| Show SHIPPERS DEMAND DEMANDA A N NEW NW W BILL Of OP LADING NEW KEW YORK July Tuly IS When When the commissioners on uniform laws meet at Seattle Wash on August 20 O 0 they will willbe be waited upon by committees representing represent represent- in jog ing tho the great eat commercial bodies of this and other cities and urged tinged to draft a bill of lading n to put an end to what the shippers shippers ShIPpers ship ship- pers term the titO gross frauds which they declare have made bills biUs of of ladin lading an at un tin- unsafe safe instrument of credit The decision to have committees appear before the tho commissioners was reached as tho the result 1 of an announcement of the interstate commerce commission that it had not I sufficient authority authority to order the tho railroads railroads rail rail- rail rail-I roads to revise their methods of issuing I b bills of ladin lading to meet the objections I which tho the commercial bodies have raised I against the instruments in in their present form It is the present plan to have ha the now nest bill biU which is expected to tobe be o drafted b b- b the commissioners on uniform laws Jaws introduced at tho the next session of con con- I gress A c decision of the interstate I commerce commission announced early this week contained recommendations embodied in iu the demands of the tho ship ship- pore pers hut but the commission decided that it ii lacked th the tho power to enforce these It was in view of this j I jand and the belief that the railroads would I not accept the recommendations of the c commission that the plan announced to to- todar todar 1 dar daT was formulated The tremendous volume of business transacted on bills I of lading is is apparent from front fi figures res of the year ear 1907 which show that goods valued I at were shipped on the bills in that year alone The commercial commer commer- I cial interests have been trying for the past three years ears to compel the carriers to issue issue two separate bills of lading forms in order to different differentiate ate between the ordinary receipt and the more im important important im- im order bill which is used as a basis of or credit in th the transportation of the tho country's country crops particularly tho the cotton cotton cot cot- ton and grain crops of the south and I west and manufactured products The Tho I shippers havo o demanded also that the tho I railroads compel the surrender of the instrument in iu strument upon delivery of the tho property to the consignee several cral extensive swin swin- I dIes in ha having been perpetrated against lenders by means of bills of ladin lading that were not so surrendered As S the railroads railroads rail rail- i roads have hare fought tho the proposed changes from the tho first firsts first representatives of the thc commercial bodies of this city say they the do not e. e expect tho the recommendations of or tho interstate commerce commission to change the situation at all Thc They behove be be- hove lieve however that whatever action achon is taken b by the commissioner on uniform uniform- state laws will be approved by bj con congress ress as the commissioners consist of representatives from the several sc states ap pointed by bv their respective e governor governors L. L M. M r. r of the bill bilI Indin lading committee of tho cotton exchange Theo dore done F. F Whitmarsh vice vice president of the Wholesale Grocer Grocery 1 association and anti Charles P. P of the bill of lading committee O mitte of the mercantile exchange in In interviews given I cn out to today ay all cx- cx pr press the fear that i if the present alleged abuses are Bre not corrected by congress early carly in its next session credits will bo be seriously curtailed and in consequence all commercial interests severely handi bandi capped Lewis Pierson chairman of tho bill of lading committee of tho the American Bankers Bankers' association sa said d it was true truo that certain banks had curtailed their loans on this class cbs of collateral but that the movement had not yet et become general We all an hope he said that before it t does docs c congress 8 will pass a uni uni- form forni bill of lading net act that will safe guard ard the rights ts of ot all concerned |
