| OCR Text |
Show mS pi 0. S. L. to Issue Publication Based on Interstate Commerce Commission Regulations. WJLL PROTECT ROAD AGAINST BLUNDERS History of Federal Law and Work It Imposes on Traffic Men. Within tho next ton days or so commercial, com-mercial, freight and passenger agents of tho Oregon Short Lino will have in their hands a circular of now rato regulations regu-lations arid freight charges which is now in the making :it the general offices of tho company. Primarily the circular will come from the freight department, but in reality it will be a circular. of freight charges coming from the office of the general counsel of tho road, Parley L. Williams. Wil-liams. It will bo by far tho most important, j complicated and indispensable rate cir- culnr Iho road has oyer issued, and it will cover thiny-llvo or forty long typewritten type-written pages. Evory agent of the Oregon Short Tine must familiarize himself with this circular cir-cular upon its issuance. Back of its compilation and prospective issuance there lies an extremely interesting story a story that every traffic manager, every business man and the general public itself is rapidly finding must be familiarized. Radical Changos. Tho intricate and exhaustive readjustment read-justment of the charges innde for hauling haul-ing freight on railroads that has been put into effect by the Interstate Commerce Com-merce commission is at. tho bottom of tho trouble. So rapid have como these changes and so radical have the majority of them been that a most serious condition condi-tion exists today among the rate experts ex-perts of railroad systems East and West, and espociallj' among the commercial com-mercial agents of the thousands of lines throughout the country, and particularly particu-larly in Salt Lake. Commodities havo boen taken from one classification and plncod in another and charges split up. raised and lowered until the tariffs of the roads arc of such au intriealo nature that even railroad men are experiencing tho greatest difficulty diffi-culty in understanding them. This is the nucleus of the oxisting uncomfortable condition of affairs among local rnilroad men who represent repre-sent Eastern and Western freight and trunk lines, to say nothing of the traffic, traf-fic, officials of tho roads within tho Stato. 1 he Interstate Commerce commission holds the raijrond companies immediately immedi-ately responsible whonevor a shipper is charged a wrong rate, either too high or too low. or whou his goods are shipped under a wrong classification. Formorly an agent upon inquiry could pioto a shipper a rate per hundred on all ordinary commodities without trouble. trou-ble. With the tariffs so changed and altered that it takes an expert to understand un-derstand them and with the classification classifica-tion of goods altered many times, agents have found that the3' must use the utmost precaution in quoting rates. Mistakes Will Prove Sorious. Let a mistake occur and tho Interstate Inter-state Commerce commission get wind of it, and forthwith the railroad eom-pairy eom-pairy is called to acconiit and the agent, in turn, probably log-s his job. Business Busi-ness houses employ traffic managers to watch the agents and see thnt the letter of the Interstate Commerce commission commis-sion 'a regulations is obc3'od. Careful as it is possible to be, it. lias boon found nearly impossihlo to get all rate quotations quota-tions correct, and as a result agents are on the anxious seat. For instance, boforo rhe Interstate Commerce commission rearranged the tariffs so thoroughly, marble and granite gran-ite could bo loaded onto the same car and shipped from Vermont to Salt Jjake for the same rate, both coming under the classification of rock or stone. To-da To-da granite must be Joaded on a separate sepa-rate car and a separate rato must be paid for it, a rate higher than the rate on marble. If one piece of granite is loaded on the marble car, the lattor is termed a mixed car, for carr-ing which tho roads exact a very heavy charge. Under tho old tariffs a man could ship a car of household goods from Chicago Chi-cago to Salt Lake on a certain rate for all. Now he is chargod so much for drcssors, chiffoniers, chairs or whatever he mny havo in the car. Agents in quoting shippers rates on all commodities are now taking no chances. When a shipper wants to send n commodity off which may come under either of two classifications in the ' agent's judgment, tho situation is reported re-ported to the freight officials of the road and to the attornc3'8, who immediate' imme-diate' advise the agent what to do. Tho situation has become so complicated compli-cated that the attorne's of ever' road in the countr- are working night and day to straighten out the rnto tariffs and issue tariffs of such a nature thnt tho danger of agents misunderstanding them and getting tho road into serious trouble will bo minimized. The rate circular the Oregon Short Line will issue shortly is filled with the slorv of the new tariffs, and is designed de-signed to give station agents a chance to quote rates on ordinary commodities without wiring the general office for in structions. |
