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Show UTAH PROTESTS AGAINST RULES SHIPPERS' INDUSTRIES ASSAIL RAILROAD PROPOSAL TO MAKE RATE ADVANCE Mr. Prickett Says Present Rates To Salt Lake From Chicago and Missouri River Territory Unreasonably High Washington. Various Utah and in-termountain in-termountain industries through briefs filed with the interstate commerce commission by H. W. Prickett of Salt Lake City, assail the proposal of the railroads to make a general 5 per cent advance in freight rates, in order that they may reduce rates on agricultural products. Mr. Prickett filed individual briefs, for the National Woolgrowers' association, Salt Lake chamber of commerce, Utah chapter of the American Amer-ican Mining congress, United States Sugar Manufacturers' association, Utah Oil company and the Ogden Grain exchange, each assailing the proposed advanced from a different angle and all in turn asking for a reduction re-duction in prevailing rates. In his brief for the Salt Lake chamber cham-ber of commerce Mr. Prickett says, "Present rates on commodities to Salt Lake City from Chicago and Missouri river territory are unreasonably high in their relation to rates on the same commodities from the same points of origin to San Francisco. It is the proposal pro-posal of the carriers to increase rates to Salt Lake City without a contemporaneous contem-poraneous increase in the rates to San Francisco and other Pacific coast points. To allow such increase to become be-come effective would not only further emphasize the unreasonableness of the existing relatively high rates to Salt Lake City compared with those to San Francisco and other coast points, but would emphasize the unlawfulness unlawful-ness of a rate structure which, as it now exists, results preferentially to the San Francisco distributor and prejudicially pre-judicially to the Salt Lake distrubtor in violation of section 3 of the interstate inter-state commerce act." Presenting the protest of the beet suger interests of Utah and other western states, Mr. Prickett shows that the prewar rate on sugar from Utah and Idaho to Chicago was 4S cents. It is now 68 cents. Freight rates on sugar, he declares, have been advanced to a greater degree than those on any other food product, and such rates should not be liable to further increases. The proposed increases in-creases in the rates on beet sugar from the western district made without with-out distributing the rates cane sugar refineries enjoy would give the refineries refin-eries of the east, handling largely Cuban sugar, a large advantage. |