OCR Text |
Show WATER UTESiUB WOOLJHARGES In the opinion of H G. Toll, assistant as-sistant general freight agent of "tho Southern Pacific, his company would I soon be in the hands of a receiver if it were compelled to meet water competition on all freights from Chl-) Chl-) Ifornla Also, Mr. Toll said at the I wool rate hearing boforo United States Interstate Commerce Commissioner Commis-sioner Pronty In Salt Lake yesterday Afternoon that his company hauled to Boston a .very- .small part of the, wool shipments originating in California' Cali-fornia' The largest part by Jar, ho said, went by sea. Mr Toll also declared de-clared that 90 per cent of tho cars operated by the Southern Pacific -wore operated in California, and that one-half one-half of all the passenger business was California business. Therefore., he said, the transcontinental wool business bus-iness originating at the San Franclgcq terminal was of comparatively small consequence as compared to the wopl carried by the ships. Mr. Toll expressed the opinion that no railroad would eer have been built In the desert country, such as Nevada, if there had not been "the glorious state of California' to be reached and developed. Mr. Toll said Mr, Huntlugton had forseen tho vast tonnage ton-nage of freight that would be dev-veloped dev-veloped In California, and for -that treason the railroad line had beau built. Mr Toll did not believe that the Western Pacific would ever have been built if it had Intended to depend de-pend entirely on its freight tonnaee originating at San Francisco The Western Pacific's purpose. a; Mr. Toll Understood it. was to build feeders and thereby enjoy a share of the Immense Im-mense ohime of business originating in California points other than the San Francisco terminal. Eastern Lines Get Same Share. At the forenoon session of tho hear-Ing hear-Ing Mr Toll said that tho lines east of Chicapo accepted the same rate op wool tariffs on the $2.13 rato from Utah and Nevada points where that rate applies, as thoy did on the SI rate made from San Francisco by the Southern Pacific 1 There was a good deal of tcstj-mony tcstj-mony concerning a suppositious shipment ship-ment of wool originating at West Weber, Just west of Oaden, and carry-j carry-j ing the $2.13 rate. Mr Toll wa3 asked how this shipment would fare If. It were sent to San Francisco at tho rato of 51.07 1-2 cents the hundred hun-dred and leshipped to Boston at $1. The answer was that, in addition to , the actual tariff rates, the shipper would have to pay switching charges and compressing charges, and that the total rate would be considerably 1 higher if the shipment wore sent via San Francisco than If sent direct So far as the Southern Pacific was concerned, Mr. Toll said his company fixed the rato on the standards set by the Oregon Short Line. Mr. Toll Bald ho was unable to explain why tfic rate for balling at San Francisco was 25 cents as against 10 and 15 cents at I os Angeles. I S. O Baker representing the Na-' Na-' tional Mohair Growers' association, I questioned Mr. Toll concerning rates I on that commodity, particularly asking- him why thoy were higher than tke rates on wool. Mr Toll said that hlB company had never been asked for a rate on mohair except once, when Arizona shlppors requestod a carload rate. Mr. Toll also said that there was only a small tonnage of mohair. Furthermore, he said mohair was held to bo more valuable than wool Value of commodities, said "Mr. Toll, was one of the many factors that entered into tho making of tariffs. (Continued on Tagc Seven.) 1 ir WATER RATES AND WOOL CHARGES (Continued from Page One.) Water Rates Erratic. Mr. Toll raid that water carriers changed their rates as much as 25 and 40 cents the hundred, and so far as ho had been ablo to ascertain, the water carriers had Jssued no published pub-lished rate sheets. He said that ships would lake shipments at almost any figure above the actnaTcost of handling, hand-ling, just so they got the commodity to fill up their space. A discussion as to whether railroads ovec adopted tho same plan regarding the 'empty cars brought out a request from Attorney Johnson, representing the National Woolgrowers association that the Southern Pacific and Oregon Short Line furnish the commission a record of the movements of empties with refgronco as to excess of empty movement east or west during the months of May, June and July. It Vas said that tbo combination of these tables would require several days, and the commission will -get them when It holds, its hearings at Portland, where Commissioner Prouty goes from Sail Lake. How Dividends Were PaFd. State Sonator H. W. Lunt of Cedar City, -vice-president of the Cedar City Mercantile & Live Stock company, who gave direct testimony Wednesday Wednes-day afternoon to the effect that tho cost of wool production In the past ten yonra had Increased one-third, and who later admitted that his companq had paid a total of 35 per cent In tho -past four years, was recalled to tho stand yesterday morning and on cross-examination related the method of finance by which hlB company had been able to pay dividends. Senator "Lunt explained that while hfs company was Incorporated for but $100,000. Its assets, during the years or 1909-1911 had Increased to ?200,000, whllq in the years 19r09 and 1910 the actual money profit was nil, nevertho-Ipss nevertho-Ipss the directors had declared a dividend div-idend of 20 per cent Ten ppr cent of this was a credit on the books of the mercantile division Of his company com-pany and 10 per cent In cash, which latter money was lorrowed Mr Lunt justified the action of his company in borrowing cash to pay dividends by citing the increase In asset values. He. drew the conclusion that while the dividends "or his company com-pany averaged slightly over S per cont j a year, the actual return to the In-1 cstor, based upon tho cost of stock , In his company, was but 4 per cent. |