the trade so that they may take advantage of the lower rate.

RATE CLERK

Qualifications

The significance of this title in this instance is the broad type of employee who has acquired, thru experience or other technical training, a comprehensive insight into rate-making methods, existing rate structures, classification principles, classification procedure before classification committees and rate associations, and a comprehensive knowledge of the Act to Regulate Commerce.

He should be acquainted with the rulings of the Interstate Commerce Commission bearing on transportation charges and schedules. Above all, he should have the ability to see thru a tariff and not necessarily be convinced of the finality or legality of a statement or rule so long as there is a remote possibility of discrimination in its application.

Duties

His time, for the most part, should be occupied in the study of new schedules and supplements to existing publications as they are received. The object of this study is to develop such reductions in rates as are applicable on the firm's traffic, and to defer shipments, when possible, in the event of reductions in rates, so that the firm and its patronage may avail themselves of the saving in transportation costs. Concerning advances, he should determine the propriety of such advance, and see that existing contracts or

contemplated purchases are adjusted with respect to the increased transportation charges.

He should also be a court of last resort for the quotation clerk and loss and damage investigator in the matter of intricate rate problems that may confront them from time to time.

In the preparation of graphs, tariff citations, and other essential grounds of proof in rate cases, he is a potent factor in the efficiency of the department, especially in those instances where discriminatory practices or charges of the carrier are brought to public utility commissions for review.

Another valuable service that may be rendered by this employee is the preparation of a map or chart indicating in outline the several states of the Union, the location of competing houses, and the corresponding rates of freight to selected destinations thruout the country. Especially in lines where the margin of profit is small, either a readjustment of rates or a reduction in the selling price must offset any competitor's advantage.

RECORDS

The following record will prove advantageous to the quotation clerk, the loss and damage investigator, and the rate clerk. In a card index, the states are arranged alphabetically, and under each state are given the towns to which rates have been quoted, preferably those which occasioned considerable difficulty and loss of time in the construction of the rates. The opportunity for needless repetition will be considerably minimized if the factors are entered on a card and filed in the index for subsequent reference.

For example, a request for a rate to some point on the Island of Carmen in the Gulf of California would be indexed under Mexico in the alphabetical list of states and contiguous countries. In its proper alphabetical space under Mexico, and on a card set aside for the Island of Carmen, the necessary factors entering into the construction of the rates to that point would be set forth. In the first instance, it may have required a considerable amount of research in communication with transportation companies to develop the fact that the rate was made by using the overland rates to Guaymas, plus a local schooner tariff beyond, but repeated requests for rates to the same destination could be readily handled.

OVERCHARGES

The auditing of freight bills and the handling of overcharge claims, while ultimately falling in the claim division of the department, are primarily rate matters, since the determination of whether there is an overcharge or not is contingent on the rate existing at the time the shipment was made.

The rather superficial audit of transportation charges which is performed by traffic department employees of both carriers and shippers is a source of wonder to a progressive traffic man, and can be explained only by the assumption that those concerned with the work are not alive to its importance.

Whether the transaction be analyzed from a tissue copy of the original waybill, as is the case in railway circles, or from the paid freight bill, as in industrial traffic work, certain steps are necessary, and follow in regular order.