The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-11-14
RIVERS SUBMITS
 REPORT ON RATE
 HEARINGS TODAY

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 Presenting arguments by the Territory at recent water carrier freight rate hearings before the U. S. Maritime Commission in Seattle, Territorial Attorney Gen. eral Ralph J. Rivers today releas- ed his report on what transpired at the conferences. His report is as follows:
 '"The purpose of the Territory as an intervenor at the hearing was to show that the setup establish ed by the Maritime Commission under the interim contracts was uneconomical and unnecessarily burdensome on the people of Al aska who pay the freight bill. Points brought out by the Terri torys witnesses at the hearing were as follows.
 q. Due to National Defense &C., tivities in the rail-belt area, the center of population in Alaska has shifted from Southeastern Alaska to the rail-belt, which now gen. crates the greater volume of traf- fife; that nevertheless three diff ferent carriers still compete in Southeastern, with monopoly contract as to commercial traffic for the Westward granted to Alaska Steamship Company.
 g. That Alaska Steam North land, jointly controlled, should be consolidated to avoid the double overhead now incurred under their operations as separate entities.
 Wasteful Competition
 8. That the present organiza- ton of the trade in Southeastern Alaska leads to wasteful competi- tion between Alaska Steam North land and Alaska Transportation Company. That if Northland were merged with Alaska Steam and Alaska Transportation Company al- lowed to operate to the Westward with a fair allotment of ships dn- stead of being restricted to South eastern with four vessels), the re- suit would be a bona fide, although limited, competition along the en- tire route. At this point I wish to tress the words limited competi- tion.' Steamship companies, oper- ating with identical rates approved by the Maritime Commission, are not in position to compete in the commercial sense of the word, but must be regarded somewhat as a public utility. They are only in position to compete as to quality of service, unless they engage in such wasteful practices as schedul- ing departures on the same day, and otherwise unnecessarily dupli- eating service by unneeded fre- quency of trips etc. This can be avoided only by a so-called con- ference agreement under which both carriers cooperate in schedul- ing service along economical lines. Such conference agreements are common in the waterborne trades. Present agreements between the three carriers operating in South eastern Alaska do not include conference on the subject of scheduling, and economy along that line has not been observed. No conference on scheduling as to the Westward is possible because Alaska Steam has monopoly there and can do whatever it wishes.
 Revise Fares
 A. Passenger vessels do not pay their way except at the peak of the summer season. Therefore, passenger fares should be revised upward so that shippers of freight do not have to pay the losses of passenger operations. It is felt that full bookings would te en- joyed during the summer time for the next several years even if fares were upped so that tourists and seasonal workers would pay their way.
 "5. The Westward trade should be separated as far as possible from the Southeastern trade, with ships going to and from the Vest ward routed on the short outside passage with full loads. Thus the many delays and incidental ex- pense of stopping at Southeastern ports and passage across the Gulf taken with reduced loads could be obviated.
 Steamer Schedule
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