566 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Member: Yes, I am. 



Mr. Coon : I have got that very question up right now. The 

 specific question is this : The thirty-six-hour release was not 

 signed, and the carrier wasn't able to deliver the shipment at 

 destination within the provisions of the twenty-hour law, which 

 now exists, and as a result they had to unload them. The cars 

 were delayed as a consequence. Claims were filed, and thru some 

 mistake, I don't know how, I haven't had a chance to look into it 

 since I got your last letter, two of those claims were paid by 

 the company, and the claims of the other men have been rejected. 

 Upon the face of the evidence, it would seem that the thirty-six- 

 hour release should have been signed, because it was impossible 

 for the railroad on a normal schedule to make delivery within 

 twenty-eight hours, and to avoid violation of the law they had to 

 unload the cattle. So far as I have gone into the facts, it would 

 seem that none of the claims, in my opinion, should have been 

 paid, but after I get into it I may find some reason that will alter 

 the facts in the two claims I have seen. After I have seen the 

 other three that have been paid, I may find a reason for their pay- 

 ment, but it is certainly a claim of discrimination if they paid 

 three men and haven't paid the other two. 



Member: We were all on the train together and we all loaded 

 together, and we none of us signed the twenty-eight-hour re- 

 lease. It was impossible for us to go the other half of the route 

 when it took us twenty-four hours to go the first half; we 

 couldn't make the other half in the next twelve hours, so we 

 didn't sign the twenty-eight-hour release. 



Mr. Coon: As I say, I don't know how they applied the facts 

 in the other three cases, but it is certainly a peculiar matter. They 

 certainly discriminated against you, and I will have to get into 

 that, and after I get into it I may find some things that will help 

 me in getting the claims paid for you. 



Mr. Ames : Take a man who has ordered a car for loading 

 cattle and he is notified that the car will be there ; he drives his 

 cattle to the yards, six or eight miles, and discovers that the car 

 has not been put in yet. That is a point that I have had in mind 

 all the time since I brought up the other question. Does that man 

 have a claim, or doesn't he? If he doesn't, then I think this asso- 

 ciation and the country at large ought to change the point where 

 the railroads are liable, because after they have given notice that 

 they are willing to accept the shipment for a certain time, and 

 ordered the stock in, they should certainly be liable, and it is my 

 impression that they ought to be made liable. 



