The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-01-13
COUNTY FIGHTING
FOR CHEAP RATES
Hearing Before the Railroad Commits
sion Held Yesterday Regarding
Freight Rates on Gravel.

railroad was not showing q cooperative
spirit and was practicing a very short
sighted policy in having no represent
| tative at the hearing before the mem
| bers OF the state railroad commission,
/ was the statement of Hudson Burr,
chairman OF the commission. yesterday
morning when county commissioners,
! the county attorney, business men of
the city and county and members OF
i the Chamber of Commerce met with
the commission for the purpose of
seeking a reduction of gravel and sand
shipments TO be used in construction
Of the county roads.
. 1t was brought out at the hearing
| that the freight rate now charged
from the pits at Tarzan, Fla. from
which the sand and gravel is brought
to the city, is beyond reason, and that
/ If the present rates on such freight
shipments is continued, the cost to
/ the county in construction Of it's pres
/ ent road projects for freight alone will
amount to s2T5625, out Of the 81, 90, 900
bond issue. This contention was based
Ion figures presented by the county at
| torney. r. Pope Reese, which showed
that the cost of the freight alone
would he cos cents out of every dol
lar spent by the county for road ma
/ terial
! According to the statement made by
/ he county attorney I sore the mem
5ers of the railroad commission:
THE approximate cost of gravel at
! the pit IL 81 per yard. The freight per
ard from Tarzan. Fla, where the pits
/ ire located. to Pensacola is s1.22A
rhe approximate price Of sand at the
Dit is SOC per yard The freight on
sand from Tarzan TO Pensacola is
'i.225z
THE approximate minimum amount
of gravel to be used in the road build
ng on the roads as laid out by the
state road department in Escambia
ounty and to be built by that depart
nent and the board OF county com
nissioners is 1880. The approx
nate cost at the pit Of these 49,. 500
ubic yards would be sl37.5oO The
'reight from Tarzan Fla. on this
uavel is s16S.43750 The approximate
cost OF the $1,000 yards Of sand at the
Dit would be s43,75o The freight on
his sand from Tarzan to Pensacola at
sl22ta per yard is $107.Is7.5o. The
approximate cost Of the sand and
Fravel Mt the pit at Tarzan, Fla, Is
s1s1.25o. Tho freight on this sand and
travel from Tarzan to Pensacola is
s275.625 which makes the cost OF the
freight 60.3 per cent OF the total cost
( gravel and sand.
I'm other words out Of every dollar
spent for this material for the roads
he railroad gets 603 cents. Out OF
The $4,000 bond issue on this basis
he railroad for hauling sand and
yravel alone will get $275.625.
THE pre-war rate on this same ma
teriai from Flomaton, a slightly great
er haul. was 20 cents per yard At
This rate of 20 cents per yard the rail-
road company for the hauling of the
225,000 yards of sand and gravel would
receive $4,000. This is 43.4 per cent
Of the total cost OF sand and gravel
This is practically a continuous busi-
ness for a period of at least three years
on this road building system alone
However. the increasing use of sand
and gravel in Escambia county for
public work has grown so rapidly in
the last few years that we can safely
say that it VIII be largely increased
and continuously increasing in the flu
ture."
IN opening the meeting, Mr.. Burr
called attention to the fact that after
receiving letters from the county at
torney and @. ri. Turner of the Turner
Construction company, in which com
plant was made TO the commission
and a hearing asked that he had I'm
mediateiy communicated with E. A.
DeFuniak, general freight agent at
Louisville, and had been given assur-
ance that while Mr.. DeFuniak himself
could not be IN Pensacola that he
would have representative here in
J, X. Ridgeley, general freight agent
Monday night, however. Mr.. Burr re-
eived q wire stating that 1t was not
found convenient to arrange to have
n representative in Pensacola, and
that ii was net considered necessary
as 1t was felt by. the Louisville &
Nashville officials that their state rep
resentative could handle the matter
with the state highway commission
Mr. Burr said that he wired Mr. De-
Funiak that he had already arranged
to have a hearing in Pensacola on the
18th, but no reply was received to this
wire. Mr.. Burr stated. however. that
the failure to reply might have been
was probably in Washington, attend
Ing the hearing of the Interstate Com
merce Commission.
In expressing his disappointment |
that the Louisville & Nashville hadi
not arranged for some one TO be pres |
ent at the hearing. Mr.. Burr stated |
that he had been fortunate in having |
lived in county in Florida where
there had been great development, +
through its highway system, and that
I'm this section traversed by one of the I
great railroad systems, the highway /
development had given TO the rail- +
roads a great increase in tonnage, and /
that there could be no question but
that the development was caused by /
the building OF permanent highways. /
which instead OF being detrimental to
the railroads, had been of great bene
fit to these lines.
Mr.. Burr said that it was ridiculous /
TO say the freight on the shipments
from the pits would be from se5 to SCI /
per mile. when he had known good