Evening star., 1927-08-26
29CENT COAL RATE
CUT IS FORECAST
|. c. c. Examiner Finds
Rates to lexington and Po-
tomac Yards Differ.

With the Recommendation Of an In.
terstato Commerce Commission exam
lner that all bituminous coal deliveries
to Washington from the West Vir-
ginia fields be placed on the same
basis, thus doing away with a dif.
fcrential that now amounts to % cents
q ton. the way was paved today for
n cut in soft coal prices here. and
also reduction in the rates OF the
Potomac Electric Power Co., which
will be permitted to take advantage
OF the lower rate for getting its fuel,
IL the new figure Is approved by the
commission.
The complaint, which was brought
by the Potomac Eectric Power Co.,
and held that the rates on the Chesa.
peake & Ohio to Washington and
vicinity were unreasonable and unduly
prejudicial, was found unjustified in
part in the report of Examiner c. w.
Berry.
Coal Dealers Intervene.
Fadely & Co., and John r. Agnew
& Co., Inc. local coal dealers. inter.
vened In the complaint, claiming that
the rate maintained by the Chesa.
peake & Ohio for delivery on the
Baltimore & Ohio tracks at lexington
Was HiSHeA tHaH tIc Iatc AoI uchNSiy
on the Pennsylvania tracks at Poto-
pretudicial to them. The examiner
agreed with this claim.
This means that the rate Of s3.13
now charged would be reduced to S2.84
OF the commission upholds the exam.
iner's recommendation. thus placing
all deliveries in the District Of Co
lumbia on the B. & o. and Pennsyl-
vania on a parity.
At the same time, the examiner
found that rates from mines on the
Norfolk & Western and Virginian
Railways were unduly prejudicial. in
that they exceeded rates on the G. &
o. from mines in comparable districts.
The N. & w. and the Virginian agreed
that their rates. should be the same
az those on the G. 4 o. The effect of
this recommendation would be to open
UP to the dealers and consumers OF
coal in Washington from the n. & w.
Railway and the Virginian Railway
fields on q parity with the c.. & O.
fields.
Claims Set Forth.
The Potomac Electric Power CO.
claimed that the rates over the Chesa-
peake & Ohio exceeded 1884 a ton,
basing It's claim on the mileage from
the coal district over the railroads
route from Clifton Forge, Va, through
Staunton and Charlottesville to Lind.
say. The average distance from the
mines to Washington over this route
is 1888 miles.
The c. & o. has another route. rum
ming from Clifton Forge through
Lynchburg and Strathmore and
meeting the first route at Lindsay.
The average distance to Washington
over this route is 412 miles. The rail.
road claimed that its rates were based
on the longer mileage in the interests
of economy. showing that there fs
practically down grade for the en-
tire distance Of the longer route. while
on the shorter route there are several
steep grades and many curves, as well
as more congestion. ....
The examiner held that the Poto-
mac Electric Power Co. was. not In
jured by the rate Of $3.13 which the
c. & o. charges, because it has no
competitor, getting coal at q cheaper
rate, as It uses Its coal in generating
power, and. therefore, is not in com.
petition with dealers who get a cheaper
rate, and because It's electricity rates
are set by the Public Utilities Com
mission, which considers the cost OF
coal in setting those rates. Tables OF
rates and earnings submitted by the
c. & o. showed that 1t was not making
an unreasonable profit, in the opinion
Of the examiner. However, the com.
pany will profit IL the decision on the
complaint of the intervenors Is up.
held.
In the case Of the rates over the
Norfolk and Western and the Vir-
ginian there was no opposition to the
claim Of operators in districts on these
roads that the rates were prejudicial
to operators on those roads in favor
Of the Chesapeake and Ohio district.
The railroads agreed that they should
charge the same rates as the Chesa-
peake and Ohio.
Basis OF Complaint.
The complaint of F'adeley & Co., and
the Agnew Co. was based on the
sharp competition in the coal business
here. These companies explained that
they try to sell coal from the Balti.
more and Ohio district mines, but be.
cause Of the demand for New River
coal from West Virginia they must
supply 1t or lose business. To meet
the prices Of dealers on the Pennsyl-
vania tracks, they pointed out they
had to take loss Of 20 cents ton
in freight rates.
Because the c. G. o. charges more
for coal for delivery on the B. & 0.
tracks than it does for coal for de-
livery on the Pennsylvania tracks, it
was claimed, N. & w. and Virginian
coal, which have, the same rates as
the c. g. o. coal, are excluded from
the Washington market. The ex-
aminer agreed that the c. &c 0. rate
should be the same on the B. & 0. as
on the Pennsylvania and further that
the N. & w. ana virginian rates
should also be made to agree with
the C. & O.-pennsylvania rate.