The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-11
RAILROADS JOIN
 FIGHT ON CANAL
(Coutinued From Page One.

once seen in the Port of London. For eign ships were barred from our coastal traffic; and to prevent monopoly, con- gress enacted that steamship lines owned by railroads might not use the canal. Hard on that came the period of slides on the Culebra cut, which closed the canal to all shipping f many months. The war in Europe broke; there was more profitable use for such shipping as we could muster. Ne'- ertheless, traffic on the canal began looking up. Moreover, any far-sighted railroad official could see menace in the near future. The war was putting us back on the seas. After a paralysis of fifty years, we had again become a shipbuilding people. The war over, much of our surplus shipping would take the Panama route.
 When canal competition first became dangerous, the transcontinental lines, making a tentative beginning, applied for relief from the fourth section-per- mission to charge on certain commodl- ties lower rate to the Pacific coast than to intermediate points. l have al ready shown how such an agreement affects the intermountain region. Eighty cent rates from Chicago to the coast, dollar rates to his own freight stat.on- this appeals to the average citizen of Spokane, Boise, Salt Lake, Reno, Santa Fe, as tyranny, taxation without repre- sentation, government by corporatlon- everything which touches the pocketbOOt and stirs the fighting blood of patriots. The Intermediate Rate association, formed by the interests of the Far West ern interior, to fight this proceeding, l Nha granted.
 Slides Restored Rates
 When the slides put the canal out of competition, the interstate commerce commerce commission restored the old rates. We entered the war; and the railway administration held the trans continental line strictly to tAe pro- visions of Section 4.
 The situation at the end of the war vindicated the f,resight of the railway executives. The American flag came back to the seas, and to the canal. In 1920, its locks passed 1,061 1852 tons of miscellaneous freight; 1, ,944, ,11S tons in 1 1921 3,567 0S6 tons in 1922 5,496, 6,53O tons in 1923. Besides this, tank steam CTS in 1923 carried 7,541 ,150 tons of oil. Last March 14G steamers ran regularly | 10 weStbound sailings each week. On the commodities which ships can han dle more cheaply than land carriers, the railroads were losing ground fast.
 In 1922 the affected railroads made their first move in q new campaign. They asked permission to reduce rates to the Pacific coast. on certain staple commodities, to figure lower than that charged for the shorter haul to the in termountain region. The reason given was simple and aightforward. They wanted to meet water competition at Pacific coast ports. The interestate commerce commission denied the appli- cation. Perhaps the railroad executives were merely feeling out the commission {; and expected this outcome for they did not press the case with any great energy.
 But last year they came back with the new and more sweeping application already noted. They asked for excep- tions from the lang-and- -short-haul rule of the fourth section on westbound ship ments from Chicago of some fifty com modities which the steamer lines could handle.
 Justice in Roads Claim l ms IlInc, they DtSStu IOI llo' only in order to meet water competition but in order to solve the empty car problem. In this last consideration. il would seem to the diSintereSted observer ! they had considerable justice on their side. The through eaStbound freight ! traffic of these lines consists largely iI periShable agricultural products. Dur ing two or three months of the year the | dc tracks with trains of fruit, fresh vege tables and livestock Generally speak ing, the cars which carry these commodi ties eastbound must travel empty west bound Most of these containers are o1 such character that they can handle general freight. If the railroads were allowed competitive rates with the Pan anna Canal steamers. they might reduce the burdensome cost of hauling empty ears.
 Seven transcOntincntal lines joined il this application. The opponents of tho railroads say that only two of them ar' really keen for the proposal. To prove this, Senator GOOding presented in evi denCe at the senate inquiry a letter iron an executive of the Northern Pacific addressed to q colleague of another line opposing the wisdom of such a measur, at this time. But the railroads. in thei present distressing situation, doubtless feel that they must hang together O hang separately. The tranScOntinenta lines, the diS>enterS aS well as the or thodox. put thefy shoulders to the wheel
 The intermountain region reared ul on it's hind legs. Canal competition b damned! The commodities listed for re duced rates to the coast and the coas aloneIwere necessary to their life.