376 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 



Secure Further Rate Reductions 



Right on the heels of this proposition President Howard went to the 

 railroad officials and said: "Gentlemen, we appreciate your needs, the 

 necessities of your investors, but we want you also to appreciate the 

 needs of agriculture." He secured a reduction of 10 per cent in the rates 

 on agricultural products and commodites in carloads which had not been 

 covered by previous reductions. It meant to the farmers of America 

 $55,000,000. 



As a result of the insistence of the Farm Bureau and others the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission presently started an investigation with 

 regard to the level of rates on all commodities, and what should be a 

 proper rate of return to the carriers. As Commissioner Lewis has 

 pointed out to you today, the 5% per cent provision of the law expired 

 February 28, 1922. It was therefore the duty of the commission to fix 

 what should be the rate of return. These things came up for investi- 

 gation. The farmer had just received two or three reductions, and we 

 confined our attention to the question of what should be the proper rate 

 of return. We hadn't gone very far before the expression of the com- 

 missioners from the bench convinced us that we were absolutely right. 

 When the decision was announced and made effective as of July 1, it 

 was found to contain a reduction of 10 per cent on all of the products 

 not previously mentioned. 



Study Rates on Mixed Shipments 



Aside from these general propositions there have been others in which 

 we have been working. Iowa, like every other livestock state, is in- 

 terested in the rate on mixed carloads of livestock. The present rule 

 provides that rates shall be charged at the highest rate applicable to any 

 stock in the car. Interstate shipments run 12,000 pounds on sheep, 

 17,000 on hogs, and 22,000 on cattle. Your rates run up the other way. 

 The lowest rate is on cattle, perhaps 10 or 15 per cent higher on hogs, 

 and about 20 or 25 per cent higher on sheep. Suppose you mix a car 

 with all three. You then pay the highest rate, the sheep rate, and you 

 are charged for the highest minimum weight, which is 22,000 pounds. 



Now, it has been our position that it is a physical impossibility to get 

 that much weight into a car, therefore there is no reason in the world 

 why we should pay for something that is physically impossible to ac- 

 complish. It has been our position that the carriers, although they say 

 so, do not actually maintain this rule as to other commodities where it is 

 physically impossible to make such a loading. 



The hearing was held before the commission in February, 1921. The 

 complaint was drawn by the National Livestock Exchange, and at the 

 hearing the carriers found a joker in it — it was possible by sticking a 

 goat into the carload of cattle or hogs to beat the railroad. We want 

 to play square with them. Accordingly at the argument we took the 

 position that if the ruling which the complainant asked for was not a 

 proper one we were willing that the commission should set one that 

 would relieve us of this injustice. But, when we got a decision on 

 July 1 of last year, we found that about the first thing in there was 

 that the rule proposed permitted of fraudulent mixtures. Therefore, we 

 cannot approve of it. 



