606 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



it cost to prepare for that case?" "Well," I replied, "in 1917 it cost us 

 approximately $17,000; I think we ought to be able to do it for $15,000, 

 and that would include a financial and credit analysis of all the railroads 

 of the country." He said: "I'll put it up to certain industries (that he 

 named) and I think they will take care of three-fifths of the cost." Since 

 then he has not notified me of any success he may have had. One of the 

 organizations that I represented I asked to guarantee $1,500 of the cost, 

 so that the work would proceed at once. They agreed to this, but a week 

 later they telegraphed they would have to reduce it to $500. That par- 

 ticular industry will have to pay about ten million dollars of the ad- 

 vance if It is 15 per cent only. It seems to me pitiful that we cannot 

 learn the necessity of adequate preparation. On the regular routine we 

 have a force. I try to keep our offices supplied with all of the bulletins, 

 dockets and latest available information from the various departments of 

 the government. There is one man supposed to do nothing but advise 

 me every day of anything important affecting any industry with which 

 I am connected, and such steps as have been taken as seem desirable 

 and advisable. In that way a number of things have been brought up 

 during the past year and we have attended a number of hearings. 



LOSS AND DAMAGE CLAIMS. 



I said that I was going to make a report of the work done during the 

 past year in the office of your counsel. The first proposition is in rela- 

 tion to loss and damage claims, and I want to discuss that for a few min- 

 utes. Last year the United States Railroad Administration attempted to 

 initiate a set of rules and regulations affecting loss and damage claims, 

 making them more uniform throughout the country. I have a copy with 

 me of the set of rules that they originally sent out. Among other in- 

 teresting features of this document, it is provided that you had to furnish 

 a great deal of immaterial information whenever you presented a claim, 

 and under certain circumstances you had to put up a bond. It provided 

 that you had to prove that the carrier was negligent in order to get your 

 claim paid. Again, it provided that if a live stock car was scheduled to 

 reach market by eight a. m. in regular or extra trains intended for the 

 current day's market, and if it were set to the unloading chutes before 

 one p. m. of day of arrival, no claims would be paid. That was a part of the 

 rules and regulations proposed by the United States Railroad Administra- 

 tion. If you were scheduled to reach Wednesday's market and actually got 

 there by one o'clock p. m., they wouldn't pay a claim for failing to reach 

 that market earlier. Again, it provided that if your stock wasn't placed 

 in time for unloading on Wednesday's market, and as a consequence of a 

 declining market you lost by reason of the delay, no allowance would 

 be made for shrinkage. The proof of negligence is repeated three or four 

 times in the rules. Then I have here a copy of the blank claim form, 

 which was submitted to us to fill in. I just want you to glance at it. 

 This is legal-cap size, about thirty lines to the sheet; there is the first 

 page of the form, there is the second page of the form, there is the third 

 page of the form, and there is the fourth page of the form — with an affi- 

 davit at the end. (Laughter.) I asked Mr. Howard, head of the claims 



