AN OLD YELLOW BARREL
Holmes, Fred L.
An Old Yellow Barrel And What it Suggested to the Wisconsin Legislature as a Means of Securing Redress From Overcharges by Railroad and Express Companies By FRED L. HOLMES THE DISCOVERY of an old...
...A Story of Mismanagement TODAY, as in the past, railroads are run unwisely by men whose chief concern it is to pay big dividends or to "cinch" monopolistic ventures...
...What Erickson Says "ALTHOUGH the number and amount of claims has increased in greater proportion during the past few years than almost any item of operating expense," says Halford Erickson, the member of the Wisconsin railroad commission who has made a specialty of rate questions, "still the increase in efficiency in handling claims, except for some roads and few shippers, has been comparatively small...
...The freight claim agent after the fashion of Sherlock Holmes and W. J. Burns, made the discovery...
...State commissions should be given power to audit any freight receipts to determine overcharges or amounts due for loss of shipment...
...The general style of the building puts it in the bungalow class...
...Wisconsin has already done this...
...Since the carriers have become fully aware of the gravity of the situation," he continued, "many have made determined efforts to straighten out the trouble, but it cannot be said that any tangible results are as yet very noticeable...
...But it was only after he had received a strenuous letter from a prominent local shipper berating the company for disregarding nearly one hundred complaints he had filed...
...Do you, in short, find it something of a problem, as an individual, to make terms with the big, absentee corporations...
...Good, you say...
...A model rural school building has been erected on the grounds of the New York state college of agriculture, at Cornell university, to serve as a suggestion in architecture for rural schools...
...L. H. Bailey, director of the college, lays great stress on this feature of the model house...
...ARE there, Mr...
...Its cheapness, however, is not its chief recommendation, nor should the cheapness of any school building be regarded as such...
...The addition of such a room to the buildings already to be found in many communities is entirely feasible, and in cases where the existing building is larger than necessary a part of it could be partitioned off for that purpose...
...For in the end these losses must be borne by the public in increased freight rates...
...The grounds surrounding the building have been planted with trees and shrubs, which, as the illustration shows, have grown up until they almost shut out the view of the veranda, which with its simple square posts, adds much to the attractiveness and usefulness of the building...
...Complaints should be made in triplicate, one copy of which to be filed with the state commission, who should approve all awards to prevent any brow-heating of the company...
...Yes, yes...
...Do you ever find it difficult to get satisfaction for goods that have been damaged or lost in transit...
...And the shipper suffers through needless annoyances and inconveniences...
...An Old Yellow Barrel And What it Suggested to the Wisconsin Legislature as a Means of Securing Redress From Overcharges by Railroad and Express Companies By FRED L. HOLMES THE DISCOVERY of an old yellow barrel, under the ticket counter at a station of one...
...These figures, like the old yellow barrel, tell a story of mismanagement...
...Christian Register...
...He told the National Convention of Railroad Commissioners, last October, that these things must be done: Every state should adopt the standard form for the presentation of claims that has been approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission...
...cried the financier...
...The commission is the people's servant...
...Or, was it a method of filing important documents—a bit of "scientific management" as practiced by the railroads...
...Do you find it difficult to get back from the railroad company money you have paid in excess of the correct, charep...
...What About Your State...
...The railroads should have traveling freight representatives who will inspect loading, billing, the storing of freight and give general directions to employees handling the same...
...It was my intention," explained the local agent, "to send the barrel to the claim office when it was full...
...A chance glance into the barrel might have led to the inference that it was a receptacle for waste paper...
...He voices a growing belief of the times when he says: "The prevailing rural schoolhouse is a building in which the pupils sit to study books...
...Better Rural School Houses A Model Building Erected by New York's Agricultural College as a Suggestion to County Boards THE movement looking forward to improved conditions for rural schools is gaining impetus every day and its effects are already noticeable in many sections of the country...
...Abolish the old yellow barrels...
...This holds true for either freight or express shipments and for any consignment, however small...
...of the freight revenues and 1.27 per cent...
...This suggested form is now pending before the various state railroad commissions...
...Any shipper who thinks he has been overcharged may file the receipt with the railroad commission and within a few days an official report will disclose the facts...
...It is vastly superior to the old-fashioned cross-roads schoolhouse, yet it costs so little more that the difference is negligible...
...Failure to report overcharges with the refund to the shipper within a reasonable time should subject the road to a penalty...
...But of even more importance is the recent action of the Interstate Commerce Commission in approving a new "form" for the presentation of claims...
...The cost of this model schoolhouse was about $2,000 complete, which is thought to be a close approximation to the cost in the average rural community...
...Where's the answer...
...Then why not put your state commission on the job for you as the shippers of Wisconsin have done...
...ONE-THIRD of the claims for loss and damage to freight result from goods that go astray—CARELESSNESS...
...It insures speedier reparation to the overcharged shipper or to the man whose goods have been lost in transit...
...Do vmi pvp.r nav n freight or express hill that you have reason to believe is not correctly figured...
...of the largest railroads in Wisconsin, suggested the need of new legislation to correct a railroad evil...
...After Many Years The self-made man stalked into the office of the great financier with whom he had an appointment...
...It will be a fortunate day for the rural schools of the land when all the old, unsightly, ill-lighted, unsanitary and poorly arranged school-houses can be replaced by buildings such has this.—The Pathfinder...
...This is 1.17 per cent...
...The other two-thirds is caused by defective weighing and incorrect application of rates—A DISREGARD OF THE PUBLIC...
...How Does It Happen...
...Let it take care of these matters for you...
...One of the principles for which the champions of this movement stand firm is that rural school buildings should be attractive architecturally, furnished with modern conveniences and surrounded by fine trees and shrubs...
...It is artistic, homelike, sanitary and comfortable—features which will add to the attraction of going to school and make school life a pleaaant memory in after years...
...of the total operating expe-ses of $1,988,485,760...
...The idea is catching on...
...It ought to be a room in which the pupils do personal, work, with both hands and mind...
...All railroads should be compelled by law to have auditing departments that will examine all freight receipts and determine whether the correct rate has been applied...
...It was THE BURIAL, GROUND OF COMPLAINTS FOR OVERCHARGES IN FREIGHT SHIPMENTS...
...You probably don't remember me," he began, "but twenty years ago when I was a poor messenger-boy you gave me a message to carry...
...How to cure these inequalities has been the subject of an investigation and study of months by Commissioner Erickson...
...And it is good...
...No commission should fail to adopt it, as a matter of public interest...
...Too little attention is paid to the public interest...
...It corrects the agent who makes a mistake, putting him on his guard against similar errors...
...many new school buildings are planned to embody these features whose adoption cannot fail to result in better school work and in the betterment of the community in which the school is located...
...Neither...
...The main part of it is about the size of the ordinary rural schoolhouse, but a wing or projection is built to it to be used as a work room...
...Out of one hundred seventy-two railroads in the United States having an income of more than $1,000,000, in the past fiscal year $25,577,082 was paid out in freight losses and damage claims...
...Prof...
...It is only within the past few years that any railroad appears to have made any real effort to meet the situation, and it is mostly done then in a more or less half-hearted manner and partly because of legislative enactments in many states inflicting penalties for non-adjustment within specified time limits...
...Shipper, in YOUR state any old yellow barrels...
...Failure to acknowledge claims should result in fines...
...They point to the need of legislation in every state that will insure CORRECT WEIGHT AND CORRECT RATES TO SHIPPERS, with a minimum of losses...
...The Meaning of It THIS incident illustrates the necessity for giving every state railroad commission the power to audit all questionable freight bills and, when warranted, to order a refund...
Vol. 5 • December 1913 • No. 52
