T. J. POTTER, Vice-Prest. B. & M. R. R. R. in Nebraska, Chicago, Il.:

DEAR SIR-Referring to your communication of September 13, 1884, inclosing a letter of Thos. Miller, General Freight Agent of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska, in reply to a complaint made by the Standard Lumber Company, of Dubuque, Iowa, as to unloading cars at Council Bluffs and reloading at that point. Mr. Miller says: We also notified the Kansas City road that in the event they took foreign cars from their connections at Council Bluffs, we would require transfer from them at Pacific Junction, and for that reason they furnished our own cars for such freight at Council Bluffs and required transfer at that point." Thus it seems the B. & M. R. R. R. in Nebraska, operating a part of its railroad in Iowa, forced a transfer of loads to its own cars. This seems to us to be in violation of the laws of Iowa. (See section 1292 of Code.) Connecting roads are required to draw over their respective roads the cars of such connecting railway, and also those of any railway or railways connected with said roads made to connect as aforesaid. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway connects with the Kansas City, St. Jo & Council Bluffs Railroad at Council Bluffs, the K. C., St. J. & C. B. connects with the B. & M. R. in Nebraska at Pacific Junction, in Iowa. The Commissioners cannot but regard this law as binding on the B. & M. R. R. R. in Nebraska, and must recommend that the practice of ordering the cars unloaded be abandoned, and that the requirements of the law above cited be obeyed.

F. W. Shearer, Secretary Northwestern Telephone Company, shipped over respondent's railway twenty telephone poles from Carroll to Ida Grove, and was charged at the rate of eight cents per hundred on 20,000 pounds estimated weight, or a full car load. This complainant regarded as an exorbitant charge, the actual weight of the shipment being only 3,400 pounds.

An investigation of this transaction by the Commissioners revealed the fact that in forwarding the shipment, the agent of the company was governed by the rules and practice of this and all other lines in the west. The Joint Western Classification provides only for car load rates, Class C, on telephone poles, and all railroad companies governed by this classification are accustomed to charge the car load rate upon shipments which require an

entire or separate car for their transportation, the rule applying on all large and bulky articles without regard to the actual weight.

Under these circumstances, and for the reasons above named, complainant was advised by the Board that no just cause of complaint on his part seemed to them to exist.

CITIZENS OF MORNING SUN, IOWA,

VS.

CENTRAL IOWA RAILWAY COMPANY,

BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN RAILWAY Co.

Filed September 9, 1884.

DECISION OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

Petition for station.

On the 29th day of November, A. D. 1884, Mr. McDill, of the Board, met the citizens of Morning Sun, inspected the grounds and heard testimony in the above case.

The station house of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway at Morning Sun is very favorably situated, and has been located for many years. The intersection or crossing of the Central Iowa Railway is about one fourth of a mile south of the above station. It is rather low ground, and so not very suitable for a station. The owner of the ground both north and south of the crossing refuses to sell or grant any portion of his land for station purposes.

The point of crossing would be nearly a mile from the business part of the town of Morning Sun. The C. I. R'y was completed to Morning Sun about January 1, 1883. The only station or room for station work is a plain boxcar. Access from town to the car is very inconvenient. The C. I. has purchased grounds at a point south of the business portion of the town of Morning Sun, and erected stock yards thereon. The citizens of Morning Sun are very desirous of having a station located on the grounds belonging to the C. I. R'y Co. at or near the stock yards. The township in which the town of Morning Sun is situated voted aid to the Central, which amounted to nearly $17,000. One of the conditions of the tax voted was that the tax was to be "levied and collected in 1882, provided the company should have the cars running from a depot within the corporate limits of the town of Morning Sun to the town of Winfield, by the first of January, A. D. 1883." In view of the above facts, under the provisions of section three (3), of chapter seventyseven (77), of the acts of the Seventeenth General Assembly, the Commissioners find that the security, convenience and accommodation of the public requires the erection by the C. I. R'y of a station house at Morning Sun, Iowa; and the Secretary under the terms of said law is required to serve

this opinion in writing, by leaving a copy thereof duly certified by him with some station agent, clerk, treasurer or director of said corporation, and make return of his doings herein upon the records of the Board.

Des Moines, Iowa, December 4, 1884.

DES MOINES IOWA, December 4, 1881.

Station Agent Central Iowa Railway Company, Marshalltown, Iowa:

DEAR SIR-With this please find a copy of the decision of the Commissioners in the matter of the complaint of Citizens of Morning Sun vs. Central Iowa Railway Company et al. In accordance with the provisions of section 3, chapter 77, laws of the Seventeenth General Assembly, it is my duty to serve the same by sending a copy to a station agent of the company. Please acknowledge receipt. I have written Superintendent Dudley, who will call on you for the copy. By order of the Board.

E. G. MORGAN, Secretary.

MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA, December 5, 1884.

E. G. MORGAN, Secretary Iowa Railroad Commissioners:

DEAR SIR-Papers relative to station at Morning Sun were received by me and delivered to Mr. Dudley, Superintendent.

Yours respectfully,

A. L. PALMER, Ticket Agent.

MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA. December 6, 1884.

E. G. MORGAN, Secretary Iowa Railroad Commissioners, Des Moines;

DEAR SIR-I have yours of December 4th. In reply will say that it is my intention as soon as it can be arranged, to build a depot at the site mentioned near the stock yards at Morning Sun. I did not desire, however, to do this, if the Commissioners were likely to insist on our having a union depot at the crossing.

Before the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of Iowa:

Now comes W. C. Shepard, President of the Boone Coal Exchange, and enters a complaint against the respondent for discrimination and overcharge; for the reason that complainants are charged twenty-five cents per ton more for transporting coal from the mines, on a switch running from the main line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, at Boone, Iowa, three and one fourth (34) miles north to a point at which the mines of said complainants are located, to points on the main line, than the dealers and shippers at Des Moines are charged for the same distance; and for further reasons would set forth the following:

First. That the said switch or branch road is operated and managed by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. That said line of road is designated as The Iowa Railway Coal and Manufacturing Company's line. That it is used for the purpose of transporting coal, ile and brick to the company's main line at Boone, Iowa; and that it is also used for other purposes, greatly to the advantage of its owners and operators, the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.

Second. That said branch is a part of its main line, and used as such.

Third. That the rates charged from the end of such switch to points on the C. & N. W. R'y Co.'s main line are not relatively the same as the rates charged from the end of the switch at Des Moines, at which point the mines of Des Moines are located, to said points on main line, and do not differ as distances differ.

Fourth. That the C. & N. W. R'y Co. make a separate charge of twenty-five cents per ton for transporting coal and other commodities over this road.

Fifth. That said C. & N. W. R'y Co. do not make a special charge or any charge whatever for transporting coal over the switch to the coal mines at Des Moines, thereby discriminating in favor of Des Moines and against the Boone mines.

Sixth. That said charge of twenty-five cents per ton is an unreasonable charge for said

serv ce.

Seventh. That circumstances and conditions, so far as relates to expense of transportation of freight from the switch at Boone and Des Moines mines, are very nearly alike, and so much so that an extra charge at one place and not at the other would be a discrimination against the other.

Eighth. That the C. & N. W. R'y Co. charge the Des Moines mines one dollar ($1.00) per ton for transporting coal to a point seventy-two miles distant, and that the said C. & N. W. R'y Co. charges the Boone mines $1.26 per ton for transporting coal to the same point, the distrance being fifty-five miles from Boone, or seventeen miles less than from Des Moines. Ninth. That said C. & N. W. R'y Co. not only discriminates against the Boone mines in favor of Des Moines mines, but that it discriminates in favor of other mines on its line of road in Iowa and against the Boone mines, and that it discriminates in favor of its own mine at Muchakinock in particular; and thereby keeps the product of the Boone mines out of the market or compels them to be sold at a loss; presumably that the C. & N. W. R'y Co. may gain a monopoly of the coal trade.

Tenth. That the coal mines in question at Boone are located on a line of road that is without heavy grades. That the coal mines at Moingona, a point six (6) miles southwest of Boone, are located at the foot of a heavy grade of about seventy-five (75) feet to the mile and six miles long, requiring the constant services of an engine to assist trains up said grade; and yet coal is transported from Moingona to points on the line of the C. & N. W. R'y Co. east of Boone for eighteen cents per ton less than from the Boone mines, notwithstanding the greater distance and the extra expense of transporting from Moingona mines.

Eleventh. That the said switch is laid with old and partially worn out iron that has been discarded from the main track.

Twelfth. That generally one trip each day answers to deliver empty cars and remove loaded ones, and that in the busiest seasons two trips are sufficient; and that this work can be and is done by a switch engine that is otherwise employed the balance of the time. Thirteenth. That the complainants can show that the circumstances and conditions are similar at the the Des Moines and Boone mines, thereby showing a discrimination.

Fourteenth. That said discrimination compels complainants to sell their products in many cases without profit, and in some instances at an actual loss.

Therefore the complainants pray that the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company may be ordered to make their freight charges the same from the Boone mines as from other competing mines for the same distances.

Pending an investigation of the above complaint by the Commissioners, the latter were notified by the petitioners that the causes of complaint had been removed by respondent, and that they desired the case dismissed, which was done.

Cox & KIRKER, DEEP RIVER, IOWA,

VS.

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY,
CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY.

Filed September 27, 1884.

Failure to com

ply with section 1292, Code of

1873.

Complainants desired to move an elevator from Brooklyn on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway to Deep River on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, but found that no connecting track or "Y" had been built at the crossing of these roads as provided by law. Having duly notified respondents of their duty in the matter, the Commissioners were informed on October 25th that said connection had been completed and was ready for the transfer of cars from either road.

WM. M. STEER, WEST BRANCH, IOWA,

VS.

BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN R'Y CO.

Filed September 30, 1884.

Overcharge.

On a consignment of three car loads of coal shipped over respondent's road from Burlington to West Branch, complainant claimed to have been overcharged in the sum of $41.10, and that payment of the claim had heen refused by the company. An inquiry into the matter by the Commissioners resulted in a refund to Mr. Steer of the full amount of his claim.