The producers news., 1923-05-18
Exceed Esch-Curlrnins Limit
Railroad Earnings In Montana
Continued from First Iagel


Continued from First rage)
ably higher in Montana than in South
Dakota. Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, |
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, on
packing house products, canned goods, |
| fruits and vegetables; from 20 to 120 |
per cent higher on wheat in Montana |
than in Minnesota and North Dakota, |
and several per cent higher on agri-
cultural implements in Montana than
in North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. |
BUCK is PASSED ALONG
Among the witnesses testifying dur
ing the morning was Peter Hrella, a /
merchant and farmer, who said he had |
resided in East Helena for 80 years. /
] He stated he was aware that freight I
rates in Montana are 40 per cent high
er now than in 1913, but said that /
higher freight rates did not greatly |
affect the merchant, as he could pass |
the buck on to the consumer. How
ever, he said if the freight rates were
! less he could give patrons lower prlc- /
es. It would make it more satisfac-
tory all around, and more goods would |
be sold. He considered, he said, that /
high freight rates affected the farm
ers, and that in many instances farm
.ers were unable to pay their bills be-
cause the freight charges took too /
large a percentage of profit from the /
products they raised.
Irving Baer, a clothing merchant I
and tailor, and Peter Jasmin, dealer
in coal and automobile supplies, both /
of Helena, cited instances where they /
considered freight rates were too high. /
Peter Schierts, Helena, dealer in /
autos and coal, said it costs S37 to /
freight an automobile from Butte to
/ Helena and that a driver can be hired .
to drive a car over for SIS. Coal can .
be shipped from Roundup to Helena /
for $2.36 1-2 a ton, distance of 272 |
miles, he testified, but it costs 80 |
cents atom to ship it from Helena to
Ring spur, a distance of five miles.
The latter charge, he admitted on
cross examination is the minimum
rate and for the same price he could |
ship the same coal 25 miles. He adj
mitted that he has a minimum weight |
/ for the delivery of coal retail and that
/ if he would bill the coal straight thru
from Roundup to Ring spur the extra
charge would be only few cents a
ton
When it rains on coal in transit, he
testified, sometimes he has to pay an
/ overweight charge because the coal !
I becomes heavier in transit This sell
dom happens he admitted except when
ne. asks a reweight of the coal in Hell
ena.
William McHattie and Walter Will
/ liams, others of Helena, testified that |
/ in their opinion the present freight /
rates are prohibitive.
LETTERS IN RECORD
Approximately 200 letters from
commercial clubs, farmers organiza-
tions, civic societies and residents of
Montana protesting against the pres
ent freight rates, were placed in the
record by Attorney General Rankin
during the proceeding Thursday af-
/ teTnOon.
/ The letters were identified by name
and number but were not read aloud.
Railroad attorneys asked if those
introduced were all the letters the at
torney general had received or simply
those that had been selected because |
they were of a protesting nature.
The attorney general replied that
! he would introduce all of them before
/ he had finished, including one from a
I commercial organization at Glendive,
Mont, objecting to an attempt to force
down railroad rates.
F. N. Williams of Chinook, former
! " a merchant there, said that there
was general complaint against rates
in his community and that approx
mately half the dry land farmers of
Blaine county had been obliged to
abandon their farms because they
could not make living. Freight rates
were a factor in their adversity, he
said. He complained against the in
crease of the minimum freight rate
from Havre to Chinook from Is cents
to so cents.
The witness said he did not know
of any instance where shippers OF
livestock had been quoted a minimum
weight for a car and then found that
they could not get that amount of
freight into a car.
John D. Remitz of Butte, a miner,
said that talk among coal miners when
he worked at Roundup was that
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