The Wrangell sentinel., 1948-01-09
TERRITORY CONTENDS
 FREIGHT RATES COULD
 BE REDUCED 36 PER CENT

JUNEAU - Freight rate reduc- ItiOns of 36 per cent to Southeast ] ern Alaska, 50 per cent to Gull ports and 49 per cent to Boring Sea are possible under honest, ec- onomical and efficient manage ment of steamship service to Alas ka, the Territory contends in a brief filed with the U. S. Maritime Commission on the basis of testi- mony presented in the current in Iyestlgation of the lawfulness ot Al aska rates.
 At the same time, the Territory called for southbOund rate reduc- tiOns of 22 per cent from South eastern, Is per cent from Gulf ports and 15 per cent from Boring Sea ports.
 The Territory's brief, signed by Attorney General Ralph J. Rivers, special Counsel Malcolm D. Miller and economic cOnsultant Donald J. .O'Conner, is one of six submitted to the Commission to sum up evidence presented at the hearing at Seattle JwO months ago.
 Rate reduction proposals are made on the basis of a cost study from voyage expense data filed by the carriers with the Commission. Even il the companies serving AL aska were not subsidized by the Federal government, as at present, reductions of l9 per cent in rates 10 Southeastern Alaska, 38 per cent to the Gulf and 2I per cent to Boring Sea would result from proper scheduling, loading and op- erating of ships, the Territory contends.
 Mere comparison of revenues and expenses cannot result in pro- per determination of a rate case, the brief declares. Reasonable rates are not based upon cost-plus arithmetic. Profits can be control led by management's use of effi- cient or inefficient Operational methods to suit the need for show Ing profits or lack of profits. The problem of the Maritime COmmis- sion in this case, we contend, is that oI setting rates so that the carriers will be required to Oper- ate efficiently; then perhaps there IN ould be some relationship be- tween actual expenses and reason- aDIeuess ot the rates.
 Salmon Group Pleads
 The AIasKa SaImOn Industry, me, in a brief also filed with the commission, asks that the same .aIo oI rates now established be- tween freight of the canned sai- mon industry and town freight be maintained as fair and reason able" The industry brief makes no argument with respect to the gen. eral Alaska rate level, but does contend that the present rates have dangerously approached the breaking point whereby the can salmon industry can no longer af- ford to follow a policy of giving it's business to the Alaska carriers"
 In a brief presented on behalf Iof the Fairbanks Chamber of Com merce, Norman c. Stines contends that the 1947 rate increases were made in such a manner as to dis 'criminate against Fairbanks. "The rates now in force are very high" he says, and only add to the num- -ber of difficulties under which shippers over the Alaska railroad conduct their businesses"
 The Fairbanks brief urges that the Alaska Steamship Company and NOrthland Transportation Com pany, which "are really owned by the same interests consoli- date" and the resulting savings in overlapping costs be applied to all Alaska rates It also advocates use of mechanical equipment for more rapid and efficient handling of cargo and suggests that confer ences might be held between car riers and shippers so that ire quency of sailings from Seattle can be altered to insure a full load to each freight vessel"
 The Alaska Development Board has presented an exhibit showing that more than two-thirds of the nOrthbound sailings were with ves- sels loaded at less than 50 per cent of capacity.