DEMURRAGE INFORMATION FOR FARMERS. 
19 
missioner was designated by the Interstate Commerce Commission and 
appointed by the railroads " to arbitrate all doubtful or disputed cases 
growing out of the application of the demurrage rules, which the ship- 
pers or the railroads desire to refer to him." As an impartial investi- 
gator to whom both sides may refer, his efforts are to secure from the 
railroads then 1 best possible service and from shippers cooperation by 
the prompt release of cars in order that commerce may be facilitated 
and that efficiency of transportation may be increased. 
The growing importance of demurrage is being generally recognized. 
The necessity for a more careful supervision of it and for a closer 
study of the subject is making itself apparent in many ways. An 
example is the recent appointment by the American Railway Asso- 
ciation of a demurrage supervisor for the State of Texas. 
RECOMMENDATIONS OF DEMURRAGE OFFICERS. 
The fact that the managers of the demurrage bureaus are dealing 
exclusively with only one phase of the railroad question puts them 
in a position to know the details of that one phase very thoroughly. 
Their opinions individually and their recommendations collectively, 
as the American Association of Demurrage Officers, are deserving of 
careful consideration and have had great weight in influencing demur- 
rage practices. Communications addressed to each of them have 
developed the fact that 13 of them favor the abolition of the average 
agreement. Fourteen of them favor an increase in the demurrage 
rate. One advocates a $3 rate on refrigerator cars, one the same rate 
on hay and straw, and four a $3 rate on all cars. One suggests that 
the charge be assessed for Sundays and holidays after the expiration 
of the free time. 
The rate of $3 per day is suggested by the fact that that is the 
rate at present in effect on interstate shipments in Arizona and Califor- 
nia. June 19, 1909, the California State rate was raised by statute 
from $1 to $6 per day. May 1, 1911, it was reduced to $3 by order 
of the State commission. Records of the Pacific Car Demurrage 
Bureau showed greatest car efficiency under the $6 rate and efficiency 
almost as great under the $3 rate. In January, 1912, the manager 
of this bureau filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission a tariff 
raising the interstate rate to $3. The commission, on its own motion, 
suspended the tariff. After hearings and much testimony, with little 
opposition from shippers, the case (I. & S. Docket Nos. 83 and 83A, 
25 I. C. C. 314) was decided December 2, 1912, and the $3 rate allowed 
to stand. The chairman of the commission dissented, holding that 
a rate of $1 per day was sufficient, as a general rule, anywhere through- 
out the country. Another member held that the increased car effi- 
ciency on State traffic under a $3 rate was due not to the rate, but 
to the activity of the manager of the Pacific Car Demurrage Bureau. 
