No. 24319 DIXIE SYRUP COMPANY v. ATLANTA, BIRMINGHAM & COAST RAILROAD COMPANY ET AL. Submitted August 26, 1932. Decided January 11, 1933 Ratings and rates on strained honey, in carloads, and less than carloads, from Waycross, Ga., La Belle, Fla., and Houma, La., to Florence, Ala., found not unreasonable. Complaint dismissed. John R. Meeks for complainant. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION DIVISION 3, COMMISSIONERS MCMANAMY, BRAINERD, AND LEE BY DIVISION 3: Exceptions were filed by complainant to the report proposed by the examiner. Complainant, W. L. Craft, an individual, trading as the Dixie Syrup Company, alleges by complaint filed February 9, 1931, that the carload and less-than-carload ratings and rates on strained honey from Waycross, Ga., La Belle, Fla., and Houma, La., to Florence, Ala., were and are unreasonable. Reasonable ratings and rates for the future and reparation are sought. The origin and destination points are in southern territory, except Houma, which is in southwestern territory. Honey is used by complainant in the manufacture of sirup. During the two years preceding the filing of the complaint it received four carloads, two from La Belle, and one each from Waycross and Houma. Less-than-carload shipments amounted to the equivalent of two carloads. Shipments were contained in barrels, and in metal cans in boxes. Freight charges were based on the applicable class rates. Strained honey, in metal cans in boxes, and in bulk in barrels, is rated third class in less than carloads and sixth class in carloads, minimum 36,000 pounds, in the southern classification, or 70 and 40 per cent of first class, respectively. By an exception to the classification the present carload basis is seventh class, or 35 per cent of first class. This basis was approved in Canned Goods in Southern Territory, 179 I. C. C. 77, and became effective April 1, 1932. The class rates from Houma are governed by western classification, which provides ratings on strained honey of third class in less than carloads and fifth class in carloads, minimum 36,000 pounds. In the southwestern revision the approved third-class and fifth-class rates are equivalent to 70 and 40 per cent, respectively, of first class. Complainant seeks ratings and rates equal to 45 and 27.5 per cent of first class. The following table is illustrative of the rates assailed and sought: Although the classifications make no distinction between various grades, complainant separates honey into two classes, i. e. packers' honey for general table use, and bakers' or blenders' honey, which is used for blending or flavoring various food products, including table sirups. It takes the position that while the present ratings and rates may be proper for packers' honey, bakers' or blenders' honey should be accorded lower ratings and rates. It states that the latter is taken from the lower part of the beehive; that it frequently contains trash and foreign substances which make it unfit for human consumption until further strained; that it is dark brown in color and has a value of about 5 cents per pound. On the other hand it points out that packers' honey is taken from the top of the hive, is clear and light in color, contains no impurities, and has a retail value as high as 45 cents per pound. However, it did not furnish the value per pound of packers' honey f. o. b. producing point, which is the price that must be considered in classification cases. Complainant suggests that a new item be placed in the classification describing the honey which it used as "blenders' honey" and restricting the application of the lower ratings and rates sought to grades having a value not in excess of 6 cents per pound. Defendants assert that there is no article known to the trade as bakers' or blenders' honey; that light as well as dark colored honey is used for blending purposes by bakers, candy manufacturers, and others; that difference in color is due entirely to the kind of flowers upon which the bees feed when they are secreting the honey; that it would be impracticable as a classification matter to distinguish between different grades of honey; and that to establish lower ratings and rates for blenders' than for packers' honey would be to make a distinction not resting upon any transportation differences but one depending ultimately on the use to which the honey was put. Defendants show that the value of honey at producing points in southern territory in large lots in barrels ranges from 5 to 10 cents per pound, and from 14.6 to 20.8 cents per pound in less-than-carload quantities. Defendants insist that for freight of this character the class rates assailed do not produce unreasonable charges, and that the present carload basis of seventh class in the South is below a maximum reasonable basis because it was voluntarily established largely to facilitate mixed-carload shipments of honey and canned goods. Third and sixth class ratings and rates apply in southern territory on cottonseed and linseed oil, in barrels, in less than carloads, and carloads, respectively. These commodities range in value from 3.88 to 4.5 cents per pound for cottonseed oil and from 7.4 to 9.3 cents per pound for linseed oil. Defendants state that in Chemicals, Acids, and Dyestuffs, 177 I. C. C. 529, we prescribed the above bases for acetic acid, stearic acid, fustic or logwood extract, and sumac extract, in barrels, and that the range of values of these commodities is approximately the same as for various grades of honey. Complainant urges that the honey which it uses bears the same relationship to high-grade honey that blackstrap molasses does to ordinary molasses. Numerous rates on blackstrap molasses from New Orleans, La., to destinations in southern territory average 17 per cent of the corresponding first-class rates, while a higher basis of rates applies on ordinary molasses between the same points. From this complainant concludes that a lower basis of rates is justified for application on blenders' honey. However, blackstrap molasses is not a low grade of ordinary molasses. It is wholly inedible and can be distinguished from other molasses by its very dark color and bitter taste. Penick & Ford v. Director General, 80 I. C. C. 152. Furthermore, blackstrap molasses is not used in the preparation of food for human consumption, whereas the honey here concerned is so used. In support of its contention that the rates assailed should not exceed the bases sought, complainant instances numerous carload rates on honey from Denver, Colo., to New York, N. Y., Boston, Mass., and other eastern ports; from Ogden, Utah, to New Orleans; from Memphis, Tenn., to Kansas City, Mo.; and from New Orleans to numerous points in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, which rates purport to average 30 per cent of the first-class rates between the same points. The ratings sought apply on sugar in the Southeast. The carload rates on sugar were approved in Southeastern Sugar Investigation, 132 I. C. C. 477, and 142 I. C. C. 459. However, ordinary sugar is a much cheaper commodity than honey. It should be observed also that in the Southwest the less-than-carload basis on sugar, molasses, and sirup is fourth class, or 55 per cent of first class, while rates based on 30 per cent of first class apply on carloads, the carload basis having been prescribed in the southwestern revision. While complainant shows numerous rates on molasses and sirup from New Orleans to destinations in southern territory which average 38 per cent of first class in less than carloads and 28 per cent in carloads, as well as carload rates on these commodities from Florence to various destinations in southern territory which are equivalent to 27.5 per cent of first class, such a showing by itself affords no grounds for concluding that the rates on honey should be on the same basis. Complainant contends that molasses and sirup have a higher value than blenders' honey, but the only evidence which it submitted in support of this contention was a statement to the effect that the sirup which it manufactures has a value of about 7 cents per pound. While the present carload rates on honey from Houma to Florence bear a somewhat higher relation to first class than the rates from Waycross and La Belle, due to the voluntary reduction approved in Canned Goods in Southern Territory, supra, which proceeding did not include Houma or other points in the southwestern territory, the record in the instant proceeding affords no ground for concluding that the present basis of 40 per cent of first class from Houma is unreasonable, or that the former basis of 40 per cent of first class from Waycross and La Belle was unreasonable. We find that the applicable carload and less-than-carload ratings and rates assailed were not and are not unreasonable. The complaint will be dismissed. LEE, Commissioner, concurring specially: On the authority of Canned Goods in Southern Territory, 179 I. C. C. 77, wherein the commission approved the seventh-class basis, or 35 per cent of first class, on a large list of canned goods articles, in carloads, including strained honey, I approve the findings herein. 190 I. C. C. No. 25057 C. B. FLEET COMPANY, INCORPORATED v. CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY ET AL. Submitted November 28, 1932. Decided January 20, 1933 Rate on sodium phosphate, in carloads, from Carteret, N. J., to Lynchburg, Milton P. Bauman and Chas. V. Hanlon for complainant. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION DIVISION 5, COMMISSIONERS PORTER, FARRELL, AND TATE BY DIVISION 5: The shortened procedure was followed herein. Defendants filed exceptions to the examiner's proposed report. Our conclusions differ somewhat from those proposed by him. Complainant alleges that the applicable fifth-class rate of 40.5 cents charged on 34 carloads of sodium phosphate shipped between July 24, 1929, and September 2, 1931, from Carteret, N. J., to Lynchburg, Va., was unreasonable, and seeks reparation to the basis of the commodity rate of 28.5 cents established from and to these points on September 3, 1931. Rates are stated in cents per 100 pounds. This commodity is in the form of colorless crystals or white powder and is used chiefly in the manufacture of baking powder and selfrising flour. It is worth from 2.9 to 3.65 cents per pound and requires no special service or precaution in transportation. The shipments, averaging about 41,000 pounds, moved north from Carteret over a branch line of the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey to Elizabethport, N. J., thence south over main lines of defendants to destination, 395 miles. The short-line distance is 390 miles. Before December 3, 1931, the effective date of the order in the eastern class-rate revision, rates from and to these points were subject to the southern classification and thereafter to the official classification. When the shipments moved sodium phosphate, in carloads, was rated fourth class in official and western classifications, and fifth class in southern, but by exceptions to the official classification sixth |