The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1922-04-28
FREIGHT RATES
ARE TOO HIGH ON
FARM PRODUCTS
JOINT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT
TEE OF AGRICULTURE MAKES
REPORT ON FINDINGS.
REDUCTION SHOULD BE MADE
transportation Charges On Agricultu-
raj Products AS Well As Many
other Commodities Are Out
Of Relation to Price.

| Washineton-Tra 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
or 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
rails
Exhaustive review OF the transpor-
tation situation has convinced tine
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
1918"
Outside of it's general conclusions,
the commission advanced three spe-
cific proposals to better transporta-
ton 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 mora 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. Adequate
car equipment should also be main
tanned it was added
Further, the commission found that
Tive stock shows marked fIuctuation |
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 /
ga 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 eff
'ect as upO nsOme other farm stuffs,
and as to wool, Mr.. Anderson remark
I'd that its prices ito the producer has
been depressed somewhat by freight
rates but primarily by disorderly and
marketing"
Moving to the study of indirect
reight costs affecting farmers as they
enhance prices of things farmers buy,
Chairman Anderson said that "fersi-
izer prices were found to be close to
,re-war basis except for freight COSTS"
Forty prices of farm implements. it
vas concluded, are now rapidly reced-
ng to a lower price level but freight
ates now accumulate to the point of
icing Is per cent of the price farmers
'ay for machinery, while before the
var the freight charges constituted
nut II per cent.
Coal and steel, being of intimate in !
crest to the farming consuming pop :
lation, the commission likewise de :
Jared that freight charges on steel ;
epresented Al per cent of its cost, :
lille bitUminOus coal should be sub !
ected to reductions in mine price,
reight rates and sales margins"
AS to lumber, it was suggested that
ailrOads could better afford
of relatively higher rates
n short haul business to give needed Y
elief to long haul traffic" while petro- il
'um products were found to be influ- s
noes little if at all'' by freight exac- i
ons. Dry goods and other commodI- S
es were in this category, too, in the o
expressed opinion. il