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Refusal of Reconsignment Held Unreasonable 



A case of niiicli importance to the hardwood industry was decided 

 last week by the Interstate Commerce Commission. In the action 

 brought by Doran & Co. of Cincinnati against the Nashville, Chatta-. 

 nooga & St. Louis Railwaj', et al., the commission holds that the. 

 defendants' refusal to allow reconsignment and diversion of lumber 

 where' the contents of the car remain unchanged, where the change 

 of destination of route does not involve an out of line haul, and 

 req\iest is made in a reasonable time, on the basis of the through 

 rate from the point of origin to the new destination, with a reason- 

 able cliarge for the extra service performed, is unreasonable. 



The charges collected on five cars of lumber shipped from Chatta- 

 nooga, Tennessee, to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there reconsigned 

 to London, Ontario, and Toronto, Ontario, are found to have been 

 unreasonable to the extent that they exceeded the through rates from 

 Chattanooga to the new destinations, plus a maximum reconsignment 

 charge of $5 per car. Eeparation was awarded. 



In discussing the case, the commission states that the defend- 

 ants' contention that the commission has no power to require car- 

 riers to initiate the practices of diversion and reconsignment rests 

 upon the theory that these practices exist only where the carriers 

 hold themselves out to perform the service on basis of the specific 

 through rate, but the term, when properly understood, bears no such 

 restricted meaning, nor do the tariffs of these defendants place such 

 a limitation upon the right of service. If there is any intent to 

 differentiate between a change of destination on basis of the through 

 rate and on basis of the sum of the local rates except in the matter 

 of the through charge, clearly it is not revealed by the language of 

 their tariffs. 



Reconsignment, although often referred to as a privilege, is pri- 

 marily a service in connection with the transportation of property. 

 An accurate ccnception of what is meant by the term is afforded 

 by Conference Ruling, No. 72, which states that "without specific 

 qualifications, the term reconsignment includes changes in destination, 

 routing or consignee. ' ' Diversion is the same as reconsigning except 

 that the destination is changed prior to the arrival of the shipment 

 at the original billed destination. The service differs in no mate- 

 rial respect whether a specific through rate or a combination rate is 

 applied. The total charges payable by the shipper may or may not 

 be affected by the reconsignment. Whether the charges are in- 

 creased is determined by the manner in which the rates are ad- 

 justed and whether the carrier provides in its tariffs for a diversion 

 or reconsignment charge in addition to the rate. That the com- 

 mission has power to initiate the practices of diversion and recon- 

 signment is tlie finding in the Central Commercial Club case, supra, 

 and does not need to be considered, because the carriers have already 

 initiated the practice and fixed the terms upon which the service 

 is available to shippers. It is only material to inquire whether they 

 have done so upon terms which are reasonable and nondiscriminatory. 



The case of the Davis Brothers Lumber Company versus the Chi- 

 cago, Rock Island & Pacific has been reopened by an order of the 

 commission. 



A rehearing has been denied in the matter of lumber rates from 

 Helena, Ark., and other points to Omaha, Des Moines and other 

 destinations. 



A hearing in the case of the Adams Stave Company versus the 

 Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad will he held in Kansas City, 

 April 26, before Examiner Horton. Questions involved in investi- 

 gation and suspension docket. No. 605, in. regard to, lumber rates to 

 Chicago Heights, HI., will be the subject of a hearing in Chicago, 

 May is. 



Through, rates higher than the sum of local charges on lumber 

 are being collected by the South Georgia RaOway, according to 

 allegations made in a complaint submitted last week by the Stand- 

 ard Lumber Company of Birmingham. 



A systematic effort is being made by the Santa Fe Railway to 

 monopolize for sawmills on its lines in Oklahoma all lumber busi- 

 ness within its sphere of influence. This charge is made in a 

 compjlaint submitted to the commission last week by the West 

 Lumber Company of Houston, Tex. Undue restrictions are placed 

 on lumber originating at mills not located on its line, it is charged. 



All details of the controversy between Memphis lumber dealers 

 and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern are discussed in a 

 brief submitted to the commission last week by the Memphis Freight 

 Bureau. Arguments intended to prove allegations of discriminations 

 against the carriers are presented. 



Railroads Considering Harmony Committee 



John W. McClure, president of the Southern Hardwood Trafiic 

 Association, says that the railroad committee, which is to hold con- 

 ferences with the committee appointed to represent the lumbermen as 

 a result of the harmony conference recently held at Memphis, has 

 not yet been appointed. He says he has received a letter from 

 F. B. Bowes, vice-president of the Illinois Central, in which the 

 latter states that the selection of the committee men for the various 

 roads interested is being left to each road, so that nothing can be 

 given out as to the personnel of the railroad representatives until the 

 bflicials of the several lines have acted. 



It is suggested in the letter of Mr. Bowes that a somewhat larger 

 committee may be found necessary, four east of the Mississippi and 

 four west. This is based on the fact that there are four lines west 

 of the Mississippi which wish representation, the Frisco, the St. 

 Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, the Rock Island and the Cotton 

 Belt. There are three groups of roads east of the Mississippi which 

 want individual representatives and these may be, in view of their 

 very close afiiliatiou, grouped as follows: 1, Illinois Central and 

 Yazoo & Mississippi Valley; 2, Mobile & Ohio and Southern Rail- 

 way, and 3, Louisville & Nashville and Nashville, Chattanooga & 

 St. Louis. If it is decided to have four men on the railroad com- 

 mittee west of the river an equal number will possibly be required 

 east of that stream, making the railroad committee eight instead of 

 six. In this event, it is certain that the committee of lumbermen, 

 three west of the Mississippi, will be increased to four for the 

 territory on each side of that stream. 



Mr. Bowes held out some hope that an early appointment of the 

 railroad committee might be made public. Mr. McClure, in dis- 

 cussing this phase of the situation, said that the lumbermen were 

 anxious to get down to a working basis as quickly as possible and 

 that, as soon as the identity of the railroad conference committee 

 was known, no time would be lost in starting the machinery in motion 

 for the adjustment of rate and other controversies by the con- 

 ference method instead of the more expensive and more tedious 

 one of litigation before the Interstate Commerce Commission and 

 other tribunals. 



It is the sober judgment of members of the Memphis hardwood 

 trade here, after having some time to think the matter over, that the 

 recent harmony conference will prove even more important as a 

 factor in the development of the timber resources of the South than 

 was thought possible by its earlier advocates. The conference idea 

 has met with praise in every direction and some members of the 

 trade have gone so far as to say that the adoption of this plan 

 marks a distinct epoch in the lumber and railroad business of the 

 South. In fact, some have declared that it is a wonder that the 

 conference idea did not occur a great deal earlier to both the rail- 

 road men and the lumbermen. Everybody is looking forward to 

 most beneficial results to follow, results that will make possible the 

 development of timber resources that have been heretofore unavail- 

 able and that will substantially increase both the tonnage and the 

 revenue of the railroads operating in the southern hardwood territory. 

 It is known that the new plan is something of an experiment, but 

 it is pointed out that it is based on such logical reasoning and on 

 such hard commonsense that it cannot be other than successful. 



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