Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1887 — INTERSTATE COMMISSION. [ARTICLE]

INTERSTATE COMMISSION.

A memorial was rewived by the Interstate Commerce Commission, sitting at Atlanta, from .business men of Opelika, Ala., showing how railroads discriminated against that town m favor of Columbus and Montgomery. Judge ~ Chisholm, counsel of the plant system, and Gen. Alexander, of the Georgia Central, made arguments favoring the suspension of the long-and-short-haul clause. A petition was received from the Wilmington (N. C.) Chamber of Commerce and Produce Exchange, strongly urging the enforcement of the long and short haul sect.on. The Commission left for Mobile on the 28th nit. Secretary Mosely received at Washington a numerously signed petition from citizens of California, requesting the Commission not to suspend the operation of section 4 of the interstate commerce law, so far as the commerce of the Pacific coast is concerned, until an opportunity be afforded all persons interested to be heard... commit-" nicatibn from the. Chamber of Commerce of Tacoma, Washington Territory, was also received, asking that transcontinental lines be exempted from the ■ fourth section. It represents that since the interstate commerce law went into effect the rates between New York, Chicago, and Pacific coast points show an increase of lllti per cent., and in some classes of goods nearly 200 per cent The Sisters of St. Joseph, at St.-Louis, have received a letter from Judge Cooley in answer to one requesting that the interstate Commission be authorized to give the Sisters reduced rates of fare. The letter says the commission can make no order in this matter, as the railroads are empowered by the law to determine their own policy in the matter. The Interstate Commerce Commission began its sessions in the Council Chamber of the City Hall, at Atlanta, Ga.. on the 27th nit. The Commission expressed a desire to bear from the railways, and a list of witnesses was given. The first witness examined was Charles A. Sindall, Secretary of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association. He gave minute explanations of how rates are made and maintained by railroads and water lines. He was crossexamined at great length by Judge Cooley, Commissioners Walker and Bragg. T. M, Emerson, of the Atlantic Coast Line, and W. P. Sheltnan of the Georgia Central Railroad were also examined on the J same points at great length. Mr. Ogden,.of the : Southern Railway and Steamship Association, testified touching the difference be- • tween water rates and land rates. He said that, to a great extent, water rates eontrolled the rates of the railroads. He i showed how rates on certain classes of i freight would be affected if long and j short hauls should be enforced. Sol Haas, ■of Richmond. Va., agent of the associated roads of Virginia and the Carolines, testified that rates on his lines were controlled by the trunk Hues and water ; routes; the only complaint had been front [ competitive points. J. M. Culp, of the I Louisville and Nashville Road, said that rates from the West to the South were : controlled by ocean competition. The irates 4».vMieax^-Southern"CtttgarweTe

j affected by water competition. Gol. S. A. ! Pierce, President of the Columbia (S. C.i I Board of Trade, read a memorial from , that body 6e:ting iorth tbe serious . damage that would result to the farming 1 community and shipping in marketing ttieir commodities if the fourth section were About a dozen other citizens presented similar memorials. A largenumber of colored men petitioned for the enforcement of their right to equal accommodations on the railroads. Telegrams were received from the Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade of Savannah asking that Sec. 4 be enforced, A Washington dispatch says “the Commission’s corre-

j tpondepce in increasing very fast, and See- ; retary Mosely now has a forpe of five clerks ; and a messenger bard at work classifying it and answering such as can be answer-d | in accordance with decisions already made. ’* Before the Interstate Commerce Com--1 mission, at Mobile, on the 211th ult.. Col. W. Bntler Dnncan. President; U. 8. Depew, Traffic Manager, and Gol. Talcott, Vice President at the Mobile A Ohio Road, testified as to tjie necessity of a suspension of the fourth section of the law in the case of that road. Mr. Depew explained that the rates to some intermediate points be- ; tween East Bt. Louis and Mobile were creator than the full distance because the competition of the Mississippi River to New Orleans compelled it The Commissioners were informed that Memphis controlled the rates at competitive points by her low all-rail route to New York. Petitions for a suspension of the fourth section were presented from the coal and lumber interests from Mobile, Huntsville, and other towns. Louisiana planters, in convention at New Orleans, declared in favor of the strict enforcement of the law. The Union Pacific Railroad has asked for the suspension of Section 4. Jamkh Bai'Ron, Secretary and Treasurer of the Tennessee-Alabama Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company, testified before the Interstate Commerce Commission at-'Mo-bile that his company had $16,000,000 inyested in lands aud property. The business of the company had grown and expanded under the effect of low rates so that before the interstate law went into effect the pig-iron products of Alabama were 600 tons per day. All this output had to seek distant markets. Since the law went into effect the daily sales had fallen so 100 tons, mostly for shipment by water. Petitions for a suspension o? section 4 were received from Birmingham#iron men and from representatives of the Southern Yel-low-Pine Lumber Manufacturers’ Association. A protest against the suspension of the law was presented from the Mobile Cotton'Exchange. The Commission then proceeded to New Orleans.