Evening star., 1947-02-09

On March 5 the supreme court
their Interstate Commerce Commi
the country's rates are discrimina-
tory and correction ordered. In
formed opinion expects a final de-
cision at this term.
The State of Georgia also is In
the Supreme Court with a suit in
stituted by Mr.. Arnall when he was
Governor. It has the same general
objective as that of the Governors
Conference, although it is flank
attack from a different quarter. But
because oral arguments before q
master must yet be made, and the
masters findings reported to the
court, the probability of first deci-
sion rests with the Governors case
If they should win and the cor
rectipe rates ordered by the ICC
finally take effect, Mr.. Arnall might
find some of the wind out OF his
sails. His suit attacks the railroads
methods of making rates, rather
than the rates themselves, and the
court may go ahead with it re-
gardless of the outcome in the
other case. But if he should wir
and change only the way of max
ing rates after the rates themselves
have been equalized, his victory
would be trifie hollow. On the
other hand, if the Governors should
lose, the Georgia suit is a second
line of attack which conceivab]y
could carry the day.
Suits Complement Each Other.
These two suits represent split
in Southern leadership, not in the
goal desired but in the method OF
it. Oddly enough the di-
vided front has not hindered prog
ress of the campaign, Rather, while
it plainly was not so intended, one
suit has so complemented the other
that the strategy could not have
been better if designed.
Both cases originate in the rate
territories" into which the Ma
tion's railroads are segregated. The
citizen is naive who imagines tnat
a carload of freight is a carload OF
freight, and that he can have 1t
shipped by paying sum based
largely on weight and distance, like
parcel post or express. Almost each
of the thousands of products of oul
complex economy has a carriage
charge of its own, varying with To-
calities. While weight and distance
play a part, such matters as value
manner of packing, a particular
roads costs per ton mile, and the
competitive situation at destination
CT the product itself, all enter intt
the final rate determination.
Such considerations are not all
however. Almost from time imme'
mortal, as railroad history goes, the
Nation has been split into three
great freight territories for manu-
factured goods, which in general but
with many exceptions have different
rate levels. Official" territory has
the most business. It lies mostly
east of the Mississippi River anc
north of the Ohio, but includes West
Virginia and part of Virginia
Southern" territory, smallest in
size, lies south of this area and east
of the Mississippi. Western" ter
ritory is that 73 per cent of the
country west of the Mississippi.
Subterritories Complicate Subject.
Goods inside one of these terri
tories generally move on rates diff
ferent from those of the same goods
in another territory. If they 60
from one territory to another all
the factors mentioned above go into
the ate-making machinery, plus
the fact that the line is crossed. To
confound confusion, there are sub
territories such as the Illinois, Po-
cahontas. and Western Trunk Line,
to say nothing of the Florida diff
ferentials.
Thick rate books result. The ICC,
bravely trying to hold a course
through the jungle, glumly calls
difficult some absurdities in which
different rates result for the same
products going in opposite directions
between the same points. Indeed,
one argument advanced by oppo-
sitionists to change has been that
the tangled growth is just too dense
to remedy.
The formidable situation did not
the Governors of eight
Southern States in 1899, however.
They were aware that the South
and West produced rs per cent OF
the raw materials of the Nation,
but that more than rs per cent of
the processing and manufacturing
into finished goods was done in the