RAIL=AND-WATER RATES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 264, 31 July 1908, Page 7

RAIL=AND-WATER RATES.

" : : , . , UNITED STATES. . RAILWAY COMPANIES 1 AND SHIPPING INTERESTS. ■ ' (si TELSC-RAPH—PP.ESS ASSOCIATION—COPTSI3 ST.) (Rec. July 30/ 10.20 p.m.) ' ' • London,' July 30: '.Tho Canadian 1 Pacific, Great Northern Pacific, Union Pacific,' Southern .Pacific,' Short Line, and the Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fo railroads hai e notified shippers that they will abandon tho. export trade to China; Japan,: New, Zealand, and Australia after November 1, and-will practically abandon the import trade. . • This • is a reply to. the ,Inter-State Com-, merce Commission's rule requiring railroads to publish the inland proportion Of their import .and oxport: rates.; 'It is predicted that the steamship lines'involved will bo sold. ..V-' BIG CARRIERS IN REVOLT. . ■ .The United States Inter-State Commerce Commission (composed of seven- members, eacli receiving' a; salary of 10,000 dollars a year) has power, inter) alia,- over "common, carriers engaged on'-the'transportation of passengers or, property wholly, by railroad (or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under' a common control,''management, or arrangement for a continuous' cai'riage or shipment)." Also, "carriers failing.to file and publish all rates and. charges, as required by ■law, are prohibited in engaging-in inter-State transportation, and penalties are provided in the statute for failure on the part of carriers or ;of shippers to observo the rates specified iii the, published tariffs.".Behind all, of course, is the.notorious secret rebate, used to crush It is sought,to prevent the operation of differential 'freights by compulsory publication: and by prosecution of those evading them. In America a railway company may own or.control anything. It often does own or control steamboats ; the Canadian Pacific 'Railway Company, willi large modern''liners in both oceans, being a case' in"point. Apparently-tho companies owning railroads and steamboats have been ordered to publish the railway proportion of their rates, instead of merely a through freight from, .say, Tokio to New'-. York. •, Evidently this : disclosure is unwelcome; so much so that the companies threaten to abandon, the oversea trade and to .sell their steamers.