Evening star., 1945-05-20
South, West Win
Parity With East
In Freight Rates
ICC Order Establishes
New Charges 15R
Above Eastern Level
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The South and the Western
States out to the Rocky Noun
tains yesterday won their long
fight for parity with the East in
basic freight rates.
The Interstate Commerce Com
mission, in decision generally
conceded to be the most important
in its history. ordered in effect,
that as soon as schedules can be
prepared an article moving by rail-
road freight shall take the same
rate classification regardless Of
where it starts and stops. This
applied even to the Far Western
States.
The commission also directed that
uniform class rates be established
for the whole territory east of the
Rockies, effectually eliminating
present territorial divisions. The
Far West had not petitioned for
that change.
Only Class Rates Effected.
Only class rates were affected.
In general, articles moving under
class rates are those of the same
general character, which are placed
in a class and where the shipment
is not large enough to demand a
commodity rate. These customarily
include such things as shoes,
watches and other manufactured
articles.
The great volume of freight moves
under commodity rates. These ap-
ply principally to carload shipments
of single or closely related COM
modities being moved at specified
price for a specified haul. Products
usually moved on commodity rates
are such things as coal, lumber,
grain, cotton and sand.
In ordering the revision, the COM
mission recommended that a class
rate scale approximately IS per cent
higher than the present first-class
rates of Eastern territory be estab-
liShed as a base. This means an
increase in class rates for the East
and lowering of class rates for the
other territories.
Order Temporary Change Now.
Because considerable time will be
required to make the classification
and rate changes ordered (commis-
sion observers estimated it might
take as long as two years. the COM
mission directed the railroads to
provide temporary relief by raising
all class rates within Eastern terri
tory by 10 per cent and lowering all
class rates in and between Southern,
Western and Southwestern terri"
tories, and between these territories
on one hand and Eastern territory
on the other by 10 per cent.
The commissions decision Is not
to be confused with the Supreme
Court suit against the railroads in
stituted by the State of Georgia.
OF similar nature, the suit never
theless is completely aside from the
commissions action.
Gov. Ellis Arnall of Georgia, who
instituted the court action, said
it will be continued regardless of
ICC action, ito complete the job of
freeing the transportation system
of America"
Long Standing Dispute.
Agitation for change in class
rates and in rate classifications
stems from year-long demand of
the South and West that uniform
rates be established. Asserting that
lower rates in the industrial East
are discriminatory, spokesmen for
the South and West have contended
that the change would put other
sections of the country IL a better
position to compete with the East
in the establishment and develop
ment of industry.
To the contentious of the South
and West, spokesmen for the East
have replied that although the
South and West had higher class
rates they enjoyed the advantage
OF lower commodity rates, espe-
clally on such commodities as cot
ton. The East argued that if class
rates were to be revised, commodity
rates also should be looked into.
The railroads, opposing the
changes sought by the South and
West, denied that present rates
were discriminatory. They were,
they said, in keeping with railroad
costs for a territory of smaller
population, of less industrial devel-
opment, of smaller traffic volume.
Referring as it did to the highly
complicated freight rate structure
OF the MISUNDERSTANDING literally
millions of rates for thousands of
items, points of origin and destina-
tion-the controversy was marked
by an unusual conflict of opinions
and interpretations of fact.
The railroads were allowed 80 days
to state whether they will undertake
to submit a uniform classification,
and the temporary relief was or
dered into effect by August 80: Dis
cussing the temporary relief ordered,
the commission said in a statement
accompanying its 294-page decision:
This will greatly reduce the diff
ferences in the levels of the class
rates In the various class-rate ter
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