and also what the rates to Boston by different routes would be if computed on the rate per mile charged by the Pennsylvania short line, are as follows:

From Chicago (distance via Pennsylvania Railroad, 920 miles to New York; 1,252 to Boston):

From Cincinnati (distance via Pennsylvania Railroad, 765 miles to New York; 1,097 to Boston):

From East St. Louis (distance via Pennsylvania Railroad, 1,071 miles to New York; 1,403 to Boston):

From Louisville (distance via Pennsylvania Railroad to New York, 875 miles; 1,038 to Boston):

The total receipts of grain and flour expressed in bushels received at the five Atlantic cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and Montreal during the year 1886 were 249,062,939 bushels; the amount exported, 150,383,499 bushels; and the percentages of the amounts so received and exported, were as follows:

New York received 52.5; exported 47.4.

The amount of grain only received at the same cities during the same time was 187,263,713 bushels; the amount exported, 110,795,038 bushels; and the percentages of the respective amounts re ceived and exported by the several cities, were as follows:

New York received 55.7; exported 49.8.

These percentages have not been uniform in different years, but have fluctuated somewhat during the last ten years, and have decreased more at Philadelphia than elsewhere. The number of steamers sailing monthly from New York and plying between that city and various foreign ports is 115, with a total carrying capacity of 263,200 tons, aggregating for a year 1380 steamers and 3,178,400 tons capacity, to which it is claimed may safely be added 10 per cent of tonnage for coast lines, tramp vessels, etc. The number of steamers sailing from Boston to foreign ports for the year ending September 30, 1887, was 235, and to provincial ports 357; total, 792. The tonnage was not shown.

The rates from Chicago to New York on wheat and corn by lake and canal from May 2 to October 22, 1887, averaged on wheat about 9 cents per bushel, including elevation, and on corn a little less. The rates by lake and rail were nearly uniform, at 12 cents per bushel on wheat and 11 on corn, while at the same time the rates by all-rail on wheat were 15 cents a bushel, and 14 cents

on corn.

There are fourteen lines or routes of transportation from southern and western points through Chicago to New York, including one water line by way of the Lakes, Erie canal, and Hudson river. An equal number of lines or routes reach Boston, all of them rail routes east of Buffalo.

The foreign commerce of the port of New York for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, was $802,535,015, and the foreign commerce of all the other ports of the United States for the same time was $1,426,018,032.

The value of the domestic exports from the city of New York for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, was $346,412,339.

The value of the domestic exports from the city of Boston for the same time was $53,429,513.

The value of the domestic exports from all the ports of the United States, except New York, for the same time were $371,476,307.

The tonnage of the Erie canal, arriving at tide water, for the 1886, was as follows:

year

And the estimated value of the property transported on the Erie canal for the same year was $163,726,849.

The through rate from Chicago to Boston is a little less than 6 mills per ton per mile, and all other rates to the points north and west of Boston on the main line by which they reach Boston are the same as Boston rates.

OPINION AND CONCLUSIONS.

SOLELY

TO EAST-BOUND

The facts recited sufficiently indicate the differences in rates between New York and Boston of which complaint is COMPLAINT REmade and the reasons for the differences that have LATES weight with the railroad carriers. Other facts also ap- RATES TO BOSpeared in evidence to which passing reference may be made. The complaint relates solely to the east-bound rates from Chicago and some other western points to Boston proper.

TON.

The export business through Boston and for shipments to points east of Portland and for all west-bound business the Boston rates are on an equality with New York rates, and no ground of complaint exists that Boston is discriminated against in respect to those rates. The general fact is thus apparent that for the business in which Boston is a competitor with New York, both export and west-bound, the rail rates for both cities are equal, and in that respect neither city has any advantage over the other. Except in the particulars mentioned Boston is upon a substantial equality of rates with all the cities that are its competitors on the Atlantic seaboard.

Complaint is not made that the Boston export rates and the coastwise rates to points east of Portland are unlawful under the fourth section of the act, and they are conceded on the part of the petitioners to be necessary to enable Boston to participate in the foreign and coastwise trade; but the fact of such lower rates and the lower west-bound rates is pressed as a strong argument that the east-bound Boston local rates are unjust, and should be reduced to the export rates.

EXPORT RATES
NOT BEFORE THE

The export and coastwise rates through Boston not being assailed in this proceeding, the question of their lawfulness is not now before the commission. The complainants LAWFULNESS OF in their brief disclaim any desire to disturb the export COMMISSION. rates in these words: "The petitioner wishes, however, it distinctly understood that while it appeals to the facts connected with the Boston export trade as proving that the Boston local arbitrary is unreasonable, it does not wish in any way, directly or indirectly, injuriously to affect the foreign commerce of the port of Boston, and it therefore does not ask an order enjoining the continuance of such export rate or of the export rebate system; its only desire in this regard is that the local rate shall at all events be made as low as the export rate, as it is in all other Atlantic sea-board cities save Portland."

After such an explicit withdrawal of any question affecting the lawfulness of the export rates and rebates the commission is not required to pass upon them in this case. It is obvious that an adjudication upon those rates requires additional parties to the record and an opportunity to be heard on the part of the various business

interests likely to be affected by any determination reached. Although incidental reference is made to those rates, no decision is rendered upon them, and no opinion relating to them is intended to be expressed.

The sole question for determination is whether the east-bound rates to Boston, which are ten cents per hundredweight QUESTION TO BE higher on the first and second classes of merchandise, and 5 cents per hundredweight higher on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth classes, on shipments originating west of Buffalo, are unjust and unreasonable, and therefore unjustly discriminate against Boston.

FOUNDATION

NECESSARY FOR
PLAINTIFF'S
CLAIM.

The claim of the petitioners is that the Boston local rates shall be made as low as the export rates; in other words, that they shall be on equality with the New York rates. A claim of this character, if made as matter of right and not of favor, should be founded upon a corresponding equality or substantial similarity of circumstances and conditions that control the making of rates by carriers, and to some extent their effect upon the business of localities.

THE CONDITION

OF

CARRIER HAS A

RIGHT

GARD.

If differences in the conditions of the traffic to two or more points exist which materially affect the cost or the value of the service, it would scarcely be reasonable to require a DIFFERENCES IN Carrier to disregard those differences and make good TRAFFIC to every community disadvantages of situation or TRE other disadvantages. As has been well said, "Differ ent localities are more or less favored, in regard to transportation facilities, either by nature or the enterprise of man. It cannot be maintained that it is the duty of the common carrier · to equalize these existing inequalities at his own expense. All that is required of him is not to create them himself arbitrarily. He must treat all alike that are situated alike, but he cannot be bound to wipe out existing differences. He may be obliged to carry freight at a lower rate to some localities than to others, but this in itself does not constitute an injustice or injury to the shipper in a less favored locality so long as the charges are reasonable in themselves and alike to all in the same situation." With the qualification indicated in the case of The Board of Trade Union of Farmington, etc., against the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul R. Co. (1 Interstate Com. Rep. 215), that rates should be relatively reasonable when the same carrier transports over different branches of its road to a common market, these principles may be accepted as correctly stated.

EQUALITY OF
RATES

The contention of the petitioners for equality of rates with New CONTENTION FOR York is not supported by equality of distance, of cost WITH of service, or by other considerations, such as volume. of business, competition of rail and water ways, ocean service, terminal facilities, and storage capacity-all elements of

NEW YORK NOT
SUPPORTED.

more or less importance in the determination of rates, and some of them of controlling influence.

TOTAL CHARGE
FOR TRANSPOR-
TATION ALL THAT

CONCERNS SHIN

OF

DIVISION THROUGH

RATE NOT MATE

The argument of the petitioners is based almost entirely upon the distances hauled and the assumed parity of cost of service, and elaborate calculations founded on distances by various lines have been produced showing the through rates to different seaboard cities from initial western points, the divisions of through rates among connecting carriers, the lighterage expenses a: New York, and other incident- RIAL. al matters. It appears from these statistics that the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern road and the New York Central to Albany receive each a slightly higher amount of the through Boston local rate than of the through rate to New York; but as the contention is with the through rate to Boston as a unit, the divisions of that rate and the proportions received by the respective carriers forming the line are unimportant for the purposes of this case. The lighterage charges at New York are also irrelevant to the question to be determined. They are part of the rate paid by the shipper to that city, and, when necessary upon a portion of the merchandise handled there, are borne by the carriers as an element of transportation expenses. They are not separable from the aggregate rate for the purpose of any question involved in this decision. The total charge for transportation is all that concerns the shipper, and not the percentages allotted by agreement to one or more of the connecting carriers in a through line. Carriers voluntarily enter into agreements for through shipments over connecting roads, and the division of the through rate is part of their mutual agreement which the parties to the arrangement adjust for themselves and the adjustment of which does not affect the shipper. Such adjustments may not be on the exact basis of cost of service in any case, and many other considerations may influence the parties in making them. The fact may be, therefore, that the Lake Shore road and the New York Central road may each receive more in amount of the through rate to Boston from Chicago than to New York for the respective hauls to Albany, although the service to that point is identical, but the through rates are charged for the entire haul to the final destination and are not governed by the service to some intermediate point in the line or where the line diverges to different destinations.

SER

The element of cost of service which may at one period have been recognized as controlling in fixing rates has long ceased to be regarded as the sole or the most important factor for COST OF that purpose. The value of the service with respect to VICE NOT the articles carried, the volume of business, and the FIXING RATES. conditions and force of competition are justly considered to have controlling weight in determining the charges for transportation.

THE ONLY FACTOR IN