On September 1, 1888, an entirely new system of making rates upon the trans-continental lines was put into effect. The new tariffs were exceedingly different from the system previously in force; the changes made were many and radical, affecting not only all joint tariffs and the rates to and from terminal or competitive points, but also the rates to and from local and intermediate points on all the lines. In so great a mass of new matter affecting so complicated a subject, promulgated at one time, and at the last completed and issued in some haste, it is not surprising that irregularities should be found to exist and that some of the indirect results of the changes made were unexpected. While this Commission was not responsible for the construction or practical operation of these tariffs to any extent beyond that indicated by the above statement of its decision in the Denver case, and had no opportunity of inspecting any of them before they were put into effect, nevertheless it clearly appears that their formulation is the result of an honest effort to revise the trans-continental tariffs in conformity with the provisions of the Act to regulate commerce; that the carriers have undertaken this important matter in good faith; and that the immediate result aimed at has been directly in the line indicated by the Commission. Whatever modification of detail may be expedient or necessary, the general plan on which the new tariffs have been framed represents a long step in advance, as compared with the irregular and in many respects illegal methods previously in use. Eighteen railroads, composing the Trans-Continental Association, so called, and representing an aggregate length of about forty-thousand miles, have united in the new tariffs. The Canadian Pacific is one of them. Differential rates are provided in its favor, under which its through tariffs are slightly less than the through rates of the more direct lines which are situated wholly within the United States. One of the most important changes made is in respect to the classification of freight. The Pacific Coast classifications, both east-bound and west-bound, have been discarded; so far as the transportation of freight is governed by class rates the Western classification alone is used. This change en ables a comparison to be easily and accurately made between the rates charged on the various classes at different points, and the exceptions which remain are only such as appear in the Commodity lists containing articles upon which rates different from the class rates are named. The establishment of a common classification to which all rates are now referred upon the tariffs issued by the trans-continental lines, is a long step in the direction of eliminating the injustice which has heretofore existed in the treatment of their local traffic. The series of tariffs so prepared and issued is numbered from 8 to 16, inclusive. No. 10 of the series is the general basis of the new system. The rates named in this tariff apply to both east and west-bound business, between Pacific coast common points and the several groups of eastern points named below, as follows: BETWEEN PACIFIC Coast AND Missouri River Common .........3 50 3.00 250 200 175 175 155 125 110 100 Mississippi River Common Points, Dubuque, Ia.. to New Orleans, La., inclusive. ...........3 70.- 3:20-260-205-180-1825162)1 30 1 15 105 Chiengo, Milwaukee and Common Polits ........3 90-3 40 270 2 10 185 190 170 135 1 20 110 Detroit. Toledo & Com tron Points .............. 895 345 2 75 215 190 195 175 140 125 1 15 Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Common Pollits, and Points east thereof and west of Atlantic mea board Common Posts 4.00 -3.50 -2×0 220 195 195 175 140 1 25 115 Special east-bound rates are named upon fifty or sixty enumerated commodities, upon about half of which car-load and less than car-load rates are separately given. These commodity rates are lower than the rates which would be made by applying the above class rates to the articles in question. This long list of articles, chiefly products of California, illustrates one of the difficulties which exist in attempting to frame a universal classification, to be applied in all parts of the country. Rates which have not been regarded as unreasonable in the large territory in which the Western classification is employed on both through and local business, are so nearly prohibitory upon shipments from California and Oregon to the east, that large reductions are made in order to secure the movement of the traffic. A few of the reductions so effected on east-bound rates from the Pacific Coast to the Missouri River, are given as illustrations: West-bound commodity rates are also given on Tariff No. 10 upon some fifteen or twenty articles, which are all produced to some extent west of the Missouri river. The several lines, by circulars and instructions issued upon each, have carried into execution the general plan upon which the present system was devised, to wit: that no more. shall be charged for a shorter than for a longer haul upon business which is handled under this tariff, the result being that so far as No. 10 is applied, no violation of the fourth section of the Act to regulate commerce is permissible at local and intermediate points on either east or west-bound business. This is true not only in respect to the class rates but also the commodity rates above described. The class rates in effect from San Francisco to Denver remain as before, and are now considerably less than the class rates to the Missouri river; the latter rates, though higher than formerly, are not so high as the rates formerly made to and from points in Kansas, Nebraska, etc. While the through rates as a whole are advanced, there are thousands of points west of the Missouri river which are now receiving rates lower than were ever before given them, and which are made in order to conform to the rule prescribed in the shorthaul clause of the Act to regulate commerce. So far as the terms of the decision in the Denver case extended they have been complied with by the carriers. The change thus accomplished amounts almost to a revolution. It will not be surprising if friction is developed in quarters where the new schedules work oppressively to local interests established before the passage of the act, but the new system was clearly required by the language of the law, and it can now be fairly and thoroughly tried. The opinion of many sagacious Lach will be at fault if in the long run the results do not prove highly satisfactory both to the roads and to the general public. The method which was adopted for reconstructing the tariff's west of the Missouri river unfortunately gave rise to much complaint at points between the Missouri river and the Atlantic Ocean. In tariff No. 10 no class rates were stated for traffic from ocean to ocean, which is governed by Nos, 8 and 9 exclusively. No. 8 is a west-bound tariff and No. 9 an east-bound tariff, in which rates are stated in cents, to be applied on each article enumerated, and all articles are se rately named. These seaboard rates do not differ very materially in amount from those heretofore in force between the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, while the rates from points west of the Atlantic coast as far as the Missouri river have been quite materially increased. The justification alleged for the infringement upon the short-haul principle of the Act to rulate commerce found in tariffs Nos. 8 and 9, is the water competition which is met at the seaboard for the same traffic. The following statement is made on thirt of the carriers in explanation: "These rates are established with the idea of fairly competing with the clipper ships for the transaction of business between Atlantic seaboard cities and the Pacific coast. Necessarily the rates were made low but they did not establish the maxima to be charged on like commodities from the Atlantic seaboard to points on the trans-continental lines east of the Pacific coast. In that respect the Trans-Continental Association availed itself of the opinion in the Louisville & Nashville case, wherein the Commission decided that 'the existence of actual competition which is of controlling force in respect to traffic important in amount may make out the dissimilar circumstances and conditions entitling the carrier to charge less for the longer than for the shorter haul over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being included in the longer, when the competition is with carriers by water not subject to the Interstate Law. The competition in this instance is both actual and of controlling force, inasmuch as there are several lines of clipper ships, and they are able to, and doubtless would, carry most of the business, were their competitors not to approximately meet the rates thus made. Furthermore the traffic is important in amount, seeing that the seaboard business constitutes full 40 per cent. of the revenue derived from traffic carried by trans-continental lines to the Pacific coast. If the ships were to take business destined to an interior point east of San Francisco or Sacramento, the freight would then be subject to the local rate of the Southern Pacific Co. from the coast to destination; therefore the competition in such event begins at the Atlantic seaboard and ends at the Pacific coast." Tariff No. 8 on west-bound business from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast giving commodity rates in most cases considerably less than the rates on No. 10, an effort was made to ameliorate its operation in respect to west-bound traffic from interior points by issuing a series of commodity tariffs numbered from 11 to 16, each of which named certain articles upon which rates lower than those given in No. 10 were made on west-bound business to the Pacific coast, from the various points specified, and which were not made from other |