o know. If,
after a schedule of rates has been prepared, and before it is
promulgated, railroad men can suggest any improvement in it, they should
have the privilege to do so; or if, after giving it a fair trial, they
should be prepared to show that any rate is unreasonably low and
injurious to them, their complaint should be carefully investigated,
and, if found well grounded, the wrong should at once be righted.

But the same privileges should be extended to shippers. Their rights and
their welfare should be guarded as sacredly as those of the railroad
companies. They should have the same opportunity to examine a proposed
schedule before its promulgation and protest against any feature of it
which they may regard prejudicial to their interests, and their
statements should receive the same consideration as is accorded to those
of representatives of the railroad companies. So, likewise, when
shippers prove to the satisfaction of the commission that a rate has
outlived its reasonableness, their complaints should at once be
investigated, and if their cause is found to be a just one, the tariff
should be so amended as to give them relief.

The labors of a board of railroad commissioners are onerous, and their
responsibility is great. No uniform rule can be laid down for their
guidance in the fixing of rates, yet there are a few fundamental
principles which should always be adhered to. The cost of service
should invariably be an important factor of a rate. Railroads should not
be compelled to carry any commodity for less than the actual cost of
moving it, nor should rates be fixed greatly in excess of such cost of
service. The carload should be the unit of wholesale shipments. Since it
costs the railroad company as much to move ten carloads of freight which
belong to one shipper as it costs to move ten carloads belonging to ten
shippers, no advantage beyond the general carload rate should be given
to the large shipper. The difference in the rates between shipments in
less than carload lots ought to be determined solely by the difference
in the cost of carriage and handling. Where shipments are made in
carload lots, the loading and unloading is usually done by the shipper
and consignee, cars are loaded to their full capacity, and no loading or
unloading of shipments at intermediate points is necessary. It is
therefore but just that the consignor and consignee should have the
benefit of the reduced cost of such shipments. Ra