PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 455 



have hesitated on that ground to file a formal complaint with the com- 

 mission, asking that they establish a 75 per cent rate on feeder hogs. 

 During the past year there has been quite a demand to do something 

 along this line, and this has led me to refer to this question in my an- 

 nual report. My thought is that this organization should make a careful 

 survey and find out as nearly as we can, something in regard to the vol- 

 ume of business that is being handled in feeder hogs, and this would 

 give your board and your executive committee some idea, that is, as to 

 whether or not they would be justified in filing a formal complaint witn 

 the commission that such a rate be put in. 



While I am on the subject of transportation, I wish to again call at- 

 tention to the importance and necessity of congress amending the trans- 

 portation act, known as the Esch-Cummins bill, and to emphasize what 

 I said to you concerning this measure in my last annual address. Section 

 15-A, which requires the Interstate Commerce Commission to fix rates 

 high enough so that the roads will earn 5V& per cent on their estimated 

 valuation, which in a sense is nothing less than a guarantee, must be 

 eliminated from this law and again allow the commission to fix rates on 

 the basis of the value of the service rendered. 



It has been truthfully said that the higher the rates the poorer the 

 service, as under the present order of things there is no incentive what- 

 ever for the railroads to give the stockmen first-class service. Then, too, 

 the act should be so amended as to restore to the state railroad commis- 

 sions all of the powers which they possessed over rates and other mat- 

 ters of intra-state traffic prior to the taking over of the roads by the 

 government in 1917. 



Then there is a third amendment to this act that should be pushed 

 and insisted upon by our organization, and that is either to do away 

 entirely with the Rail Labor Board and again allow the carriers to deal 

 directly with their employes, or else create a real labor board, whose 

 members shall represent the public who pays the freight, who shall have 

 full authority to determine and settle all questions of dispute between the 

 railroads and their employes, and shall have full and unlimited authority 

 to enforce its rulings upon carriers and employes alike. 



As the board now functions, under the present law, it has virtually 

 become a hissing and a by-word for both interests whom it attempts to 

 regulate, as the recent railroad strike clearly demonstrated. So I am 

 for either a real railroad labor board which represents the public, backed 

 up by a real law that has teeth in it; or, we should again go back to the 

 old order of things, and allow each road to fight it out with its own em- 

 ployes; and I hope that the Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association will 

 get solidly behind this movement, and use its power and influence to 

 secure the passage of these amendments before congress adjourns. 



Damage Claims 



In recent rulings of the Iowa courts, in cases of loss and damage 

 claims against the carrier, for live stock killed or injured in transit, 

 the burden of proof has been placed upon the shipper to show that the 

 railroad was unduly careless and negligent in the handling of his live 

 stock, before he can recover damages for stock killed or injured in tran- 

 sit. 



