The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-20
MORE AS TO RATE UNFAIRNEss.

bearing in the Forum of the People to- day, takes issue with The Age-Herald's statement that the railroads seek to re- coup themselves by high charges on short hauls for low charges on long competi- tive hauls. Although MT. Mapother de- nies the truth of the statement, he does not support his denial with proof. For example, on September 16, this news paper remarked that, because of the Me- ridian rate schedule, although author ized by the, Interstate Commerce Com mission, it costs less to haul freight be- tween a given Alabama point and Me ridian than to haul the identical load be- tween the same Alabama point and an intervening point" MT. Mapother fears that we have "wrong understanding of the so-called Meridian case. The l.. & N. R. R. was not immediately con- cerned in the decision, but it is my un- derstanding that the railroads involved have produced an equality between all of these cities, insofar as their competi- ton in common territory is concerned" What Mfr. Mapother overlooks is the truth of The Age-Herald's statement that inter vening points are being made to pay actually higher rates for short haufs than far distant points are paying for long hauls. and thus the intermediate point: pay for the competition among railroads.
 To show that the Meridian rate sched- ules would not withstand close examina- ton and attack, it is necessary only to cite the I. c. C.'s latest decision restoring to the Alabama Public Service Commis- sion it's authority over the rates on short hauls in the state of Alabama, which had been revoked: by the former decision. According to the press report of the re- cent hearing before the Interstate Com merce Commission; "It was shown that hay producers of Mississippi were able to control the hay market of Birming- ham, because they had much lower rate than enjoyed by intervening Alabama hay-producing points. Birmingham IS consuming three thousand cars of hay annually and Mississippi producers are supplying 75 per cent. of this amount because of favorable rates" This same practice applies equally to other com modities. It is incredible that Ala bama producers, although shipping from points much nearer Birmingham, should have to pay higher rates on their prod ucts than far more distant producers shipping from another state. Yet that IS what the Meridian rate decision did.
 But the Meridian rate decision is mere ly local name for a policy which the Interstate Commerce Commission tole- rates all over the United States. It rep resents the commissions misinterpreta- tion of the intent of the "long and short haul'' clause in the transportation act This interpretation, as correctly stated by The Age-Herald on many occasions, authorizes the railroads to charge much higher rates on short or inland hauls than they charge between competitive points or on long hauls from producing centers to seaboard. Now there is good and valid argument for special export rates from producing inland centers. There is no desire to destroy that prac- tice where it works to the public advan- tage. But there is mo good and valid reason or defense for the practice of making non-competitive or short-haul points pay for the reductions affecting more favored points. In spite of MT. Mapother's statement, it is incredible that there could be all this furor about rates if they were fair to all. As he ad- mits, however, there is a perceptible and rapid trend towards rate adjustments on basis more fair than has prevailed.
 As regards the Meridian former de- cision, it should be mentioned that the federal. commission gave the railroads authority to reduce their interstate rates or to increase their intrastate rates. They chose the latter alternative, to the great disadvantage of certain Alabama points, which are thus fined by the rail- roads, with the consent of the federal commission. It is evident, however, that the federal commission now sees the error in it's interpretation of the long and short haul clause, for it's restoration to the Alabama commission of jurisdiction over the rates concerned is revocation of its previous position. It may be that the decision is forerunner of others of simi- lar nature. In any event, the Gooding bill providing, for clarification of the long and short haul clause so as to pre- vent the further application of the fed eral commissions original interpretation, has passed the senate, and is likely to pass the house at the next session. It will remove at once the basis for such deliberate rate unfairness as the com mission has countenanced in past, de-