OCR Text |
Show Right to Fix Rates Owner's Only Asset A C. Bird of Oould Lines Likens Rate Reduction to Capital Punishment. Pun-ishment. WASHINGTON. May 13 A. C. Bird, vice-president of the Gould line, In n Ntatement before the Senate Interstate Commerce commission today said: "In dealing with tho qucBtlon as to the reasonableness of tho rates on a given commodity there can bo but ono Intelligent Intelli-gent line of procedure, viz: To nscertaln 1 1 n carrier under investigation as t,, n? rates Is earning more then a reasonable profit per ton, and when that l attained, If the article which Is subject to complaint com-plaint I rated unreasonably hlh in proportion pro-portion to the rate on other articles value val-ue and rlak duly cunsldeied " Rensonnblenes8 of Cattlo Rates. Mr. Bird presented a statement giving mien on carloads of VarlQUS kinds 01 i n.-erciinndlse between certain Southwestern Southwest-ern points to Illustrate what he s".ald Is lb,- i i lil I V roTiion.-il.li'neKH ,f c i 1 1 ! i I In thnt territory. This showed that cattle cat-tle rules oro 13 per cent of the vnluo of tho property canned, where the ratei on li.mlwrr, hay, band or bar Iron, wire, nails fruit cotton, ties and corn range from 2 C-1D per tent to 40 per cent of tho ilues of the property carried Pays Less Than Its Share. "The rate on live stock," sold Mr. Bird, shows conclusively thnt while live stock requires more care and costs more for transportation Iban any Of the other articles ar-ticles It Ik pn-,-ln(r lesa than one-half of Its shore of in cost of transportation, provided the rates of other articles which aro unchanged are nnvwhero nearly reasonable. rea-sonable. "It Is not plain and It has never been siggested that the Southwestern road 8 are earning more than a reasonable return re-turn upon thir investment Consequently, Consequent-ly, tho aggregate of their revenue derived de-rived from mat traffic Is not unreasonable, unreason-able, and the figures show that lle stock Is certainly not paying more than Its share of the transportation charges lu Southwestern ros Is Snme as Capital Punishment. "Tho reduction of rates to tho carrier Is the same thing as capital punishment to tho Individual. The only right or prlv-Mego prlv-Mego which attaches to railroad ownership owner-ship Is the right to fix and collect a rats lor sc-r.-3 rendered, That right and that privilege Is its 6olo property and railroad owners Should not be deprived of that right wltho-it 3 no process "f law " |