APPENDIX E. BRIEFS FILED WITH THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE INLAND PORT DIFFERENTIALS ON IMPORT AND EXPORT TRAFFIC TO AND FROM NORTH ATLANTIC PORTS BY COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS OF THE CITIES OF BOSTON, NEW YORK, PHILA DELPHIA, AND BALTIMORE. CONTENTS TO APPENDIX E. Page. Brief submitted by Edgar J. Rich, general solicitor Boston and Maine Rail road.... 407 Brief submitted by the Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Merchants' Association (Charles S. Hamlin, counsel). 422 Brief submitted by Merchants' Association of New York and the New York Produce Exchange, containing a synopsis of steamboat brokerage under the minimum ocean-rate agreement. 465 Brief submitted by the Commercial Exchange of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange, the Philadelphia Board of Trade, and the Trades League of Philadelphia. Brief submitted by the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Brief submitted by the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association of Bal timore 521 565 589 BRIEFS RELATING TO INLAND PORT DIFFEREN TIALS, ETC. BRIEF OF EDGAR J. RICH, ESQ., GENERAL SOLICITOR BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD. The Boston and Maine Railroad heartily cooperates with the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Boston in endeavoring to secure the abolition of differentials to the Atlantic ports. In doing this, however, it does not want its action to be construed as an admission that the principle of differentials is wrong. It believes that differential agreements are sound in principle, and therefore respectfully submits this brief in justification of the principle, but contends that a wrong application has been made in this case so far as the port of Boston is concerned. An attempt is made to develop a reasonable theory of differentials without regard to the exigencies of this particular case. 1. DEFINITION. Much of the difficulty in this case is due to a failure to define clearly the meaning of the term "differentials." A mere difference in rate does not make a differential. The domestic rate from Chicago to New York may be 2 cents less than the domestic rate to Boston, and yet it would not be using the term correctly to say that New York enjoyed a differential over Boston. Neither would it be a right use of the terms to say that because the export rate to Boston was less than the domestic rate, therefore the export traffic enjoyed a differential. On the other hand, if the rate from Boston to Chicago by way of the National Dispatch is 5 cents per hundred less than the rate over the Merchants' Dispatch, it is a correct use of terms to say that the National Dispatch enjoys a differential of 5 cents per hundred pounds. In passenger traffic the point is, perhaps, even more clearly illustrated. The rate from Boston to Chicago over the standard lines is $22; over the other lines from $19 to $21. There is not only a difference in rates, but there is a differential in favor of the inferior lines, What distinguishes a differential rate from a mere difference in rates is competition. If there is a competitive service, and certain lines carry the traffic for less than other lines, we at once have what, in railroad parlance, is known as a differential in favor of the inferior line. There is, perhaps, no etymological reason why the term "differential" should be applied only to competitive traffic, but it will aid |