, 1922-11-28

cisco plus the rate from San Fran
cisco TO Sacramento without gong
to or through san Francisco. The
: tuation gave rise 10 vigorous com
paint frUn interior western cities
which eliminated IN n hard fought
proceeding before the Inters-ate Com
meree Commission which FINALLY
condemned shs adjustment and re-
CURED the carriers to observe the
long and short haul prinIcirls in max
Ing transcontinentai rates.
Our investigation Of your rates al
Casper revealed inuumerable in
stances Of maladjus-ment. some Of
which we have already had corrected
some Of which we now have up with
the carriers by correspondence and
which should be corrected without
much controversy and many others
which may involve considerable ne
gotiAiing with the. carriers and pos
s'bly to tho Inter state Com
merce Commission. Your rites on
petroleum. wool. grain and livestock
are fairly equitable as compared with
other points producing theze commod-
tiles. but the ntes into Casper on
groceries. fruits. vegetables, hard
ware. iron. wagons ard other articles
which you consume here or Job in
the surrounding country are badly
5ut OF line with the rates TO Chey-
enne, Denver. Billings. and Crawford
and mus; certainly handicap Casper
merchants in their efforts TO secure
trade in communities which should
naturally be tributary to your city.
The usual test employed in defermin-
ing the fairness OF .he rate to one
destination as compared with the
rate TO another dest' nation is the
per ton mile basis. which basis Is
obtairec by dividing the number OF
miles into the rate per ton. We have
made comparison on this basis OF
some thirty cid commodities from
various points OF origin 90 Casper and
the four other points mentioned
above and almost without exception
the test shows the rates to Casper
produce a higher Ton Mile figure
than do the rates 20 the other cities.
Furthermore. IL is an accepted prin.
cip.e that other conditions being
equal. the longer the haul. the les
ser the rate per ton per mile should
be. II is. therefore. apparent to us
that the higher ton mile figures with
the longer haul to Casper clearly
show a discrimination against Casper
4 and an undue preference TO the other
cities mentioned. The keynote to your
rate situation, from the east consists
OF the rates from Omaha. Nebraska,
Sioux City. Iowa. the nearest Miss
ouri river crossings. The rates from
the Mississinpi river. from Chicago
and fro mpolnts east thereof are
based on the rates from Omaha and
Sioux City. and therefore any read
justment in the rates from Omaha
and Sioux City will affect all Of tho
other rates. The best procedure
therefore. to remedy this ate situa.
ton is to vigorously attack tho rates
from Omaha and Sioux City and Sc
cure a reduction In those rates to a
fair and reasonable basis.
1.-THE details OF such procedure
have been gone over with your aisle
traffic committee and your livr wire
secretary-manaser. Mr.. Stafford, who
has at al times willingly and prompt
ly assisted us by securing. so far a:
he possibly could. any a { we TO
quested him Il obtain. and we take
his occasion to compliment you ii
having such a man 10 manage thu
business affairs OF your community
In the manner in which q live cham
Der OF should function.
at may have appeared tina: our
investigation has taken quite som,
time but when YOU realize that thli
Is really r primary rate adjustment
case requiring n study Of our entire
rate structure. you can possibly ap
preciate ne magnitude OF the prop
osition. Our traffic manager ha,
personally developed the rate stud
les and analyses and IL you coulC
see the stacks of statements and thu
volume of figures and calculations e
be computed and proved. you woul.
readily understand why II requires Sc
much time I properly handle such I
problem as o have put up 20 US.
am u judgment 1T would not b.
in harmony with good policy TO dis
cuss in open meeting the full detaili
of our findings and proposed method
Of handling our rate reduction cas-
for obvious reasons, as We do no
want to be caught in the predicamef.
OF the farmer who wanted 20 sur
prise his wife as a best be told ii
the following story:
" "A rather weli-to-do farmer wa
most careless OF his appearance ant
his good wife frequently chided hin
about Il and urged him TO Obtain
some decent clouhing tc wear bu