS WASTE IN. MANAGEMENT IF. ROADS |S SHOWN
 IN RATE HEARING
Head of the Local Traffic
 Bureau, Returning From ]. Hearing, Sees Long Hard ? Fight Ahead By Inter mediate Territory

Hopeful, but aware that there is a a long, hard fight before the inter mediate country, Roland Johnston, head of the traffic bureau of the chamber of commerce, returned yes terday morning from the hearing at Chicago before Examiner William A. Disque of the interstate commerce commission, on the application of the transcontinental roads for permission to violate the fourth section of the short haul clause, by putting in lower rates from coast to coast. without disturbing the present rates to and from interior points.
 The application was supported, of course. by the manufacturers and shippers of the coast regions and was opposed by representatives of the shipping interests of the interior. Most of that, though, has been cov- cred in the special dispatches in The Republican during the hearing
 But line of questions by the ex- an1iner, put to the railroad represen- tatives, Edward Chambers and Paul F. Hastings. said MT. Johnston, were quite significant. He asked them what plan, if any, they had devised for the development of the interior country and for the development of greater tonnage in that region. It was inferred from the interrogatories of MT. Disque that if the through rates asked for should be allowed, the discriminatory effect of them would be to retard interior develop ment. And he pointed out that the great manufacturing areas and the development of industry generally had been brought about by favorable rates-
 Argumeht of Shippers
 The shipping interests opposed the reduction on the ground that it would take away from them traffic that be- longed to them; that if it did not de- stroy them, it would reduce them and make less valuable the provisions that had been made by the govern ment for the encouragement of ship ping. If these rates were allowed, too, it was shown that the steamboat and barge lines of the Mississippi would be destroyed and much of the money that the government had spent for river improvement and for ports and harbors for the accommodation of shipping would be of none or of reduced effect
 It was argued that the proposed rates oh through traffic would not be reasonably compensatory, as the law requires that 1t shall be; that the traffic induced by the lower rates would rot bear Its just share of the cost of operation. And 1t was charged that in presenting their case, the railroads had been disingenious in making allocation of the cost of handling such traffic; that it was not proposed to charge it with it's share 1of the overhead which would be thereby increased, to be borne by the traffic already handled.
 Charge Mismanagement
 The mismanagemant of their prop critics by the roads is also charged and it is much more than suspected that the misnanagement is inten- tional, for the purpose of impressing the government with the fact tha under present conditions the roads must necessarily be run at loss.
 Mir. Johnston said that while hs was in Chicago gentleman gave him an account of a run of the Pana- ma Special, a very fine train TUT from Chicago to New Orleans. Eaci car carried a porter; there was ; train barber, a train maid and valet Altogether it had a staff or 25 per sons. On this particular run it car ried 42 passengers.
 Mr@ Johnston himself observed something of the grossness of mis 3 management on the train on which h { travelled from Houston west. Tn :. train carried two Pullr1ans to thu coast. Each of them was about one third filled. He inquired of train man who told him that that wal about the way travel had been run ming. though on his previous run i had been lighter. One of the Pull mans then was about one third fillet and the other carried only singl passenger, for Los Angeles, lady Instead of putting her into the othe Pullman she was carried on to tn coast and the car was deadheade' back to Phoenix to be used on tn J,hoenix-El Paso run.