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shipment to Hope, it could not lawfully refuse to receive and carry complainant's freight to Texarkana under its local rate to that point, and that complainant was entitled to reparation for damages resulting from its inability to ship 640 tons of cotton seed to Hope, which it had contracted for and desired to have transported over defendant's line. The reparation in this case amounted to $2,240, with interest from January 1, 1904.

The Pitts cases. In April the Commission rendered a decision in the case of H. B. Pitts & Son v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company et al. (10 I. C. C. Rep., 691), relating to shipments of hay by complainant over the railways of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Texas & Pacific companies from Robinson and La Junta, Colo., and Dodge City, Kans., to Marshall, Jefferson, and Kildare, Tex. The Commission held that the proportional rates per hundred pounds charged by the former company were excessive and unreasonable to the extent that they exceeded 21 cents for the transportation to Fort Worth, Tex., and those of the latter company excessive and unreasonable to the extent that they exceeded 15 cents for the transportation from Fort Worth to the destinations named, and that complainant was entitled to reparation from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company in the sum of $196.84 and from the Texas & Pacific Company in the sum of $51.95, with interest from August 1, 1903.

In another case brought by H. B. Pitts & Son against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company and Texas & Pacific Railway company (10 I. C. C. Rep., 684), it appeared that complainants shipped two carloads of snapped corn over the railways of defendants from Grove, Ind. T., to Marshall, Tex. On one carload defendants exacted a charge of 441⁄2 cents per 100 pounds and on the other 313 cents. The only published rates in effect and applicable to the shipments were an interstate rate of the former company of 21 cents per 100 pounds plus 25 per cent for the transportation to Paris, Tex., and a proportional rate of the latter for transportation from Paris to Marshall of 14 cents, except that the Texas & Pacific Company's tariff provided that lower combinations by other roads would be protected. Upon one shipment the tariff purporting to name the rates was an association tariff consisting of 297 pages, filled with notes, exceptions, and special references, indicated by a host of arbitrary signs, and was so involved that the freight officials of the carriers could not agree, and the auditor of the Commission found it difficult to determine the rate which did apply. The decision of the Commission was as follows:

That the rate of the St. L. & S. F. Company for the transportation to Paris was excessive and unreasonable to the extent that it exceeded 21 cents per 100 pounds; that the proportional rate of the T. & P.

Company of 14 cents per 100 pounds was assumed to be reasonable; that complainants were entitled to reparation to the extent that the charges exacted from them exceeded 35 cents per 100 pounds; that it is the duty of railroad companies, under the act to regulate commerce, to print, publish, and file tariffs showing rates which are so simplified that persons of ordinary comprehension can understand them; and that a notation in the tariff of one carrier making reference to the tariff of some competing carrier does not meet the requirement of the law that the rate charged shall be published and filed.

The Kehoe case. The case of T. M. Kehoe & Co. v. Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company et al. (11 I. C. C. Rep., 172), was also decided. It appeared that the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company did not make through rates with the other defendants from points in Indiana to destinations south of the Ohio River, but had established on hay a local rate of 8 cents per 100 pounds to Evansville and a proportional of 63 cents to Evansville when the shipment was billed through to a specified destination. The Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company refused to apply a proportional on shipments billed to Evansville in care of a southern line for points beyond, having discontinued a tariff providing therefor, which was effective from November 10, 1903, to July 19, 1904. The rate from Evansville by the other defendant lines was the same whether shipped locally from or through Evansville.

The Commission held that it was unreasonable and unjust for the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company to insist upon the billing of these shipments to a specified destination in order to secure application of the lower proportional rate, while it declined to assume responsibility for such billing and did not post in its stations the tariffs from which the shipper could himself ascertain the rate at which the shipment should be billed; and that while the proportional rate was kept in force it was just and reasonable that these shipments should be billed to Evansville in care of the road leading southerly therefrom, as was actually done in 1903 and 1904. It was further decided that complainants were entitled to reparation on a shipment of one carload of hay carried from Johnstown, Ind., to Charleston, S. C., amounting to $4.36, from the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company, and $5.97 as admitted overcharge collected by the Georgia Railroad on the same shipment.

CASES SETTLED AND DISCONTINUED.

Cases involving the following matters have been settled through concession of relief by the carriers:

The classification of electrical instruments known as "Scheidel's coil outfit." The classification and rates on glass bottles from Terre Haute, Ind., to Dayton and Toledo, Ohio; Peoria and Joliet, Ill.; Grand Rapids, Mich., and other points.

An alleged overcharge on shipments of oyster shells in carloads from Biloxi, Miss., to Peoria, Ill.

An alleged overcharge on two carload shipments of hay from South Salem, Ohio, to Winifrede Junction, W. Va.

A rate on carload shipments of barrel staves from Provo and other points in the State of Arkansas to Pacific coast terminal points.

Failure to furnish a switch connection at mines near Barnesville, Ohio.

Those involving the following matters have been discontinued upon application of the complainants:

A rate for the transportation of anthracite coal from Pittston, Towanda, and other points in Pennsylvania to Gloversville, N. Y.

A rate on grain from Uniontown and Morganfield, Ky., to Atlanta, Ga.

The use of expense bills on wheat shipped into St. Louis and forwarded to Arkadelphia, Ark.

The rates on bells from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Albany and Dublin, Ga.; Montgomery, Ala., and other southern points, via Chattanooga, Tenn.

A switching charge on lumber at Hazen's switch, in Cincinnati, Ohio, applied on interstate traffic.

The rate on stick tan bark in carloads from Wayne, W. Va., to Columbus, Ohio.

Demurrage charges on shipments of oil in carloads from points in Pennsylvania to Xenia, Ohio.

A higher rate on coal in carloads from Clearfield coal-mining district, in Pennsylvania, for the shorter distance to Windsor Locks, Conn., than for the longer distance to Springfield, Mass., or Hartford, Conn.

The rate on mixed shipments of paper in carloads from Holyoke, Mass., to New York, N. Y.

A rate on carload shipments of rye from East St. Louis, Ill., to Owensboro, Ky. A rate on coal from the Bluefield coal and coke mines of West Virginia to Norfolk, Va.

Rates on galvanized wire in carloads from Pittsburg, Pa., and Cleveland, Ohio, to Tecumseh, Mich.

Refusal to supply switching connection at Bellington, W. Va.

Refusal to transport soap-making materials from Mansfield, Mass., to Providence, R. I., unless contained in air-tight barrels.

Rates on cattle in carloads from Chicago to New York.

Rates on mixed shipments of soap. (Two cases.)

Rates on anthracite coal from mines in Pennsylvania to Buffalo and other points.

Those involving the following matters have been discontinued for want of prosecution:

A case originating at Chicago, Ill., relating to regulations in Official Classification No. 12, and to bills of lading therein authorized.

The rate on Scotch granite from Kingston, N. Y., to Roxbury, N. Y.

Besides the foregoing, one case, involving the practice at Toledo, Ohio, of giving free cartage to certain shippers in the transportation of freight from Duluth, Minn., to Lansing, Jackson, Battlecreek, and Grand Rapids, Mich., was discontinued because of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of the Interstate Commerce Commission against the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway (167 U. S., 633).

Another case, involving the rates on corn, wheat, and other grain from Nebraska points to Chicago, and on coal from points without to points within the State of Nebraska, was dismissed, the matter being fully covered by the investigation of the Commission of rates on food products, decided June 7, 1890.

PROCEEDINGS FOR INJUNCTION UNDER THE ELKINS ACT.

A petition under the Elkins Act was filed in the circuit court for the eastern district of Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Refrigerator Transit Company, the Pabst Brewing Company, and several railroads, alleging that the railroads returned to the Refrigerator Transit Company 12 per cent of the gross freight rates on shipments of beer by the Pabst Brewing Company. It appeared in the investigation before the Commission that some of the principal stockholders of the brewing company were controlling owners of the refrigerator company. The Government claims that this transaction is in effect a device whereby the property of the brewing company has been carried at less than the published rate.

The case entitled Interstate Commerce Commission v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company et al. which was brought under the Elkins Act in the circuit court for the western district of Virginia and relates to alleged rebates on coal, and which was appealed from that court to the Supreme Court of the United States, has been argued and submitted in the latter court, but decision has not yet been rendered.

CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS.

On October 24, 1905, an indictment was returned in the district court of the United States for the western district of Kentucky charging Sebastian Zorn, Thomas G. Williams, and Jesse Bushfield with accepting rebates in violation of the Elkins Act. An early trial of the case is expected.

Two indictments were also obtained in the same court at the same term against Hollis H. Price and Charles Wells, one charging false bidding and false weighing and the other conspiracy to commit those offenses. Trial is set for March term, 1906, at Louisville, Ky.

The indictments against the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company and others, and against C. R. Capps and others, for pooling, obtained in the northern district of Georgia, were nolle prossed on July 1, 1905; and indictments for the same offense obtained in the western district of Tennessee against the Illinois Central Railroad Company and others and against J. T. Harahan and others were nolle prossed on August 15, 1905.

Samuel Weil, B. S. Cusey, V. D. Skipworth, and C. E. Todd, officials of the packing house of Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company, of Chicago, were indicted on July 1, 1905, for conspiring to ob

tain transportation at less than the published rates by a device. The device alleged consisted in the fabrication or exaggeration of claims for damages arising out of the transportation of their commodities. To those indictments the defendants severally pleaded guilty and were sentenced to pay fines amounting to $25,000.

CIVIL CASES PENDING IN THE COURTS.

Brewer et al. v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company et al. Griffin Georgia Long and Short Haul case. United States circuit court, southern district of Georgia.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Northern Pacific Railroad Company et al. Fargo, N. Dak., Long and Short Haul case. United States circuit court, district of North Dakota.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad Company et al. Discriminating rates on petroleum oil. United States circuit court, western district of Pennsylvania.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company et al. Classification of hay. United States Supreme Court.

United States v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Illinois Central Railroad Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Michigan Central Railroad Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Pennsylvania Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction granted. United States circuit court, northern district of Illinois.

United States v. Wabash Railroad Company. Proceeding to enjoin departure from published tariff rates. Temporary injunction.

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