Page Two
f M ' ' ' -
Professional And
Business Cards
A Professional or Business Car*
cost you only $2-00 per month
Send ns yours.
-«■■■» «*>
jt-ef
LAWYERS
Win. C. Honeycutt
Phone 3191
Black Mountain, N. C.
ELECTRICIANS
GEORGE W. STONE
Phone 2033
Black Mountain, N. C.
ELECTRICIANS
R. W. COOK
PHONE 3082
Black Mountain, N. C.
*^' W^PLUMBER^ WW#^
J. W. Russell
Phone 3934
Black Mountain, N. C.
r *' ,r,rrr RESTAURANTS^ W^
Ann’s Luncheonette
ACROSS FROM DEPOT
Black Mountain, N. C.
TAXI CABS
TELEPHONE 3801
VICTORY CABS
Black Mountain, N. C.
5 and 7 Passenger Cars
GREGG The Florist
Flowers for All Occasions
Garner State and Daugherty Sts-
BLACK MOUNTAIN, N. C.
MASON S SHOES
r|, . .
I E. W. STEPHENS
Phone 3571
Box No. 666
,
Refrigeration Service
T. J. MARETT
, . Phone 3091
. Black Mountain, N. C.
FRIENDLY CAFE
Under New Management
• Harry Davis —:— Jim Early
SWANNANOA, N. C.
DRY CLEANERS
JARRETT & WARLICK
SWANNANOA, N. C.
Cash and Carry
24 HOUR SERVICE
CAFE
SMITH - PYATTE
We specialize in Chicken and
Steak Dinners.
Everybody Welcome!
SWANNANOA, N. C.
■ 1
* 9
| new \
S is the time to charter §
I a plane to carry you i
1 awiftly and safely to |
1 your favorite vaca 1
tion resort. Special I
Introductory rates. |
1 Call today. |
% NICHOL’S FLYING |
l SERVICE *
| I • i
Send in YOUR NEWS
READ THE AD$
Along With the Newt t
Memorandum On Widely
Publicized Allegations
Railroads Overcharged
Politics being what they are—
and probably always will be —
business can never hope to enjoy
freedom from malicious and reck
less criticism. The demagogue
will always strive to keep him
self before the public in the role
of the defender of the people’s
welfare even if the role is
created out of pure fiction.
The fact that the railroads re
ceived so much acclaim for the
way they performed their war
job only served to lend sensation
alism to charges that, in perform
ing this patriotic service, they
gouged millions of dollars out of
the Government and taxpayers
through excessive rates on war
traffic.
Relatively few people, of course,
understand how railway rates are
made —how they have been de
veloped over the years to serve
the peacetime needs of the na
tion’s commerce. They do not re
alize that there are thousands up
on thousands of rates for different
articles and commodities moving
between thousands and thousands
of different places. They do not
know that every rate must take
into consideration a variety of fac
tors such as distance, weight,
bulk, value, risk, character of
equipment and service required,
volume, etc.
Then comes an abrupt shift
from peacetime commerce to war
time traffic. Cornfields become
ammunitibn plants. New indus
tries rise in all parts of the coun
try. Articles and commodities
formerly unheard of begin to flow
from production lines, moving to
new destinations and under new
conditions.
The war, of course, would not
wait for a revamping of the
whole rate structure to meet these
new and constantly changing sit
uations and conditions. Never
theless, rate adjustments on war
traffic were made as rapidly as
possible, and until so made, this
traffic moved on established com
mercial rates.
As a result of rate concessions
agreed to by the railroads on war
traffic, the Government and the
taxnayers have been saved many
millions of dollars. “These read
justments have materially reduc
ed the over-all cost of the conduct
of the war.” according to Briga
dier General Williamson in his
testimony before the Sub-com
mittee of the Committee on Ap.
propriations of the House of Rep
resentatives in June, 1945. In ad
dition to that saving, t>>“re was a
further saving to the Government
and taxpayers of
three-quarters of a billion dollars
as a result of the so-called land
grant rates on which a substantial
volume of Government traffic was
moved.
[ And finally—although it is not
suggested as condoning any ex
cessive charges—it should be re
membered that the excess profits
would, forth most part, be re
covered hv the public treasury.
In the light of these facts the
attempt to tarnish the railways’
war record can be recognized for
exactly what it is.
On February Ist last, in a
statement in the Senate, Senator
Wheeler summarized a report
which had been submitted to the
Senate Committee on Interstate
■ Commerce by the Director of the
| Budget Bureau. It alleged that the
| Government had been charged ex-
I rates on some classes of
§ freight. That, as stated, was on
| Febn'a rv Ist. and despite the
| fact that certain politicians col
| umnists and radio commentators
= seized upon this opportunity to
! denounce the railroads the reply
! to those allegations, submitted by
j the War Department to the Bud
j get Bureau, has never been made
| public either by the Budget
j Bureau or Senator Wheeler. On
j May 3rd last, in answer to criti
| cism as to why his committee
! had not made public the War De
! partment’s reply, Chairman Whe-
I eler said it had not been trans
) mitted to his committee,
j R. V. Fletcher, vice-president of
| the Association of American Rail
. roads, in his testimony before the
| Senate Interstate Commerce Com
j mittee on May 2nd, said that the
' report which the Bureau of the
! Budget sent to Chairman Wheeler
I “did no more than to express the
1 opinion of certain gentlemen that
some of the rates were high.
“The railroads reduced the rates
on Government traffic in many
thousands of instances”, Mr. Flet-
I cher continued. “If i nany case
the traffic rates were too high,
there is a remedy before the In-
terstate Commerce Commission,
which exists not only for the pur
pose of regulating rates but also
of awarding reparation in instan
ces where improper rates may
have been collected.”
One section of the Budget
Bureau report reads as follows:
“Although in many instances the
carriers have incorporated in their
published tariffs the rates and
charges accorded the War Depart
ment, the majority of such rates
has been accorded through the
medium of Section 22 quotations,
a very large number of which pro
vides that the rates so authorized
will not be subject to land-grants.
This method had the effect of
circumventing land-grant provi
sions.”
Following are the facts:
Congested port facilities during
the war required the establish
ment of numerous storage points.
The commercial tariff rates in ef
fect seldom contained transit ar
rangements to cover these situa
tions because normally the port
facilities were adequate.
A great number of voluntary
rate concessions ,in the form of
the Government by the railroads
Section 22 (Interstate Commerce
Act) quotations, was granted to
to replace commerical tariff rates
which include or stop
ping-in-transit privileges. As a re
sult the Government was not
charged the combination of local
rates called for by existing com
mercial rates.
It is true that a large number
of such Section 22 quotations
specified that land-grant provi
sions would not apply. This was
done due to the fact that such
transit arrangements involved
greater expense to the railroads
in the form of additional terminal
operations and accounting costs.
Land-grant reductions apply
only to commercial rates and are
not required or intended to be ap
nlied to Section 22 quotations. Sec
tion 22 of the Interstate Com
merce Act, which provides “that
nothing in this Act shall prevent
the carriage, storage, or handling
of property, free or at reduced
rates for the United States, State,
or municipal governments,” con
tains no clause requiring that
land-grant provisions shall also
apply to Section 22 ouotations.
Therefore, the allegation that
land-grant provisions were. “cir
cumvented” is not based on fact
because the rail rate Section 22
quotations, the lower charges
would apply, and, th Wear De
partment was always privileged
to, and consistently did, take ad
vantage of the lowest rate.
The Budget Burean report
stated further: “The total ton
nage of War Department material
and supplies has averaged about
a hundred million tons annually.
Approximately 90 per cent of that
tonnage moved by rail.” It says
“The greater part of the total
tonnage of the War Department
has been transported under rates,
ratings and charges applicable on
Commercial traffic. A majority
of such rates, ratings and charges
has not been and are not, exces
sive.” The report acknowledges
that “the Traffic Control Division
has negotiated with the carriers
for revisions in rates, ratings and
charges on many important com
modities moving in greater or
less volume,” but complains that
“the rates, ratings and charges
on a great many commodities have
not been studied.”
Major General Charles P. Gross,
former Chief of Transportation
of the United States Army, re
cently pointed out to the Senate
Committee on Interstate Com
merce that “in time of war, the
Army creates hundreds of thou
sands of items that are not com
merical in character. In this war,
the Army Service Forces had
more than half a million items of
equipment to supply the forces
engaged in war. Many of those
items would take the unclassified
rate. It was necessary to classify
those rates as rapidly as possible,
and thus cut the cost of the Fed
eral pocketbook, and that was
done for all the services. The
rates were published to the near
est comparable rates as fast as
Congratulations To Black Mountain News
On Your First Birthday
BLACK MOUNTAIN DRUG COMPANY
The Rexall Store
BLACK MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Ik
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS
our forces permitted, but with the
greatest energy that we eopld
exercise.”
In the classification of the hun
dreds of thousands of items that
were not commercial in character,
the railroads in all cases assigned
rates that were reasonable and not
excessive. Such rates conformed
with the rate-making laws of the
Interstate Commerce Act.
There were many cases where
items were of necessity hurriedly
classified and rates decided upon
without exhaustive study and re
search being made. This was due
to the limited time and personnel
available and in order to avoid
Memorandum on Widely
delay in transporting the supplies.
The objective at all times was to
ship the supplies first and adjust
the rate through negotiation with
the Government at a later date
if it was out of line.
In its rate negotiations with
the railroads, the Government
naturally requested many rates at
levels lower than the railroads
deemed reasonable. However, a
.rate was usually agrfeed upon
that was satisfactory to both
parties. The Government always
could —and did on occasion— ap
pear to the Interstate Commerce
Commission if it was unable to get
a rate from the railroads which it
regarded as reasonable.
As the shipping volume of cer
tain products increased, rate re
visions were made in countless
numbers of cases. These revisions
were due to changing conditions
which warranted lowering the
rates and not to the fact that the
original rate was ever excessive.
The Budget Bureau report ex
pressed the opinion that “virtu
ally all rates and charges on tran
sited traffic have been and are
unreasonable to the extent of the
addition of the Ex Parte 148 in
creases.”
The Interstate Commerce Com
mission order suspending the Ex
Parte 148 increases contained a
clause providing that these in
creases could be continued on
rates the railroads had made
which were lower than those in
effect on March 17, 1942—the day
before the increases became effec
tive.
The railroads, at the request of
the Government, did remove the
Ex Parte increase from many of
the Section 22 quotations.
“Viewing the over-all picture,”
the Budget Bureau report ack
nowledges, “the revision in rates,
ratings and charges and in vari
ous rules and regulations, and the
granting of transit arrangements,
which have resulted from negotia
tions with the carriers by the
Traffic Control Division, have re
sulted in very great savings to
the War Department.”
Brigardier General W. J. Wil
liamson, Chief, War Department
Traffic Control Division, in his
testimony before the House Sub.
committee of the Committee on
Appropriations in June, 1945,
said, “the majority of the read
justments in rates has been grant
ed voluntarily bv the carriers,
railroads and motor carriers, as a
result of representations made by
the Traffic Control Division, and
in most instances reflect as low
as, or lower than would be pre
scribed by the Interstate Com
merce Commission on the same
commodities.
“These readjustments,” Gener
al Williamson said, “ have mater
ially reduced the over-all cost of
the conduct of the war and consti
tute tangible evidence of the sin
cere cooperation of the railroads,
and other carriers, in the prose
cution of the war.
“In the development of peace
time commerce in the United
.States,” General Williamson de
clared. “the railroads, with the ap
proval of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, have established the
accessorial service generally
known as a transit arrangement,
in order to either equalize two
shippers located at different
points or to facilitate the distri
bution of goods and retain the
traffic to the railroads
"Transit arrangements,” Gen
eral Williamson continued, “are
predicated upon the legal fiction
that two separate local movements
into and out of the transit point
are assumed to be one continuous
through movement. The through
rate from the original point of
shipment to the final destination
is charged. plus a small arbitrary
for the additional terminal ser
vice and accounting, instead of
the combination of local rates to
and from the transit point.
“This application of the through
rate instead of two local rates to
a shipment which is placed in
storage at a point between origin
and final destination,” General
Williamson said, “results in sav
ings in transportation charges
ranging from one-half cent to
more than 50 cents per 100 lbs.
“The application of transit ar
rangements to War Department
traffic resulted in several econo
mics,” General Williamson stated.
“First, it regulated the flow of
traffic to domestic installations in
the United States as well as to
the ports; second, it released
freight cars to provide additional
transportation facilities; and
third, it effected great savings
in the over-all transportation bill.
“A conservative and informed
estimate of the economy resulting
from the use of transit arrange
ments by the War Department,’
General Williamson said, “places
the saving at a minimum of $50,-
000,000 per year.”
Sales Holiday
Declarsd On
Leaf Markets
o
Raleigh, Aug.—A fiveday sales
holiday for flue-turfed tobacco
markets, beginning Thurs day,
morning and ending on the morn
ing of September 5, was announc
ed today by Fred S. Royster of
a flue-cured tobafcco marketing
Henderson following a meeting of
committee here.
The 15-man committee, com
posed of five growers, five buyers,
and five warehousemen, determin
ed on this action because of con
gestion now existing in many of
the redrying plants of many buy
ing companies, Royster said.
Because of the holiday, Royster
said, the opening, date for the
middle belt markets will he de
ferred until September 16. The
opening date of the old belt mar
kets will be deferred until Sep
tember 23, Royster said.
The committee, according to
Royster, recommends that tobac
co growers not grade or place
their tobacco on the markets any
faster than the processing plants
can handle their offerings.
The group also warned the
growers not to place their tobac
co on warehouse floors too far in
advance of sales for fear of dam
age.
Royster said that the action of
the committee “is certain to he
for the best interest” of the farm
ers, buyers, and warehousemen,
and he urged that all concerned
give their full cooperation.
Our Red Cross
No matter where . . no matter
when, your Red Cross mothers all.
Around the globe her heart and
hand reaches understandingly,
tenderly and helpfully to those in
need. During the war the list of
services extended to the men in
the armed forces and their famil
ies was almost endless. Today
with the greatest struggle in his
tory over she continues to work
on with even greater intensity. To
those boys still overseas your
Red Cross offers recreation and a
touch of home. To the hospitalized
she offers comfort and war-heart
ed sympathy. And to the victims
of devastated lands she gives food,
clothes and consolation. Mother to
millions is your Red Cross.
YOUR “SHIP WILL
COME IN” Sooner
By tin Aid of Newtpapef
ADVERTISING. A
Laundry Water
Too much soap in the washing
machine not only is wasteful but
does not do as good a job as the
right amount. It is wasteful to use
soap as a water softener. Water
softeners should be thoroughly dis
solved before the soap is added.
It will reduce the amount of soap
required, if you give it a chance to
do its job before you add the soap.
Give it three to five minutes. Always
measure the quantities to be used
after determining by experimenta
tion the right amount necessary for
the water you use. A two-inch suds
on the washwater is the most de
sirable. Find out how much soap it
takes for that suds—-then meas
ure the amount in the future.
Say You Saw It In The News
Patronize our advertisers.
I
BLACK MOUNTAIN TRANSFER
Moving, Building Stone, Sand, Road Material
CINDERS j
We have contracted to handle all the wood on the I
| Gustavino Estate —We can furnish all kinds of
I wood on short notice.
I Order Your Wood NOW For Winter’s Use
| Black Mountain Transfer
| R. C. Atkins, Prop.
A BLACK MOUNTAIN. N. C. Phone 4831 j
I WOOD! WOOD! WOOD!!
I
" HEATER BLOCKS —FIREPLACES
KINDLING
j C. S. BETTS ;
I Phone 2681 Black Mountain, N. C. \
■ g
OLD RECORDS IN STOCK
Rum And Coca Cola Wilmoth Houdini
Goodnight, Wherever You Are Mary Marti"
King Porter Benny Goodman
Evelina Freddy Martin
The Cab Song Hildegarde
I’m In The Mood For Love Hildegarde
Limehouse Blues j| 0 t flub Os Franc*
Melody Os Love Wayne King
Tico Tico Ethel Smith
Some Sunday Morning „ Dick Haym* s
Ac.cen.tchu-ate The Positive Bing Croat?
ißeer Barrel Polka Lawrence "elk
A Shanty In Old Shanty Town Johnny Long
The Iggidy Song Dinning Sister*
Airmail Special Lionel Hampt<> n
Petootie Pie £i| a Fitztt* ral<i
I’m Beginning To See The Light Ink Spots and Ella FitzgeraW
Jelly, Jelly josh " ,r hit«
Drifting Memphis Jin""-
To Each His Own Ink Spot*
Artist Supplies—School Supplies
Sheet Music For Any Occasion_Radio Tubes and Batieri*
THE
HOME
STORE
Phone 2751
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Thursday, August 29, 19 46
Pastors’ Wives
Annual Meet At
Montreat—Mrs. D. \
was named president of t h
isters’ Wives forum at th? M ' n '
ing held in connection vith**'
Bible conference last week Y 6
brought summer activities J'Y
assembly to a close.
Other officers elected were Mr
John W. McQueen, vice-p*, "*'
“d *• Hopki,., S
tary and treasurer. Wives 0 f Z
ministers were in attendant* 5
The program opened last Mn
day with a get acquainted meet?' 1
and continued through p ri(J
with various topics of interest f’
the group being discussed ?
speakers and in discussion period/