Proceedings of the Annual Convention Volume 22 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ... reached through the neglect of the carrier to make proper investigation as well as through the intentional payment of claims known to be worthless. As the avenues for discrimination are closed or obstructed in other directions, it may reasonably be expected that shippers and carriers that seek to evade the spirit of the law will endeavor to make use of a channel which may seem as yet unobstructed. The payments for loss and damage to freight during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, amounted to about $25,000,000--about per cent of the total freight revenue. It may be assumed that some portion of this heavy tax is not a proper charge upon the transportation of the country. This belief is not based merely upon rumor or conjecture. Information has come to the Interstate Commerce Commission, through its examining agents, of many instances of claims paid with only perfunctory investigation, or apparently none at all. Numerous claims for shortage are paid without evidence that the freight claimed to be lost was delivered to the carrier for shipment. Notations on freight bills indicating loss or damage are accepted by the carriers as authentic, without verification. Tariffs covering so-called transit privileges are frequently overridden. In short, it may be stated that all of the evils generally attributed to the claim situation have been found to exist. Enough has been said to indicate the necessity of improvement, perhaps we are justified in saying reform, in the processes by which adjustments are made through the medium of shippers' claims. It is evident that the problem is complex. An investigation of the causes of the present unsatisfactory conditions suggests general treatment rather than specific. Certain elements, for example the inefficiency of carrier...