FOURTH SECTION APPLICATION NO. 17539

BRICK FROM CENTRAL TERRITORY TO THE SOUTH

Submitted November 21, 1938. Decided November 16, 1939

Authority granted, on conditions, to establish and maintain rates on brick and related articles, in straight or mixed carloads, from points in central territory to destinations in the South, without observing the long-and-shorthaul provision of section 4 of the Interstate Commerce Act.

B. T. Jones for applicants.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION

DIVISION 2, COMMISSIONERS AITCHISON, SPLAWN, AND CASKIE BY DIVISION 2:

By this application, as amended, carriers parties to Agent B. T. Jones' tariff I. C. C. No. 2994 apply for authority to establish and maintain rates on brick and related articles taking the same rates, as shown in appendix A to the application, and on related articles on which the same rates may be applied, in straight or mixed carloads, minimum 60,000 pounds, from producing or shipping points in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and from intermediate points from which the proposed rates will be observed as maxima, to destinations in southern territory, without observing the long-and-short-haul provision of section 4 of the Interstate Commerce Act. Temporary relief was authorized by fourth-section order No. 13280. There is no opposition to the relief sought. Rates will be stated in amounts per net ton unless otherwise specified.

The producing or shipping points are grouped as shown in appendix B of the application. The destinations are grouped in the same manner as in connection with the class rates. The proposed rates are on the basis of a distance scale substantially the same as that prescribed in West Virginia Brick Co. v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., 186 I. C. C. 485, for distances up to and including 625 miles, and for greater distances the scale has been extended at the same rate of progression as observed in the so-called Southern brick scale prescribed in Brick and Clay Products in the South, 88 I. C. C. 543. Such scale rates are increased 20 cents, and the rates so made are

1 The commodities considered are listed in item 5 of Agent B. T. Jones' tariff I. C. C. No. 3212, and the points of origin are shown in the same tariff.

increased 10 percent as authorized under the general increases of March 1938. Distances are computed on the basis of the average distances over short tariff routes from all points in a given origin group to the gateway between official and southern territories, plus the distance used to construct class rates, as prescribed in Southern Class Rate Investigation, 100 I. C. C. 513, from the gateway to the destination base point. The proposed rates will be subject to the rates to the intermediate official-territory gateway as minima. It is the purpose to apply the rates so constructed over all routes from and to all points in the respective groups. On traffic to points in Florida south of the line of the Seaboard Air Line Railway extending from River Junction to Jacksonville, Fla., arbitraries varying from 40 cents for 60 miles to $1.20 for over 500 miles, for the distance south of the Florida gateways, will be added to the scale rates, for the distance from origin to destination. To points on short and weak lines as described in Brick and Clay Products in the South, supra, an arbitrary of 60 cents will be added to the proposed scale. Applicants state that the adjustment here proposed has been agreed to between carriers and shippers. Relief with respect to rates in the reverse direction, made on the basis of a percentage of constructive first-class rates, has been granted to points in official territory in Brick and Clay Products to Official Territory, 231 I. C. C. 394. Under the proposed adjustment, departures from the fourth section will occur at both origins and destinations, and will result not only because of the circuity of applicants' routes, but also because of the fact that origin and destination points will be grouped. For example, departures will occur at origin points where traffic is moved from a lower-rated origin group point through a higher-rated group point. Representative instances of resulting fourth-section departures are as follows. From Canton, Ohio, to Goldsboro, N. C., the distance over the direct route2 is 697 miles, and the proposed rate is $5.50. The distance over the indirect route is 975 miles, or 40 percent circuitous. From Toledo, Ohio, an intermediate point of origin, 823 miles, to Goldsboro over the indirect route, the present rate is $5.61. Earnings over the indirect route from Canton to Goldsboro under the proposed rate would be 5.64 mills per ton-mile and 16.92 cents per car-mile, based on a minimum weight of 60,000 pounds. The proposed rate from Danville, Ill., to West Point, Miss., is $4.62 over

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* Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company, Zanesville, Ohio, The New York Central Railroad Company, Deepwater Bridge, W. Va., Virginian Railway Company, Brookneal, Va., Norfolk and Western Railway Company, Durham, N. C., thence Southern Railway Company.

Wheeling & Lake Erie, Toledo, Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, Lynchburg, Va., thence Southern.

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the direct route, 524 miles. It is proposed to apply that rate over an indirect route, 664 miles, or 27 percent circuitous. To Ackerman and Durant, Miss., intermediate points on the latter route, 626 and 573 miles, respectively, from Danville, the present respective rates are $4.73 and $4.84. The proposed rate would yield per ton-mile and per car-mile earnings of 6.96 mills and 20.87 cents. We find that over routes within the limitations hereafter proposed the revenue yield from the proposed rates will be reasonably compensatory, and that relief subject to the conditions hereinafter prescribed is justified. The origin and destination groupings warrant relief without the imposition of the equidistant provision.

Applicants will be authorized to establish and maintain over existing routes, for the transportation of brick and articles taking the same rates as named in the application, as amended, in straight or mixed carloads, also related articles on which the same rates may be applied, from producing or shipping points in central territory, as named in the application, and from intermediate points, from which the proposed rates from more distant points are observed as maxima, to destinations in southern territory, as described in said application, the lowest rate that may be constructed over any line or route from such producing or shipping points to destinations in southern territory described in the application on the basis set forth in the application, as amended, and to maintain higher rates from, to, and between intermediate points; provided, (1) that the rates from such producing or shipping points to higher-rated intermediate points shall not exceed rates constructed on the same basis as the rates to the more distant lower-rated points, (2) that the rates from, to, or between the higher-rated intermediate points shall not exceed the lowest combination of rates subject to the act, (3) that the relief authorized herein shall be subject to the circuity limitations set forth in the footnote, and (4) that nothing herein is to be construed as authorizing rates

'Wabash Railway Company, Tolono, Ill., Illinois Central Railroad Company, Jackson, Tenn., thence Mobile and Ohio Rail Road Company (C. E. Ervin and T. M. Stevens, receivers).

'Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company (The New York Central Railroad Company, lessee), Cairo, Ill., thence Illinois Central.

*Relief shall not apply to circuitous lines or routes where the distance over the short line or route (1) is 150 miles or less and the longer line or route is more than 70 percent circuitous; (2) exceeds 150 miles but does not exceed 1,000 miles and the longer line or route is more than 50 percent circuitous, except that where the distance over the short line or route exceeds 150 miles and the distance over the longer line or route does not exceed 255 miles, relief will apply to such longer line or route even though it is more than 50 percent circuitous; and (3) exceeds 1,000 miles and the longer line or route is more than 33% percent circuitous, except that where the distance over the short line or route exceeds 1,000 miles and the distance over the longer line or route does not exceed 1,500 miles, relief will apply to such longer line or route even though it is more than 33% percent circuitous.

from any intermediate producing point to any higher-rated intermediate destination which exceed rates constructed on the same basis as that observed from the more distant producing points to the same destination.

In complying with the circuity limitations prescribed herein the circuity of the longer line or route may be determined by comparisons of the average distances over such routes from and to all points in the respective groups, or the distances from and to the basing points in such groups, with the corresponding distances over the short tariff route from and to the same points.

An appropriate order will be entered.

235 I. C. C.

No. 28152

TENNESSEE EASTMAN CORPORATION v. NORFOLK & WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY ET AL.

Submitted October 11, 1939. Decided November 16, 1939

Rates on cottonseed hull shavings pulp, in carloads, from Hopewell, Va., to Kingsport, Tenn., not shown to have been or to be unreasonable. Complaint dismissed.

Milton P. Bauman for complainant and intervener.

D. Lynch Younger for defendants.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION

DIVISION 3, COMMISSIONERS MAHAFFIE, ALLDREDGE, AND PATTERSON BY DIVISION 3:

Exceptions to the examiner's proposed report were filed by complainant, and the issues were orally argued.

Complainant corporation alleges by complaint filed November 29, 1938, that the rates charged on cottonseed hull shavings pulp, in carloads, from Hopewell, Va., to Kingsport, Tenn., were and are unreasonable. Complainant asks us to prescribe a reasonable rate for the future and to award it reparation. At the hearing on February 20, 1939, the American Bemberg Corporation, Port Rayon, Tenn., was permitted to intervene. It favors the complaint but seeks no affirmative relief. Rates are per 100 pounds and do not include the authorized emergency charges formerly in effect.

Hopewell, 9 miles north of Petersburg, Va., is the terminus of a branch line of the Norfolk and Western Railway Company. Kingsport is about 43 miles west of Bristol, Va.-Tenn. Cottonseed hull shavings pulp, which has a value at origin of $100 to $120 a ton and is shipped generally in bales, is used by complainant in the manufacture of rayon yarn. From Hopewell to Kingsport it is 413 miles over the route complainant's shipments moved. It is 378 miles over the short-line route, which includes the line of the Southern Railway Company, not here a defendant. Reparation is sought on 252 carloads of this pulp shipped between November 27, 1936, and October 10, 1938. Complainant bought those shipments f. o. b. origin, and paid and bore the freight charges thereon. Reparation is sought also on shipments moving pendente lite.