upr000329 113

8 INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION REPORTS. I ? J. T. Marchand fo r Interstate Commerce Commission. D. H. Beatty, 0. B. Northrop, G. W. Taylor, and T. H. Gatlin fo r Southern K ailw ay Company. Belleville (& Bell fo r N ational Industrial Traffic League. 0. B. Berntsen, R. B. Scott, and W. E. Wells fo r Chicago, B u r­lington & Quincy R ailroad Company. W. M. Bertolet fo r Pennsylvania R etail Coal Merchants’ Asso­ciation. C. II. Blatchford fo r Boston & Maine Railroad, Maine Central R ailroad Company, and others. A. n. Boyd, jr., and L.D. Davis fo r B altim ore & Ohio Railroad Company. C. A. Briggs fo r Bureau o f Standards. T. H. Burgess and F. H. Post fo r E rie R ailroad Company. A. P. Burg win fo r Pennsylvania lines, west, and others. O. E. Butterfield fo r N ew Y o rk Central lines. E. B. Orosley, W. L Kinter, C II. Ewing, and R. L. Russell fo r Philadelphia & Reading R ailw ay Company. H. S. Dodge fo r Western W eigh in g & Inspection Bureau. F. P. Eyrrian and G. G. Wright fo r Chicago & N orth W estern R a ilw ay Company. R. V. Fletcher fo r Illin o is Central R ailroad Company and others. W. A. Glasgow, jr., fo r Anaconda Copper M in in g Company and others. G. L. Graham fo r N ew Y o rk , N ew H aven & H a rtfo rd Railroad Company. W. T. Hughes fo r Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R ailw ay Com­pany and others. J. H. Limberger fo r T ru n k L in e Association. J. G. Lincoln, fo r Merchants’ Association o f N ew Y ork. J. W. McClure fo r Lumbermen’s Club o f Memphis and others. F. D. McKenney fo r Pennsylvania R ailroad Company and others. R. Walton Moore fo r Illin ois Central R ailroad Company and others. T. J. Norton fo r Atchison, Topeka & Santa F e R a ilw ay Company and others. W. S. Phippen fo r N ational W holesale Lumber Dealers’ Associa­tion. H. T. Porter fo r Bessemer & Lake E rie R ailroad Company. P. P. Rainer fo r Joint Rate Inspection Bureau. T. W. Reath, H. A. Tate, and G. I. Waterhouse fo r N o rfo lk & W estern R a ilw ay Company. G. K. Smith fo r N ational Lumber Manufacturers’ Association and others. 28 I. C. 0. I IN RE W EIG H ING OE FREIGHT \ BY CARRIER. 9 J. E. Stark fo r N ational H ardw ood Lumber Association. H. W. Woolf fo r Southern W eigh in g & Inspection Bureau. F. G. Wright fo r Missouri Pacific R ailw ay Company and others. James Tumock and -A F. Gruikshank fo r Streeter-Am et W eigh in g & Recording Company. Teal, Minor & Winfree fo r W est Coast Lumber Manufacturers’ Association. 0. F. Bell fo r N ational Industrial Traffic League. Pierson <& Shertz fo r Philadelphia Coal Exchange. Davis, Kellogg t& Severance and F. D. Adams fo r Duluth & Iro n Range R ailroad Company and others. R e p o r t o r t h e C o m m i s s i o n . P r o u t y , Commissioner: This investigation was undertaken in consequence o f numerous complaints received from all sections that the weights upon which freigh t charges were assessed were grossly inaccurate and that great difficulty was experienced in correcting these inaccuracies. Th e principal complaint was against carload weights, and the w eighing o f carloads by track scales has been the principal subject investigated, although some attention has been incidentally given to platform scales. The investigation has taken a very wide range. Hearings have been held in all parts o f the country, occupying 46 days, in the course o f which over 7,000 pages o f testimony have been taken and a great number o f exhibits accumulated. E veryth in g connected with the installation and the operation o f track scales has been gone into, and the various rules o f the carriers fo r the ascertainment and cor­rection o f weights have been considered. Th e results o f this investigation have abundantly justified the pro­ceeding. Th e first hearing made plain the deficiencies o f the carriers in this respect, and immediate steps were taken fo r the betterment o f w eighing conditions, which have already resulted in most marked improvement. L ook in g at conditions as they existed when the order instituting this investigation was made, on January 15, 1912, this can be affirmed w ith some confidence: Three-fourths o f all the track scales in use in the U nited States were o f defective design, or im ­properly installed. Less than one-fourth were properly inspected. N o t more than 10 per cent were accurately tested, and a m ajority were not in any proper sense tested at all. Th e methods o f w eighing were heedless and unsatisfactory in many cases. Th e stenciled tare weights upon 80 per cent o f all cars were erroneous. W h ile check­w eighing at certain points where better facilities were available and superior operating conditions prevailed tended to reveal many o f 28 I. O. O.