Dental Europe have adhered, has made the obligation of guaranteeing continuous transportation common to all the great systems. One contract may be made at a shipping station for the whole trip, and the custom-house formalities at each frontier are then fulfilled by the railway administrations, acting as brokers. The interested parties, of course, are at liberty to have themselves represented at the customhouse by brokers of their own choice; but then they can not make a direct shipment, for the broker who is to open the packages at the frontier must receive them so as to absolve the railways from their responsibility, and then make a reshipment on to the final destination of the merchandise after repacking it. The Berne convention regulates the conditions of international transportation, the responsibilities and remedies, by detailed stipulations usually partaking of the old German law and the French law, some articles of which have been mentioned in our study of the conditions of special tariffs. The new commercial code, put into effect in Germany in 1900, has brought the internal legislation of the Empire closer to the provisions of the Berne convention, the text of which is even literally reproduced in most cases. An international bureau, with headquarters at Berne, sees to the proper operation of the convention, and, whenever necessary, acts as intermediary or umpire between the several administrations concerned. In order to settle the manifold questions raised by common transportation, and especially the service of joint stations, the companies must enter into numerous contracts among themselves. They also make such contracts for the division of traffic when there happens to be competition among several routes belonging to several systems. It has long been recognized that in such cases it was preferable to resort to an agreement, for tariff wars involve useless loss of earnings as well as inequalities of treatment between the regions where competition exists and those where the service is done by one system. The effect of the agreement is either to reserve the traffic between certain stations to a certain specified route-generally the shortest one or that which is admittedly the most convenient with due regard to technical conditions and transfers from system to systemor to arrange a division of the traffic on a fixed basis of proportion by distributing the freight among the various routes according to that proportion, or by letting them go over one track or the other, and turning all the earnings into a common treasury, the amount of which is divided on a stipulated basis. In regard to merchandise, in the absence of formal orders of the shipper, which are rather rare in practice, the railways may, of their own accord, forward each shipment over the route to which it is given by the agreement, provided the rate shall not be higher than that of the other route. As for the passengers, who choose their own route, the organization of trains and the tariffs must be arranged in such way as to draw to each route those who are set apart for it, or to Ensure a division. But, in spite of all precautions that may be taken, the distribution never takes place, as a matter of fact, in strict conformity with the contracts made. When the traffic is worth the trouble there is opened an account of diversion-that is to say, that whenever one of the companies happens to have taken business which it had relinquished it reimburses the earnings to the other, retaining only a small portion thereof to defray its hauling expenses. We may cite as examples the clauses inserted in the conventions of 1883 to adjust the division of traffic between the Government railway system and the adjoining systems, and also the rather complicated arrangements that have sprung therefrom. The great companies also frequently make arrangements with the grantees of feeding systems for the purpose of extending to the latter a certain amount of assistance or of granting them favorable terms for the use of joint stations in return for certain guaranties against any possible competition. There is no general provision requiring the approval of the administration for these various arrangements, but as their effect is always felt either on the tariffs submitted to approval or on the running of trains or on the settlements of accounts of guaranty the company can not, as a matter of fact, put them in operation without being authorized to do so. The laws which approved the conventions of 1883 reserve the legislators' right to authorize the great companies to assist in building secondary lines. The object of common tariffs is to apply to one trip extending over several systems rates other than those which would be produced by the pure and simple welding of internal tariffs. We have already said that the present general tariff for fast freight operates as a common tariff-that is to say, that in the reckoning of rates all the systems are considered as one. No costs of transfer are charged on the passage from one to the other, and the decrease of the bases applies to the whole trip without a fresh start from the initial base at each transfer. It is seen that by imparting the character of the common tariff to a rate table, even without changing its basis. important advantages are conferred upon the public. The tariff of postal parcels, established jointly with the postal service by virtue of special laws, is also a common tariff. It fixes three rates, regardless of the distance for the transportation from any station to any other. First, parcels weighing from 0 to 3 kilograms, 0.60 franc; second, parcels weighing from 3 to 5 kilograms, 0.80 franc; third, parcels weighing from 5 to 10 kilograms, 1.25 francs. It also provides for a special uniform expressage rate, 0.25 franc. Finally, it restricts responsibility of the companies to a maximum of 15, 25, or 40 francs, according to the weight, unless an additional tax has been paid under the head of insurance to hold the railway companies liable beyond that amount. By reason of the postal character assumed by the service, in law if not in fact, indemnity claims for loss or damage are laid before the minister of posts, with remedy before the Council of State. This an anomaly which the Chambers have been asked to abate. It has been decided that delay in delivery affords no ground for indemnity. In many other tariffs certain common transportations come under either special rate tables or fixed rates, and special mention is made whether accessory expenses are included. Unless it be so indicated these expenses must always be added to the rates fixed by the tariff. Our railways have established many common tariffs with express or boat or foreign railway companies. The part of the total cost appertaining to the distance traveled beyond the French tracks would escape the supervision of our minister of public works. Neverthe less the approval often embraces the total price. By asking the French railroads to come to an understanding with them for the es tablishment of common rates, the companies that could dispense with the administrative approval so far as they are concerned voluntarily submit to it, since the reduction worked by the tariff on that part of the rates that belongs to the French railroads is applicable only as long as the whole tariff is itself applied as approved, even for the transportation made on the lines that are not under the supervision of the administration; but the common tariff comes to an end when it is terminated by the party which is at liberty to discontinue it, for its share of the transportation, without requiring an authorization of the French administration. For some years past, in most cases, the decisions by which these tariffs are approved do so only so far as the share of the French railroads is concerned. From the very fact that they approve that share as a part of the common tariff, they make its application dependent on the observance of engagements entered into by the other participating concerns, but the system leaves the latter free to move within the limits set by their engagements as long as they are authorized to do so by the legal régime to which they are subject; for instance, navigation companies, which usually make direct arrangements and are free to enter into private contracts, remain at liberty to allow drawbacks on the share that is given them by the common tariff. This share, in such a case, bears the character of a maximum price, in consideration of which they bind themselves to carry all freight, but it is often reduced on large invoices, or when the rate of freights falls considerably. Common tariffs constitute the most complex part of tariff making. A certain identity in the plan of grouping merchandise and those tariffs and internal tariffs was attained in 1902. Nevertheless the use of a common tariff is still rather difficult for persons who have not made a constant practice of it. |