Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1912 — Express Rates are to To Take Tumble Soon. [ARTICLE]

Express Rates are to To Take Tumble Soon.

Sweeping reductions in express rates, averaging, in general, approximately 15 per cent; drastic reforms in, regulations and practices; and comprehensive changes in the methods of operation are prescribed in a report made public by the Interstate Commerce Commission of its investigation into the business of the thirteen great express companies of the United States. The report finds that while the companies are separate legal entities, “it is of interest to regard this fact that by stock ownership and otherwise they are so interlaced, intertwined and interlocked that it is with difficulty we can trace any one of the greater companies as either wholly independent In its management or the agency of a single railroad system.

Briefly stated-the aew_rates may be said to be based upon a minimum charge of 21 cents for a one-pound package. This charge increases in ratio to the increase of weight and distance, at rates varying from threetenths of a cent a pound to about 12 cents a pound. Twelve cents a pound, according to the conclusions of the commission, Is approximately the highest rate per pound for the greatest distance possible for a parcel to be carried wholly within the United States, exclusive of Alaska. Packages weighing two pounds, tor example, may be shipped tiooo miles —New York city to Chicago—for 24 cents, and 2,000 miles for 31 cents, the present rates being respectively for each 35 cents. A three-pound package wi.ll cost 27 cents for 1,000 miles and 37 cents for 2,000 miles, the existing rates being, respectively, each 45 cents. A tenpound paekage may be transported 1,000 miles for 42 ednte and 2,000 miles for 77 cents, as against the existing rates of 75 cents and $1.25, respectively. The cost of transporting a twenty-five-pound package 1,000 miles will be ... .