to and beyond intermediate rate-break points, found not unreasonable or unduly prejudicial due to the application of proportionals east of Chicago rate points higher than those applicable beyond the same gateways on shipments originating in trans-Mississippi territory, which were subsequently made applicable by placing the origin in the trans-Mississippi territory. Changes in factors of the through rates would create undue preference of complainants through corresponding changes in the through rates which had been equalized by offsetting in the eastern factors the differences favoring northwestern grain in the components to Chicago rate points. Atkinson Milling Co. v. Chicago, M. St. P. & P. R. Co., 391.

Rates on ex-lake grain from Buffalo and Oswego, N. Y., to north Atlantic ports, for export, were within definition of proportional rates in sec. 6 (13) (c), and might lawfully be lower than from the port proper. Ex-Lake Grain to North

Atlantic Ports, 415 (429).

PROTECTIVE SERVICES.

Grain Doors: See GRAIN DOORS.

PUBLICATION. See also FILING; Paper RATES; PASSENGERS (SCHEDULES); REDUCTIONS (DELAY IN ESTABLISHMENT).

Rate from Springfield, Ill., was found applicable from Godfrey, Ill. Tariff provided that the rate from Godfrey should be the rate provided therein from Springfield, and there was no technical rule or rule of reason that required that in order to effect such application the provision naming the rate from Springfield should also state that that rate would apply from Godfrey or from points taking the same rates. Swift & Co. v. Akron, C. & Y. Ry. Co., 173 (178). PUBLIC CHARACTER OF SERVICE. See RAILROADS.

PUBLIC INTEREST.

In General: Insofar as the obligation of railroad officers to their particular railroad is concerned, especially since the Transportation Act, 1920, the paramount consideration is, and should be, the public interest. When officers persisted in feeling that their duty to their particular railroad required them to build two produce terminals when only one was needed, and to expend needlessly railroad funds, public interest in a healthy national transportation system demands that the future be made more secure against such practices. This, however, would require additional legislation. Competitive Produce Terminals at Denver, Colo., 699 (714).

Barge-Line Service: See INLAND WATERWAYS.

Rail Service: See RAILROADS (PUBLIC CHARACTER OF SERVICE); SERVICE (ADEQUATE TRANSPORTATION).

PULLMAN CARS. See SLeeping-Car COMPANIES.
QUANTITY.

Rates: Proposed reduced rate on blackstrap molasses, minimum weight 1,800 tons, equivalent to 381⁄2 tank-car loads, from New Orleans and Harvey, La., to Peoria and Pekin, Ill., to meet competition of cargo movements by private barge, found to be unreasonably low as measured by earnings and cost of service, and lower than necessary to meet the competition. Reasonable minimum multiplecar or quantity rate, subject to same minimum, to apply on shipments under one bill of lading from one consignor to one consignee at one time, determined. Molasses from New Orleans, La., to Peoria and Pekin, Ill., 485.

Discrimination is a question of fact, and principles of sec. 2 of Clayton Act, dealing with price discriminations, as modified by Robinson-Patman Act authorizing establishment of quantity limits for particular commodities, did not prevent establishment by rail carriers of competitive multiple-carload rates on commodity moving in cargo quantities by water, especially when the difference between existing carload rate and proposed quantity rate approximated the ratio between costs for the respective services. Id. (500-501). 235 L. C. C.

The question of a reasonable relation between a going carload rate and a quantity or multiple-car rate may arise in any case where a rate of the latter character is sought to be established. Id. (501).

Rate proposed on blackstrap molasses in 38-car lots was not a trainload rate but a quantity or multiple-car rate. Id. (501).

Proposed quantity rate of 14 cents on blackstrap molasses, minimum 1,800 tons, did not bear a just and reasonable relation to existing carload rate of 17.5 cents between the same points when cost of handling single carloads was only 10 percent greater than cost of moving 38 cars as a single unit and returning empty cars separately. However, as the record afforded no basis for determining graded rates on quantities from 1 to 38 carloads, the matter was left open until presentation of a case in which that issue should be pertinent. Id. (501, 502).

There is nothing unlawful in establishment of rates on quantitics larger than a carload, when moving as a single shipment, where they are designed to meet competition from other modes of transport whose unit of transportation is not limited to single carloads, provided a just and reasonable relation in rates between the larger and smaller quantities of the same traffic is maintained. Id. (502). QUESTION OF FACT. See CONTINUITY OF MOVEMENT; DISCRIMINATION (IN GENERAL).

QUOTATION OF FARES. See PASSENGERS (SCHEDULES).
RAIL-AND-WATER. See WATER-AND-RAIL.

RAILROADS.

Public Character of Service: The public is interested in the railroads, both as a great service agency and as an agency which contributes materially to the support of the general functions of government. The fact that plans for a proposed waterway relieve its users of supporting it, and that it would be toll-free and tax-exempt, a condition which goes back far in the relations of rail and water transportation, cannot, in the public interest, be overlooked in appraising the worthwhileness of the project. Proposed Lake Erie-Ohio River Canal, 753 (792). RATE COMPARISONS. See also REASONABLENESS (RATES, FARES, AND CHARGES).

Distance: See DISTANCE.

Level of Rates: Commodity rates have served a somewhat wider purpose, have been of considerably greater importance, and have been on relatively lower levels compared with the corresponding class rates within the South and from the South to the North than within the North and from the North to the South. The southern class-rate investigation, which was instituted when class rates within and from the South did not reflect the general level of rates, resulted in removing inconsistencies and incongruities in the existing class rates, thereby bringing about greater uniformity and harmony in those rates throughout southern territory and between southern and official territories without materially changing their then-existing average levels. Class rates in the North prescribed in the eastern class-rate investigation, however, did rather closely reflect the general rate level therein. State of Alabama v. New York Central R. Co., 255 (321). Class rates prescribed in the southern class-rate investigation are on somewhat higher levels, compared with those within the North, than could be justified by considerations of transportation conditions. No inference as to degree of difference, if any, in the general rate levels and in transportation conditions in the two territories can properly be drawn from a comparison of the class-rate levels. The Commission has not, therefore, followed the class-rate relation in other proceedings in which they have prescribed or approved rates on particular commodities from the South to the North, but has based its action in such proceedings upon the evidence before it. Id. (322).

Proof that rate level on considered commodities within the South is the same as or lower than that applying within the North, that the movement of the commodities from the South to the North is over lines the traffic density of which compares favorably with the average traffic density within the North, and that a level of rates higher than that applying within the North would very likely interfere with and prevent that freedom of movement contemplated by the act, would warrant the prescription of an equality of rates from the South to the North with the rates within the North. Id. (323).

Considering cost of service and factors specified in 15a (2) of the act, rates on certain manufactured articles and on soapstone and talc from southern-territory points to official territory, found unreasonable to the extent that they exceeded prescribed percentage rates which were upon levels higher than would result from the application of approximately the same level of rates as apply on similar traffic within official territory. Commodities would not move freely from the South to the North over all-rail routes at rates higher, distance considered, than those applicable within the North. Id. (328).

Proposed reduced rates on gypsum lath between points in southern territory, found justified. While proposed rates would be lower than interterritorial rates, carriers were willing to join their connections in other territories to establish rates to the South on the same level, and there was no opposition to establishment of such rates. Gypsum Lath in the South, 399.

Long-and-Short-Haul Rates: Grant of fourth-section relief indicates that the more-distant-point rate is not a proper measure of reasonableness of the rate to the intermediate point. Miller Waste Mills, Inc., v. Southern Ry. Co., 679 (681-682).

Motor Truck with Rail Rates: Proposed reduced rates on cranberries from certain Massachusetts points to Harlem River, N. Y., during season from October to February, inclusive, found justified to meet truck competition. Proposed rates were lower than the truck rates but the latter included store-door deliveries in New York City and pick-up of small lots at four origins within a 15-mile radius of each other, while proposed rates were limited to platform or team-track delivery at Harlem River piers, and stops were restricted to intermediate points for a fixed charge per stop. Cranberries from Massachusetts to Harlem River, N. Y., 553 (554).

Opposite Direction: See DIRECTION.

Relation of Rates: Whether the relation between rates within official territory and the rates from the South to official territory resulted in undue prejudice and preference depended upon whether the relation was justified by conditions surrounding the transportation of the commodities. That by various expedients the southern producers were able to do business in the North did not prove that they were not injured by the difference in rate levels, or that the rates were not unduly preferential and prejudicial. State of Alabama v. New York Central R. Co., 255 (328-329).

Similarity of Circumstances: See SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDI

TIONS.

Switching Charges: See SWITCHING (CHARGES).

Territories: See also CLASSIFICATION (PROPERTY (EXCEPTIONS)).

Rates on manufactured or processed articles, from the South to official territory, found unreasonable to the extent that they exceeded rates on approximately the same level as applied on similar traffic within official territory. Reasonable rates based on percentages of first-class rates, prescribed. State of Alabama v. New York Central R. Co., 255.

Since average main-line operating conditions, as affected by grades, curves, and elevations, did not differ materially in eastern and central Montana, and evidence dealt with the entire complaint area or with Montana as a whole, class rates from western trunk-line and official territories should be on one level to the entire area. Finding in 226 I. C. C. 467, prescribing separate bases, reversed. Great Falls Traffic Assn. v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 459 (461).

Rates on lumber from Cairo, Ill., to central-territory points, on basis 25 percent of first class prescribed as maximum reasonable level for official territory in 214 I. C. C. 493 and 219 I. C. C. 427, found not unreasonable. That basis was designed to apply from and to points where lumber moved, and points shipping in great volume, such as Cairo, were not entitled by that fact alone to a lower level than from points shipping in lesser quantities to the same destinations. Cairo Assn. of Commerce v. Akron, C. & Y. Ry. Co., 683 (687).

Through Rates with Components: Although reasonable factors on processed asphaltic limestone from Margerum, Ala., to Amory, Miss., and for haul of Mississippian Ry. from Amory to Fulton, Miss., could not be determined on the record, tenth-class rate for the 24-mile haul beyond Amory was clearly excessive in comparison with much lower rate under commodity scale prescribed in 172 I. C. C. 100, which applied to the 104-mile haul to that point, and resulting combination exceeded the maximum limit of reasonableness. Alabama Asphaltic Limestone Co. v. Mississippian Ry., 609.

Value of Comparisons: See also RESHIPPING.

That assailed rate is out of line with a few other rates to which it is closely related does not, of itself, afford a basis for finding that it is unreasonable. Such a showing may as well indicate that compared rates are too low as that assailed rate is too high. Blackwell Zinc Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 650 (653). Water with Rail: The comparison of railroad rates with the cost of providing transportation services by water does not involve like cost elements. The railroads have to provide and maintain their own rights-of-way and to pay taxes for the support of government functions, but no such burdens would be placed on users of the waterways under proposed plan. Proposed Lake Erie-Ohio River Canal, 753 (755).

RATE STRUCTURE.

In General: See also CLASSIFICATION (PROPERTY (EXCEPTIONS)).

Rates and rate structures, and their histories, within and between the South and the North, and the competitive conditions encountered in the sale of processed and manufactured articles in northern markets, discussed. State of Alabama v. New York Central R. Co., 255 (265–306).

The desirability of rate structures providing reasonably uniform levels of rates from adjacent producing sections of the country to common markets is not open to serious question. When the important products of one producing section are subjected to a higher level of rates to such markets than are like products of adjacent competing producing sections less distant from such markets, it generally cannot develop unless, and then only to the extent that, the differences in transportation charges can be offset by lower production costs or absorbed by a reduction in profits. Ard even though differences in transportation charges can be thus offset or absorbed, this in itself generally tends to retard growth and prosperity. In these circumstances, the relation of the rates may be of greater importance than their intrinsic level or measure. Id. (319-320).

The rate structures with which the Commission has had to deal have reflected the past and continuing efforts of the railroads to cope with competition and to preserve and promote the traffic in which they are individually interested. Proposed Lake Erie-Ohio River Canal, 753 (761).

Disruption: See REASONABLENESS (RATES, FARES, AND CHARGES (DISTUREANCE OF ADJUSTMENT)).

RATE WARS.

Proposed reduction of export rates on grain from central-territory points to north Atlantic ports, to meet water competition via Great Lakes, was not justified when it threatened to disrupt the grain-rate structure and provoke a rate war disastrous to the revenues of all rail and water carriers of export grain from the Midwest. Not only might the lake lines feel compelled to meet the reduction on their enormous traffic at heavy loss, but because of rate relation of Atlantic ports to Gulf ports, through which a far greater volume moved, any reduction to the former would spread to carriers serving the latter, as evidenced by their recent applications to the regional carrier committee, as well as to competing river barges. Export Grain, C. F. A. Territory to North Atlantic Ports, 655 (672, 673). READJUSTMENT. See RELATION OF RATES (IN GENERAL).

REASONABLENESS (RATES, FARES, AND CHARGES). See also particular rates, fares, and charges by name.

Basis of Construction: See also LEGAL RATE.

Classification-exception rates on cottonseed hull shavings pulp from Hopewell, Va., to Kingsport, Tenn., which were made percentages of first-class rates were found not unreasonable compared with lower rates which would result from basing rates upon the southern-classification exception applied in connection with lower so-called border first-class rates, level of rates within official territory to apply as minima. There was no reason for applying classification exceptions confined to southern territory to class rates which were prescribed for application between official and southern border territory. Tennessee Eastman Corp. v. Norfolk & W. Ry. Co., 185.

In fixing rates the Commission may and should consider, along with other evidence, conditions in a particular industry, with a view to promoting freedom of movement of the products of that industry. But it is not its province so to prescribe rates as to enable shippers of any section to neutralize, through differences in transportation charges, higher production costs or other economic or natural disadvantages. State of Alabama v. New York Central R. Co., 255 (321).

Changing Conditions: Although certain changes in conditions affecting operating costs of New Orleans Public Belt R. had taken place since establishment of its existing switching rates, no increase in charges was warranted when the effect of such changes was offset by the general 10-percent rate increase, by refunding of a bond issue, and by lease of the use of its Mississippi River bridge to additional line-haul carriers. New Orleans Public Belt R. Switching and Absorptions, 613.

Commission-made Rates: See also COMMODITY RATES (RELATIONSHIP TO CLASS RATES); DISTANCE (SCALES); MINIMUM RATES (IN GENERAL).

Rates on scrap iron from North Carolina and South Carolina points to East Radford, Va., which were on a lower level than rates prescribed or approved for application within the South on scrap tin plate, pipe coating, and other low-grade commodities, found not unreasonable. Traffic Bureau, Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 139 (145).

Proposed reduced rates on gypsum lath between points in southern territory found justified. While proposed rates would be lower than interterritorial rates, carriers were willing to join their connections in other territories to establish rates to the South on the same level, and there was no opposition to establishment of such rates. Suspended rates and minima compared favorably with rates and minima prescribed or approved on asphalt and other commodities. Gypsum Lath in the South, 399.