June 10. I'.n;. 



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^ Interesting Traffic Developments jj^ 



Much iiU|iortiiiicc is attached hero to tho decision last week in 

 the niiittor of joint rates on hardwood lumber from mills to Ilutti^, 

 Ark., ns it will serve as a precedent in tlio decision of several similar 

 cases. 



A portion of Commissioner Harlan's statement of the case is ns 

 follows: 



This snppli'mentol pioccedlng In the tap line case Involves an nllcKcd 

 dlscrlmlnntlon In the existing rules on hardwood lumber niovlnR to thi' 

 general markets of consumption from the mill of the Wisconsin Lumber 

 Oompan.v. at Iluttig, Ark. The mill Is on the rails of the Louisiana & 

 Pine BlulT railway, one of the tap lines described In our original report 

 In this case. 



In that report we found that the Louisiana & Pine BlulT. with respect 

 to certain trafflc. did not perform a service of transportation and could 

 not lawfuU.v receive divisions from the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & 

 Southern rallwa.v out of the Interstate rates. Its through rates with 

 the Iron Mountain were thereupon canceled by the latter as of April 30. 

 1912. Thereafter the Louisiana & Pine BluCT assessed a local charge of 

 three cents per 100 pounds for switching the product of the complain- 

 ant's mill to the Iron Mountain, a distance of but a few hundred feet 

 to one connection and of less than three miles to another connection at 

 Dollar Junction. In Its complaint against both the tap line and Its 

 trunk line connection, the Wisconsin Lumber Company alleges that the 

 charge on Interstate shipments of hardwood lumber resulting from the 

 combination of local rates to and from the junction Is unreascmable and 

 unjustly discriminatory, and also that It works an unlawful preference 

 In favor of other hardwood lumber producers In the same general territory. 



The land upon which the complainant's mill Is located Is leased from 

 the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company, which controls and practically owns 

 the Louisiana & Pine Bluff Railway Company. The lumber company also 

 controls, througu Its subsidiary, the Union Saw Mill Company, a large 

 ycllow-plnc mill at Huttig. That mill, like the complainant's mill. Is 

 contiguous to the rails of the Iron Mountain, but the switch track lead- 

 ing to the mill of the Wisconsin Lumber Company is owned and operated 

 by the Louisiana A Pine Bluff Railway Company. 



Under a subsequent order, entered in connection with the second sup- 

 plemental report, which was announced In conformity with the rulings 

 of the supreme court of the United States in the tap line cases, the trunk 

 lines were required to reopen through routes and to publish joint rates 

 with the tap lines to Interstate destinations. On the basis of the maxi- 

 mum allowances fixed in that order the Louisiana & Pine Bluff may be 

 paid $2 a car for the switching service from the mills at Iluttig to the 

 Iron Mountain connection at that point, and $3 for switching n car to 

 the connection at Dollar Junction. These allowances were made 

 applicable to all Interstate shipments of lumber and forest products 

 moving from May 1, 1912, and to the effective date of the rates and 

 divisions established in compliance with the order. 



Without going Into the details of the various rate readjustments that 

 have been made, it will suffice to say that at the time of the hearing, 

 the rates on hardwood lumber from the mill of the Wisconsin Lumber 

 Company, on the rails of the Louisiana & Pine Bluff at Huttig, were three 

 cents higher than the rates on hardwood lumber originating on the rails 

 of the Iron Mountain at Huttig. In tariffs issued suhsequcnt to the hear- 

 ing the Iron Mountain named rates on hardwood from the mill of the 

 Wisconsin Lumber Company on the rails of the Louisiana & Fine Bluff 

 at Huttig one and one-half cents higher than the rates on hardwood 

 originating on Its own rails at Huttig, while the rates on pine lumber 

 from the mill of the Union Saw Mill Company at Huttig, which Is 

 owned by the interests that own the Louisiana & Pine Bluff railway, 

 were the same as the rates on pine lumber originating on the Iron Moun- 

 tain's own rails at Huttig. The higher rates charged on hardwood lum- 

 ber were made by the addition of an arbitrary of one and one-halt cents 

 to the Iron Mountain rates from Huttig, and this arbitrary, together 

 with a division of one and one-half cents out of the Iron Mountain rate, 

 accrues to the Louisiana & Pine Bluff. The rate on the products of the 

 complainant's mill was thus advanced, while the product of the pro- 

 prietary mill at the same point move out upon the trunk line rate from 

 the junction. Under the orders heretofore entered In this proceeding the 

 proprietary company, through its tap line, can not properly receive any 

 allowance in excess of $2 or ?3 a car from the Iron Mountain, neverthe- 

 less on the products of the complainant's mill the tap line earnings 

 aggregate three cents per 100 pounds. 



At the time of the hearing the rates on hardwood lumber were about 

 three cents lower than the rates on pine lumber, but the rates on both 

 commodities were grouped in the general territory In which Huttig Is 

 located, the group rate on pine extending, however, over a much larger 

 territory than the group rate on hardwood. In later tariff Issues It Is 

 shown that the excess of the pine rates over the hardwood rates at 

 Huttig is only one cent per 100 pounds. But it is manifest that the 

 order hereinbefore mentioned, in which we fixed the maximum allow- 

 ances to the Louisiana & Pine Bluff for switching the products of the 

 mills at Huttig to its junctions with the Iron Mountain, contemplated 



—20— 



the extension hack lo those mills, as of May 1, 1912, of the junction 

 rates on both hardwood and pltn'. In the rase of one or two tap linns In 

 the state of Arkansas, we have permitted the adilltlon of nn arbitrary 

 to the trunk line rates, but In Huch cases the arliltrary IB applied at 

 stations more or less distant from the junction and Is for a substantial 

 haul by the tap line; but In no case have we permitted the addition 

 of an arbitrary for a switching service within the limits of the distance* 

 for which we fixed nmximura allowances of ?2 and $3 a car. 



Much Is said on the record nliout m contract, having relation to the 

 rates complained of, that was previously entered Into between the Wis- 

 consin Lumber Company and the Interests that control the Louisiana & 

 Pine Bluff Railway Company. As has been said, however. In several 

 cases tills commission has no power to enforce contractual arrangements 

 respecting the rates and practices of carriers. As the Louisiana A I'Inc 

 Bluff has claimed and has been accorded the status of a common carrier, 

 its rates and practices are subject to all the tests and control to which 

 other carriers must submit under the law. notwithstanding the termi 

 of any such agreement. Upon the whole record, we conclude and find 

 that the published Interstate rates on hardwood lumber applying from 

 the mill of the complainant are and for the future will be unreasonable 

 and unjustly discriminatory, Insofar as they exceed the rates contem- 

 poraneously maintained on hardwood lumber originating on the rails of 

 the St. Louis, Iron Mountain i Southern railway at Huttig. We also 

 find that the complainant has been damaged unlawfully by the Iron 

 Mountain and the Louisiana & Pine Bluff to the extent that the through 

 charges assessed on the products of its mill moving since May 1, 1912, 

 have exceeded the junction point rate on hardwood. 



The amount of reparation due to the complainant cannot be deter- 

 mined on this record. When the rates shall have been readjusted In 

 accordance with the findings and a statement duly checked and cer- 

 tified to by the Iron Mountain, an order will be entered awarding repara- 

 tion as indlcoted. 



Proposed increases of one and a half cents in the rates on lumber, 

 in carloads, from International Falls, Minn., to various destinations 

 in Canada, have been suspended until Oct. 6. 



In the case of the T. J. Moss Tie Company versus the Southern 

 Railway reparation of $,34.'?. 75 has been awarded. Charges on ties 

 between Evansville, Ind., and Chicago were involved. 



The case of the National Classification Committee of Lumber, 

 Wooden Box and Other Interests against the Abilene and Southern 

 Railroad has been dismissed by the commission. 



A fourth section application by the Prescott & Northwestern Rail- 

 road affecting lumber rates in Arkansas has been denied. 



.Tuly 3 has been set for the hearing of the cases of the Stearns & 

 Culver Lumber Company versus the Louisville & Nashville and the 

 same company versus the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. The hear- 

 ing will be held in Chicago before Examiner McKenna. 



A complaint has been filed with the commission by the Chicago 

 Lumber and Coal Company against Morgan's Louisiana & Texas 

 Railroad and Steamship Company. "Vigorous objection is made to 

 changes in transit arrangements affecting the movement of cypress. 



A rate of forty-five cents on resin and its byproducts, Starks, La., 

 to San Francisco for export, is demanded by the Lutchcr & Moore 

 Lumber Company. A higher rate is being charged from Starks, 

 while other producing points in the same district have the benefit 

 of the forty-five cent rate. A considerable amount of resin is moving 

 out of this territory for points in the Orient, the complaint states. 



Rates on cypress lumber from Sorento, Garyville and Plaquemine, 

 La., have been attacked by the Storm Lake Tank and Silo Company, 

 of Storm Lake, Iowa. The rate in effect is thirty-three cents. The 

 complaint holds that this is unreasonable as compared with rates 

 from the same points to Dcs Moines, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls 

 and Minneapolis. The commission is asked to name twenty eight 

 cents as the maximum rate to Storm Lake. 



