freight classification - December, 1903 - 100 Years Ago In The Railway Age - Brief Article

Railway Age, Dec, 2003

Uniform classification for the entire country is a dream still tar from really. Conventions of State railroad commissioners have memorialized for it, and the Interstate Commerce Commission has long pleaded for its adoption, but its prospects grow dimmer. In the southern States, a separate classification adapted to the needs of that section now seems necessary, and at the last convention of southern commissioners, this idea was discussed.

The committee report which was adopted altered the old recommendation to Congress to give ICC power to adopt and enforce a classification uniform throughout the U.S., by adding the words "if practicable, or to divide the U.S. into proper subdivisions and adopt a classification for each subdivision, with such exception sheets as may be necessary." Traffic managers present testified that although once favoring the idea, they concluded it to be impracticable, and the convention sentiment appeared to be that the commissions should employ an expert to frame a classification for the South and agree to put it in force.