Evening star., 1926-03-23
BILL LTOREGULATE
R. R. CHARGES UP
Serate to Discuss Measure
to Interpret Long and
Short HautS.

The most important measure be-
| fore the United States Senate this
week, SO far as industry and trans
portation are concerned, is the pro-
posed long and short haul BILL spon-
| Sored by Senator GoOding, Republl-
can, of Idaho. The bill provides for
| q strict Interpretation of the fourth
section of the act to regulate COM
merce. which prescribes that rail-
[ road may not charge "a lesser rate
| for n longer haul than for shorter
haul The Interstate CommerEe
| Commission has had the authority
to grant exceptions and has made
1000 of them.
The bill passed the Senate last
session by a vote of 81 to 23 and an
agreement had been reached to vote
on the measure tomorrow. Should
| the bill become law, it is conceded
by both sides that an extraordinary
change in industry may take place.
Instance Cited.
| For instance. one large Middle
| Western city is given over to manu-
| featuring certain product. Be
| cause of the large amount of traffic
the railroads have quoted rates for
| long distance through traffic which
has enabled that city to compete all
over the country with other cities
manufacturing the same product.
Rates might be doubled or even
tripled for the city in question if the
| bill becomes law.
Some idea of the opposition to the
bill may be gained when it is realized
that most of the industries in the
| larger cities are fighting it, while the
Senator's from agricultural States are
favoring 1t. Speeches on the subject
| fill volumes of the daily record. The
bill has been up for discussion for IS
years.
Water Transportation q Factor.
The problem Of water transporta-
ton through the Panama Canal and
inland waterways is related to the
whole question of rates. If the Good.
ing bill becomes law. the whole sys-
tenn of transportation rates will come
in for revision by traffic managers all
over the country.
The general argument indicates
thus far that the concentration of in
dustrleS in any one locality would be
most affected by the law, and that the
whole problem is not unlike the tariff
in that individual members will vote
according to the effect on their local
industries. Party lines are likely to
disappear in the voting, because it is
SCStiOilei1 IdlIIck lIldil d
question.
j. {. c. Decision Involved.
Tied up with the matter of rear
rangement of rates is the recent de-
cision of the Interstate Commerce
Commission denying seven Western
railroads the right to reduce their
! transcontinental rates. They sought
| the reduction SO as to be able to ges
some of the business going so much
cheaper from coast to coast via the
Panama Canal than across the conti-
nent.
1t is predicted that under the Good
ing bill the interior of the country
would be dotted with little industrial
centers and that the Western farmer
would have a better local market than
heretofore. 1t is contended that this
would change the status of the Ameri-
can farmer from a single crop basis to
diversified agriculture.
Chambers of commerce and many
railroads, on the other hand, see an
upset to the present fabric of business
all over the country if the Gooding bill
comes into effect, and they are making
a powerful fight to defeat the meas
ure. ID. l..
Copyright. 1926.)