The daily star-mirror., 1923-12-12
EXPERT PRESENTS
CASE OF RAILROAD
SENATOR GOODING ANSWERED
IN RATE CONTROVERSY BY
III. e. LOUNSBURY

nC OpOhdut NlGICuduIS dSSOCld
tion wants the railroads OF the north
west to move the Pacific ocean t,
Spokane" was the statement made
by H. E. Lounsbury, of Portland, gen
eral freight agent of the Union Pa
cif1c lines, in speech on western
transportation problems given ut /;
banquet of Alpha Kappa Psi, honor
ary business fraternity Tuesday night
Mr.. Lounsbury addressed the Uni
versity of Idaho student body this
morning at assembly on the history
of the development of the railroads
in the northwest, tn ewater cOmpe-
tition faced by the railroads and rail
road taxation problems. He was also
one of the speagers at the regular
meeting Of the Moscow chamber of
commerce this noon on transporta-
tion problems.
Long and Short Haul
The greater part of Mr.. Lounsbury's S
speech was on the long and short
haul controversy, which is now up
before the interstate commerce com
mission for the second time. Au-
thority for granting of reduced rates
for transcontinental hauls, to meet
water competition, is permitted the
SOAAl1AoCAOhs uAOOl WAdL 10 hAO w II dS
the fourth section authority of the
transportation act, he pointed out
and the present fight of the rail-
roads is to gain this privilege.
Senator Gooding, of Idaho, plans
by congressional legislation to for
bid the lower rates under any con-
sideration, and he also intends to
wipe out the fourth section of the
law" Mr.. Lounsbury stated. HE is
backed in this by commercial clubs
and organizations of interior cities.
"The only argument that anyone
can advance against permitting the
railroads a reduction in rates to meet
coastwise freighter competition is
that by SO doing coast jobbers would
be able to compete with those OF the
Inland Empire. This argument is
absolutely untrue. The rates that we
desire would permit US to enter into
competition with the steamship COM
panies, for coast freight hauls, but
it would not give the coast whole
saler as cheap freightal rates to in
land cities as it would the man who
resides there. This is explained by
the fact that our proposed rates to |
the ocean would not mean enough |
of a reduction to allow the merchant |
on the coast opportunity to ship back
to interior points and meet the I
blanket rate that is now in existence
to the Inland Empire. The long and
short haul does not mean that inland
towns would have to pay a rate as
high as the rate to the coast, plus the
local rate back.
Would Stop Salaries I
"But Spokane merchants will not
realize this, or listen to the logic of
The argument, as long as there are
certain men there who would lose
heir salaries if the fight against us
stopped" Lounsbury asserted. aa
"Our case is not generally under
stood. We do not ask for reduced
rates to the coast on all commodities.
There are 804 articles listed under
The freight tariff, and we desire to
meet the water prices on only AZ of
;hese. These AZ articles are all heavy
goods, such as iron and steel, paints,
'oofing materials, and the like. These
goods lend themselves naturally to
vatsr freightage, because OF their ex-
RENE bulk, but we must get our
hare Of them.
1--WE are losing our freight business
vt an alarming rate, and something
must be done. The tolls paid on
hipping through the Panama canal
or the year ending August IA
mounted to $1S,975 900, and the
,oods shipped for the same period
mounted to 21,211, 900 tons Both the
oils and the tonnage figures are
practically double those of the year 1
reyiOus. I
Revenue From Freight
1.-TWO thirds of railroads revenue
irv1, h,xf of
ime SO per cent of the Union Pacific Z
reight cars which are brought to the a
orthwest to handle the fruit and $
lmber for eastern markets come 5
rom the east empty, due to the
heaper water rates. The situation
serious for us.
"This huge total of empty box cars
leans dead weight to be hauled with Y
terrific loss of revenue which y
hould be coming in These
ars could be used to haul a share G
the freight that is now going Z
trough the canal $
"Why should we be expected to
ffer ocean rates to Spokane when =
II that we want to do is to lower is
lie rates to Seattle and Portland? If u
lese goods were shipped by boat the :,
zeal freight charges inland would
ave to be paid, but they expect us
, give them rates that we want in
rder to meet water competition only.
is not fair that inland cities should al
SIX this. when their rates now are OF
,asonable. OF
Make But Four Per Cent
'Under authority of the transpor- IT
Ition act of 1920 the interstate com II
erce commission fixed the valuation la
the roads at twenty billion dol fo
RS, and arbitrarily fixed rates which III
.e supposed to net 5A per cent on w
le valuation. Failure to make this CT
It profit, however, does not mean r
lat the government will cover the in
ss. The northwestern roads are not tn
aking four per cent
'In many other cases the commits
on has permitted fair basis of fo
'mpetition on the long and short &C
tui question. The Southern Pacific i'll