KINGSTON & WOLF COAL Co., Complainants, US. LOISVILLE & Nashville RailROAD Co., Defendant. M. A. BELL, MT. PISGAH, KY., Complainant, vs. CINCINNATI, NEW ORLEANS & TEXAS PACIFIC RAILWAY Co., Defendant. Subject: Extortionate freight rates on general merchandise. THE FIELD GROCERY CO., CATLettsburg, Ky., Complainants, US. THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO RAILROAD CO., Defendant. Subject: Extortionate rate on salt. CONWAY & MASON, MORGANFIELD, KY., Complainants, US. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD Co., Defendant. Subject: Inadequate stock pens. WALTER S. FORRESTER, LOUISVILLE, KY., Complainant, VS. LOUISVILLE & Eastern RailrOAD Co., Defendant. Subject: Separate car for colored passengers. L. E. STARKS AND OTHERS, HARDIN, KY., Complainants, vs. NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD CO., Defendant. Subject: Extortionate coal rates. EASTERN KENTUCKY. RAILWAY Co., RIVERTON, KY. CHAS. W. REYNOLDS, KUTTAWA, KY., Complainant, WILLIAM ADDAMS,, CYNTHIANA, KY., Complainant, VS. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., Complainant. Subject: Overcharge on grain from Cincinnati to Cynthiana, Ky. S. F. WHITLEY, WHITESVILLE, KY., Complainant, VS. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD Co., Defendant. CITIZENS OF CLEATON, KENTUCKY., Complainants, US. LOUISVILLE & Nashville RailROAD Co., Defendant. Subject: Insufficient depot. A large number of complaints have been made from various parts of the State regarding the insufficiency of passenger and freight depots. The Commission has visited and inspected the depots at the points from which complaints have been made and has also, on its own motion, inspected numerous others throughout the State and suggested additions and improvements, and in a majority of the instances the railroad companies have complied with the Commission's suggestion and many improvements have been made. A great many controversies between shippers and the railroads of the State have been amicably adjusted by correspondence from this office and by conference. While it has been found impossible for the Commission to handle verbal complaints with any degree of satisfaction, the Commission has, nevertheless, from time to time, taken up these verbal complaints with the railroads, and in many instances settlements of these controversies have been made to the satisfaction of the complaints as well as the railroads. FRANKFORT, Ky., January 21, 1905. THE ADKINS COAL Co., Complainant, VS. OPINION AND ORDER. THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO AND ASHLAND COAL & IRON RAILWAY COMPANIES, Defendants, At a meeting of the Railroad Commission held this day the following opinion was rendered and order made: The questions at issue in this investigation were raised by the Adkins Coal Company, of Mt. Sterling, Ky., a company engaged in mining and shipping coal, their mine being located upon that portion of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway system between Denton, Ky., and Ashland, Ky. It is alleged that the present rate for the transportation of coal from Kilgore and other points between Ashland and Denton to Central Kentucky points is extortionate. After receipt of this complaint notice was given in due form to the proper officials of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, and to those of the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway Company, and also to complainant. Pursuant to this notice, a meeting of the Commission was held at Mt. Sterling, Ky., on the third day of January, 1905, and after hearing the parties in part a further hearing was continued by agreement of all parties until the eleventh day of January, 1905, at Mt. Sterling, Ky., and on said latter date, the entire Commission being present, and the complainants and the said two railway company being represented by counsel, the complaint was fully heard and determined. It appears that the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway system, after entering the State of Kentucky at Ashland, in running on to Louisville, is made up in part of about twenty-two miles of railroad owned by the Ashland Coal & Iron Railroad Company, extending from Ashland to Denton. There it intersects with and forms a continuous line with the railroad of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, running from Denton to Lexington, Ky., over what is known as the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railway. At Lexington, Ky., it continues on to Louisville, Ky., over the line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, the line of the latter company being leased by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company for a certain period, for which it pay the sum of $5,000 per month and obligates itself to pay a certain proportion of the cost of keeping the road-bed in repair. By the terms of its contract with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company is not allowed to do any local business. The contract of this latter company with the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway Company is analagour to that with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, except as to the sum to be paid per month as rental, and as to the time of the life of the lease. By the terms of these two leases, each road is given a certain joint interest in the use of the property, and for the purpose of rate-making under the limitations of these leases, and in so far as the service it has a right to perform is concerned, is nothing more nor less than one continuous line and one system of railroad. Prior to October 1, 1904, the rates on coal originating at points between Ashland and Denton to points west as far as Lexington and Louisville, Ky., were shown in the tariff of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, to-wit: Authority No. 3873 of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, Freight Tariff No. 11693 (I. C. C. No. 2895), issued April 15, 1904, effective April 15, 1904, which tariff is now on file in the office of the Railroad Commission at Frankfort, Ky. On the 28th day of September, 1904, written notice was given by the president of the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway Company that on and after October 1, 1904, said company would accept for shipment all coal destined east or west from the mines between Ashland and Denton, and deliver same to its connections at either of said points, and that the rate would be thirty cents (30) per ton of 2,000 pounds to either of said points. This, of course, meant that the rate for all shipments east or west from said mines would, on and after said date, take the rate then, and now, charged by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, plus thirty cents per ton, which amounted to an increase in the rate theretofore charged of thirty cents per ton on all coal shipments. After a full hearing and argument by counsel, the Commission unanimously decided that the sum of said two rates was, and is, extortionate. It was further the opinion of the Commission that the rate so condemned was a prohibitive one, and if permitted to be enforced would deprive the mines designated of the opportunity to compete in the sale of their coal with coal transported through said points from other mines upon the lines of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company east of Ashland. It is therefore ordered, that for the transportation of all coal from mines between Ashland, Ky., and Denton, Ky., to the following named · points—all in the State of Kentucky-there shall not be charged, collected or received by said two railway companies jointly, or by either of them separately, for the transportation of such coal, rates in excess of the following, to-wit: Goodale, Leon, Aden, Grahn, Corey, Mountain Top, Highland, Olive Hill, Parks, Limestone, Berry, Tygart, Lawton Junction, Enterprise, Shay, Hayward, Soldier, and Haldeman, fifty (50) cents per ton. Gates, Rodburn, Wheatleys, Morehead, Bradys, Bronson, Bailey, Rockville, Freestone, Van Antwerp, Lacy, Farmer, eighty (80) cents) per ton. Licking, Midland, Camp, Salt Lick, Olympia, Preston, Stepstone, Ewington, Mt. Sterling, Thompson, Hedges, L. & E. Junction, Winchester, Quisenberry, Nelson, Colby, Tebbs, Pine Grove, Chilesburg, Brighton, Sharon, Netherland, Lexington and Louisville one dollar and ten cents ($1.10) per ton of 2,000 pounds. The Commission reserves the power to alter, change or modify this order, and the secretary of the Commission is directed to mail attested copy of this order to an officer, agent or employe of said Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company and said Ashland Coal & Iron Railway Company, and to the complainant, the Adkins Coal Company; and this order shall be entered in full on the record book of said Commission, and at the expiration of ten (10) days thereafter be in full force and effect. And should either or both of said railway companies, or any officer, agent, or employe of either or both thereafter charge, collect or receive a greater or higher rate, toll or compensation for the transportation of coal to and from said points than that fixed by this order, the chairman of this Commission is directed to file a copy or 、 |