"The Grand Trunk Company are acting strictly under legal advice in regard to this business. (Signed) "Yours truly, "J. HICKSON, "General Manager. “H. B. LEDYARD, Esq., "President Michigan Central Railroad, Detroit, Mich." Further correspondence took place, the whole of which need not be given. On the 21st of February, 1889, Mr. Ledyard again wrote to Mr. Hickson, as follws: "DETROIT, MICHIGAN, February, 21, 1889. "JOSEPH HICKSON, Esq., "General Manager Grand Trunk Railway, Montreal. "DEAR SIR: I have your letter of February 16, with regard to the concessions from tariff allowed by your company on shipments of hard coal and coke from Suspension Bridge and Buffalo. "About a year since, I wrote to the Interstate Commerce Commission, asking for a decision as to whether traffic originating at the American Frontier, consigned to points in Canada, was subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, and received reply from the Commission that it would so hold. "In this case the situation is simply this: Your company and this agreed upon the tariff from Buffalo and Suspension Bridge to common points in Canada. We found after a period that certain dealers at certain points where our systems come in competition, had been allowed by your company concessions, and dealers by our line at once set up the claim that they must receive a similar consideration. I do not think that the question as to whether a shipper sends a large amount or a small amount, or whether he has his own terminals, or uses those of the railroad company for unloading the freight, would in any way be construed by the Interstate Commission as entitling your company to give to largest shippers, or those who own their own terminals, lower rates than you do similar shippers not so circumstanced. At any rate, if your construction of the law is correct it should be known, as then the whole question of rates to be charged would turn upon the relative amounts of shipments, and the relative facilities for taking care of the same. "This company certainly cannot consent to the system you have established in Canada, of paying rebates on this traffic, being continued, no matter what the circumstances are, unless it shall be shown that payment of such rebates is, under the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, proper. Our counsel holds that it is not. We have the ruling of the Commission, as I have before stated, that this traffic is subject to the provisions of that Act. “It is, therefore, my purpose, with your consent to simply lay the matter before the Commission, and if necessary, make a friendly complaint against your company, in order to obtain a ruling as to whether the views of your counsel or of ours are correct. If you prefer, and it can be done, the best way might be to send a copy of your letter, with the papers I have, to the Commission, asking them to make a ruling thereon. Should they decline to do so, then the friendly complaint will probably be admitted. "While you state in your letter that the 75-cent special rate. is not concealed, yet I would call your atteution to the fact that the tariffs of your company, of which I have several, publish a rate of $1.00, and that so far as the public is concerned, that must be the governing rate. I do not believe that any carrier is authorized to carry at a rate less than that named in its tariff. (Signed) "Yours truly, “H. B. LEDYARD, This was answered by Mr. Hickson on the 6th of March as follows: "MONTREAL, March 6, 1889. "MY DEAR SIR: A pressure of engagements connected with legislation pending at Ottawa has prevented me replying earlier to your letter of the 21st ult. "I really do not see that anything would be gained by bringing the matter of the rates for coal coming into Canada, before the Interstate Commissioners. Of course if you have determined to do so it is probable that anything I may say on the subject will not change your decision. "The shippers practically arrange for the rates for coal up to the Canadian boundary, and what they pay to the United States Railway Companies we do not know, and have not thought it necessary to enquire. "If the fact that the coal is hauled across the International Bridges by the Grand Trunk Railway Company constitutes it international traffic, and subject to the cognizance of the Interstate Commissioners, I think it is quite certain that the shippers would arrange to have the work of taking the coal over the bridges done for them by the United States Companies. The Royal Commission, which recently reported upon the railway rates, etc., in Canada, recommended that it should be permissible to make a concession where large quantities of traffic were moved. "As a matter of courtesy the tariffs for this coal traffic were sent to the Interstate Commission, but we were advised that it was really not obligatory upon the Company to forward them. "Have the reductions in rates really affected the business of your Company? I am advised that they have been made at points in the traffic of which you are not interested. To common points I agree with you that the rates should be agreed and adhered to. "Would it not be the most sensible way of putting matters upon a satisfactory footing that your officers should meet ours and agree upon a tariff to common points, i. e., if there is really any difference in the rates prevailing by your line and ours for traffic in which both companies are interested? "Yours truly, (Signed) "H. B. LEDYARD, Esq., Detroit." "J. HICKSON, "General Manager. The leading fact that appears by this correspondence is that the Grand Trunk Railway carries coal from points in the United States to points in Canada at less than its pub lished tariff rates; and claims the right to do so on two grounds: first, that its Canadian line is not subject to the Act to regulate commerce, nor to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and, second, that the circumstances and conditions of the traffic are different in the cases in which the rebate is allowed by reason of the consignees in those cases having certain facilities for unloading cars, that are not possessed by smaller shippers. In addition to its Canadian lines proper, the Grand Trunk Railway Company controls and operates several important lines of railroad within the United States, which have an extensive business and yield a large revenue. By the official reports filed with the Commission, and showing the operations of these various lines to the 30th day of June, 1888, the following facts appear, the corporate names of the subordinate roads being given, and the capital stated including stock, bonds and floating indebtedness: The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Company, extending from Portland, Maine, through New Hampshire and Vermont, to the national boundary; mileage, 166.58; capital, $8,443,000; gross earnings from operation, $1,107,764.77; total freight tonnage, 836,152. The Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway Company, extending from Detroit to Grand Haven, in the State of Michigan; mileage, 189; capital, $6,995,347.92; gross earnings from operation, $1,148,316.70; total freight tonnage, 618,012. The Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Company, including two short terminal lines to enter Chicago, extending from Port Huron, Michigan, through Indiana, to Chicago, Illinois; mileage, 335.27; capital, $22,601,316.83; gross earnings, $3,487,589.08; total freight tonnage, 1,540,659. The Lewiston & Auburn Railway Company, extending from Lewiston, Maine, to Lewiston Junction; mileage, 5.41; capital, $300,000; gross earnings, $35,685.22; total freight tonnage, 53,536. The Michigan Air Line Railway Company, extending from Lennox to Jackson, Michigan; mileage, 105.59; capital, $1,808,666.67; gross earnings, $169,176; total freight tonnage, 262,791. The Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railway Company, extending from Detroit Junction to Fort Gratiot, Michigan; mileage, 59.37; capital, $2,881,141.46; gross earnings, $248,123.52; total freight tonnage, 375,904. The Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railway Company, extending from Muskegon, to Ashley, Michigan; mileage, 96; capital, $3,248,000; earnings and tonnage not reported. The totals of these statistics are as follows: Mileage, 857.22; capital, $46,277,472.88; gross earnings, $6,196,655.29; tonnage, 3,687,054. Besides these lines, which are directly controlled and operated by the Grand Trunk Railway Company, that company has traffic connections with a large number of domestic lines reaching various portions of the United States. These statistics do not embrace any of the business of the Grand Trunk Railway over the International Bridge near Niagara, nor at certain other points where traffic crosses the boundary, to wit: Rouse's Point, where it has a road into the United States about two miles in length; at Mooer's Junction, where it has a road into the United States about three miles in length, and at Fort Covington, where it has a road into the United States about one mile in length. There are no reports filed with the Commission showing the international business at these points, nor do the statistics given embrace any international business of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The Michigan Central Railroad Company, a corporation within the United States, is the lessee of a line in Canada, the Canada Southern Road, which runs from Detroit to Buffalo through Canada, and is also engaged as a competitor of the Grand Trunk Railway in the transportation of coal from the United States to points in Canada. The Michigan Central Railroad Company also publishes and files with the Commission its tariffs on coal and coke from Buffalo, Black Rock, and Suspension Bridge, in the United States, to divers points in the Dominion of Canada. |