Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-04-28
RATES
ARE TOO HIGH ON
FARM PRODUCTS
JOINT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT
TEE OF AGRICULTURE MAKES
REPORT ON FINDINGS.
REDUCTION SHOULD BE MADE
Transportation Charges On AgricuItu-
raj Products AS Well AS Many
Other Commodities Are Cut
Of Relation to Price.

OF heiatiOn 10 FriCS.
n.-Transportation rates
on products of agriculture, as on many
other commodities, now bear a dis
proportionate relation of the price of
such commodities" and should be i'm
mediately reduced, according to find
ings of the joint congressional COM
mission of agricultural inquiry, an
nounced by Chairman Anderson. Not
only should these freight charges come
down, the reported declared, but Iii
the future rate-making bodies and rail
road traffic officers should give great
er consideration to the relative value
of commodities in the making of rates
and let existing charges on high-priced
finished products stand if necessary to
remove cost burdens from basic mate
i.ials.''
Exhaustive review of the transpor-
tation situation has convinced tns
commission, Chairman Anderson said,
that "pyramided per cent advances" OF
freight rates during the war and fol-
lowing years caused dislocation or
long-standing relationships between
rates on agricultural and industrial
products and between competitive en-
| terprises and competitive territories" !"
which dislocation should now be re-
moved. The object of ratemaking
| bodies should be, he said, in present
ing the commissions views, ito read
| just rates SO far as practicable {.
to the relationship existing prior to-
1915"
Outside of it's general conclusions,
the commission advanced three spe-
cific proposals to better transpo-ta-
tion service for farmers, the first be-
| ing the enlargement of competitive
avenues of distribution through which
the largest number of consumers can
reasonably be reached" the second
was the extension of through rates on
grain ito points of consumption
through two or more competitive pri-
mary markets." and the third, the ex-
tension of the principle that coarse
grains, such as corn, should take lower
charges than breadstuffs. Adequats s
car equipment should also be main
tanned, it was added.
! Further, the commission found that
"live stock shows marked fluctuation
in shipment volume" and that rail
roads, stockyards and shippers should
cooperate TO even out the supply at
market points, thus preventing prices
and charge impositions. while hay, as
the bulkiest farm commodity, required
"a reduction in both freight and sales
margin before there can be resumption
OF normal shipments" Costs on live
stock distribution also must be brought
down, it was held.
On dairy products and on cotton, the
commission concluded that freight
charges had not had SO serious an ef-
feet as upo nsome other farm stuffs,
and as to wool, Mr.. Anderson remark
ed that its prices ito the producer has
been depressed somewhat by freight
rates but primarily by disorderly and
unscientific marketing"
Moving to the study of indirect
freight costs affecting farmers as they
enhance prices of things farmers buy
Chairman Anderson said that ''fersi-
lizer prices we're found to be close to
pre-war basis except for freight costs.
Forty prices of farm implements, it
was concluded, are now rapidly reced-
ing to lower price level.p but freight
rates now accumulate to the point OF
being Is per cent of the price farmers
pay for machinery, while before the
war the freight charges constituted
but II per cent.
Coal and steel, being of intimate In
terest' to the farming consuming pop.
ulation, the commission likewise de
clared that freight charges on steel
represented Al per cent of its cost
while bituminous coal should be sub.
jected to reductions in mine price,
freight rates and sales margins"
AS to lumber, it was suggested that
railroads could better afford
assessments Of relatively higher rates
on short haul business to give needed
relief to long haul traffic" while petro-
leum products we're found to be influ.
ences little II at ALL by freight axac-
tions. Dry goods and other commodi
ties were in this category, too. In the
commissions expressed opinion.