The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-06
$138,1e3 IS SAVED
 IN FREIGHT BILLS
Traffic Association Quoted 123,312 Railroad Rates To
 Members During Year

123,312 Railroad Rates To
 Members During Year
 Birmingham shippers we're saved $13s.163 in freight bills during the year just ended. 1t Is disclosed in the annual report of c. E. Jones. secretary of the Birmingham Traffic association of the Chamber of Commerce, sub- mitted Saturday. Of this amount. s51,- o77 represented errors discovered in bills checked for members, and sS7,0S5 was collected in freight claims. num- bering 4,64S, which are adjusted through the association The 7asso- ciation rendered 123,312 services in quoting railroad rates.
 There are 269 members of the asso- ciation. and based on the average membership fee paid annually, the saving accomplished is equivalent to dividend of 642 per cent.
 The association handled direct with the carriers 139 adjustments involv- ing railroad rates. Some of the inn portant rate adjustments secured were on furnitupe from northern points to Birmingham. which amounted to 33 Ia per cent decrease; reductions on cottonseed from Mem phis division stations; enlargement of for Birmingham; reduced carload com- modity rates on scrap metals from Birmingham, and similar illustrations in an almost indefinite list. The money saved shippers through these important permanent reductions is not figured in the statistical show ing made in Mir. Jones' report.
 Filed With Commis.ien..
 Twenty-seven formal complaints were filed with the interstate com merce commission or the Alabama crease of 12 over 1922, when only l5 were filed. These complaints in- volved class rates as well as com- modity rates, some of them being as follows:
 Roofing from northern points of production to Birmingham. In thls case the rates were attacked aA be- ing unreasonable and reparation was requested. As result of the com plaint the rates were voluntarily re- duced from all points 5hc per 100 pounds, and the question of repara- tion is still before the commission for adjudication.
 Benzol from Birmingham to At lanta, Macon, Ga. and other points. which. involved proposed increased rates of the carriers. The increased rates were denied by the commission
 Cigars and cigarettes between points within the state of Alabama out of which 67 per cent reouclioh was secured.
 The suspension of proposed in- creased rates on brick to, from and between points in southern territory, which increased rates. If they hao become effective would have resulted ~1, c m O forced to pay as increase in their annual freight bill of approximately $50, 900 per year. This case is now pending before the commission.
 O O e
 Rates In Birmingham.
 The most important and~-by far the largest cases are those involving the joint rates into the Birmingham dis trict, A reduction has already been secured in the rate from Memphis to Birmingham from 27c to 245c less carload, and there is now pending complaint which will bring into issue the Spint adjustment from all the Ohio Nyer crossings to Birmingham. In this complaint special efforts are heinz made to have the rates mate rially reduced so as to bear the proper relationship to the joint rates now effective to the Mississippi vaiiey.
 The southeastern class rate 1nev- tication, which was instituted by the commission on it's own motion IS stiil pending before from and between ponts in southern territory
 The association has now been Tn operation for six years, and during this period of six years, rates num- boring 644,312 have been quoted, er- TOTS discovered in the auditing Of eN- pense bills amounting to $2Si, ,4S9.S6, and amount collected through the handling of freight claims, $7of,- 539.1S, or total saving 10 the mem bership for the six years through the auditing of expense pills anu handling of claims of $l,033, ,O29.O4.
 Thirty-four new firms joined the association during the year 1923, and a special effort will be made to se- cure at least this number of new members during the year 1924, be- cause it is felt that the work of the association along rate adjustment additional support. Under the re- vised fourth section of the interstate commerce act, the carriers are re- auired within reasonable period to realign all of their class and com modity rates to conform with fourth section principles, which briefly stated are that a railroad shall not charge more for a short haul than long haul when the shorter is ir- cluded in the longer.
 O O O
 Work In Atlanta.
 The southeastern carriers now have in constant session in Atlanta com mittee of railroad executives who are devoting their entire time to a re- vision of rates on various commodi- ties, proposed rates having already been submitted on lime, cement. brick and other important basic comn.oi- ties. As soon as the interstate com- merce commission renders it's decision in the southeastern class rate inves- tigation, it is contemplated that this fourth section committee of the car riers will. during the year 1924, sub- init revised rates on practically every commodity produced in the Birn-ing- ham district, and the responsibility of seeing that Birmingham iss given rates that are reasonable and prop erly related to other southern cities is great one. The association must be able to enter into these rate re- visions without any handicap account of support, both moral and financial, from industries of the Birmingham district.
 It is recommended and urged in MT. Jones' report that the board of di- rectors of the organization give i'm mediate consideration to the securing of better facilities for the association, in view of the fact that the present quarters are inadequate and unfitted, and especially is this true when it is anticipated that tine growth of the as- sociation will be as great in the next two or three years as in the past two or three. It is suggested that prob ably good plan to meet the require ment for new quarters would be to IA