18 BULLETIN" 191^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



DEMURRAGE BUREAUS. 



Prior to the Hepburn law of 1906 amending the act to regulate 

 ccvnmerce, when discriminations of every kind were the order of the 

 day and railroads adopted various devices as aids to keeping their 

 own agreements with one another and as a partial protection against 

 the importunities of favored shippers, many demurrage bm'eaus were 

 formed on somewhat the same theory as that on which the weighing 

 and inspection bureaus came into existence. A demurrage manager 

 was located at a central pomt. and given jurisdiction over a certain 

 territory. All lines within that territory were members of the bureau 

 and the manager was the joint employee of ail the lines. He pro- 

 mulgated the rules of the member lines, supervised their enforcement, 

 and decided disputed points. The plan was not very effective in 

 enforcing demurrage regulations as a whole, as the big shipper still 

 had his private understanding with the higher officials. 



Since 1906 the States have taken up demurrage regulation and 

 promulgated specific rules, requiring then- publication in tariffs and 

 making the State railroad commission the final authority on disputed 

 points. The Interstate Commerce Commission requires tariff pub- 

 lication of definite rules governing interstate shipments. It is the 

 station agent's duty to collect demurrage charges with the same 

 degree of promptness as he uses in collecting freight charges. Public 

 sentiment demands the enforcement of demurrage regulations and 

 the roads no longer desire to evade them. Consequently many lines 

 have found it more economical to handle demurrage matters through 

 already existing machinery and many of the demurrage bureaus have 

 been dissolved. This was true of the Texas Car Service Association 

 and of many of the bureaus in Central Freight Association territory. 



Doubtless others may be abolished in the future, but at the present 

 time 20 of them are still in existence. In the appendix wiU be found 

 a list of them. All important lines in the territory of any bureau 

 are members of that bureau. The duties of the managers are for 

 the most part administrative mider existing tariffs and State regula- 

 tions. In the case of the Chicago, the Intermountain, the Pacific, 

 and the Pacific Northwest the bureau manager publishes and files the 

 demurrage tariffs as agent for the member lines. In the other 16 

 cases the member lines issue individual tariffs. 



Closely related to the demurrage bureaus is the New England 

 Demxu-rage Commission, with headquarters at Boston. It was estab- 

 lished as one of the results of a general investigation in 1910 by the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission of demmTage practices in New 

 England. All the lines in New England are members of it and, while 

 each line publishes and files its own demurrage tariffs, a demurrage 

 commissioner has general oversight of demurrage matters. The com- 



