The presently applicable any-quantity motor rates and the less-than carload rail rates are third class. The fifth-class rates, if they were applicable, would be 26 cents, minimum 24,000 pounds, to all four points. The carload rail rates are class 272, an exception to fifth class, and equivalent to sixth class.

These any-quantity motor rates are said to be so high as to make it impossible for the carriers to participate in the traffic. Loads up to 12,000 pounds per tractor-trailer unit of the size commonly in use in the Middle Atlantic territory are readily handled, and some units are capable of taking larger loads. The route followed is that over the New Castle-Pennsville ferry. While the proposed rate of 23 cents, minimum 24,000 pounds, to Salem, and by implication to the other three points named, is 3 cents higher than the corresponding rail rate, it is believed that it will enable the motor carriers to enjoy a share of this traffic. One of the shippers concerned has a heavy southward movement of empty bottles and asserts that it will use its own equipment to bring back its supply of fiberboard boxes unless the rate is reduced to a more favorable basis.

No reason appears for not applying the third-class less-than-truckload rate of 45 cents between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and it is approved accordingly; and we see no reason for disturbing the thirdclass rates of 51 cents from Baltimore to three of the New Jersey points. The reason for a 1-cent higher rate to Bridgeton, which is in the same territory, does not appear. The establishment of truckload commodity rates, on the other hand, appears to be justifiable in each instance. However, the propriety of the desired rates of 28 cents from and to Philadelphia and 23 cents to the New Jersey points depends on their earnings per truck-mile, minimum 12,000 pounds, for average hauls of approximately 103 and 94.5 miles, which would be 32.6 and 29.2 cents, respectively. These yields are subnormal for the lengths of haul.

The first-named petitioner asks that the prescribed rates also be made applicable on fiberboard, pulpboard, and strawboard boxes, without wooden frames, other than corrugated, knocked down flat or folded flat, in packages or bundles. These commodities load heavier than the corrugated goods. In our seventh supplemental report herein, 10 M. C. C. 299, we approved a rate of 20 cents, minimum 20,000 pounds, on the latter commodities from Baltimore and Ilchester, Md., to Philadelphia. We see no reason why it should not be approved for application in the opposite direction, and we now so find.

Rates of 30 cents on the corrugated commodity, minimum 12,000 pounds, between Philadelphia and Baltimore and from Baltimore

to the four New Jersey points would yield earnings of approximately 35.0 and 38.1 cents per truck-mile, respectively, and would be reasonably compensatory. Alternative rates of 21 cents, minimum 20,000 pounds per truck or trailer, for the same hauls, would yield earnings of 40.8 and 44.4 cents per truck-mile and also would be reasonably compensatory. Accordingly, these rates are approved for publication.

An order will be entered modifying our previous orders herein to permit the filing on short notice of rates on the foregoing commodities that shall not be less than those approved hereinabove.

23 M. C. C.

No. MC-22268 (SUB-No. 2)

PHILADELPHIA-DETROIT LINES, INC., EXTENSION OF OPERATIONS-DETROIT

Submitted April 12, 1940. Decided May 14, 1940

Public convenience and necessity found to require operation by applicant as a common carrier by motor vehicle, in truck-away service, of new automobiles, from Detroit, Mich., and points within 5 miles thereof, to Augusta, Ga., and points in Florida, over irregular routes. Issuance of a certificate approved upon compliance by applicant with certain conditions, and application in all other respects denied.

Leo P. Kitchen and Dan R. Schwartz for applicant.

W. J. Sears, Jr., Walter C. Shea, Richard L. Barnes, Norris McElya, W. T. Weaks, H. P. Toxey, Alexander Gawlis, Wm. L. Taylor, Arthur R. Eldred, Chas. B. Skimerton, D. B. Green, and C. D. Meitin for protestants.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION

DIVISION 5, COMMISSIONERS LEE, ROGERS, AND ALLDREDGE BY DIVISION 5:

Exceptions were filed by protestants to the order recommended by the examiner. Our conclusions differ slightly from those recommended.

By application filed September 15, 1939, Philadelphia-Detroit Lines, Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., seeks a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing operation, in interstate or foreign commerce, as a common carrier by motor vehicle, of motor vehicles, passenger automobiles, trucks, tractors, trailers, semitrailers, and chassis, set up or knocked down, by the truck-away method, from Detroit, Mich., and points within 5 miles thereof to Charleston, S. C., Augusta, Savannah, and Brunswick, Ga., and all points in Florida, over irregular routes. Various rail, water, and motor carriers opposed the application.

In Philadelphia-Detroit Lines, Inc., Com. Car. Application, 16 M. C. C. 483, division 5 found that applicant had failed to establish the right to a certificate as a common carrier by motor vehicle, of automobiles, trucks, parts, and general commodities, over specified routes between points in various States, including Detroit and points in Florida, under the "grandfather" clause of section 206 (a) of the

Motor Carrier Act, 1935, but it found that public convenience and necessity required operation by applicant as a common carrier by motor vehicle of new automobiles and trucks from Jacksonville to points in Florida, over irregular routes. On November 13, 1939, division 5 granted applicant temporary authority for 180 days to transport new automobiles and trucks in initial movements from and to the points specified in the instant application. By order of the Commission dated April 26, 1940, the order of November 13, 1939, was vacated and set aside, and applicant was ordered to cease and desist from performing the operations theretofore authorized as of May 1, 1940.

Applicant maintains terminals in Detroit and Jacksonville. It operates 27 complete units of equipment, consisting of tractors and 4-car trailers. Three trailers are owned by applicant, 9 combinations are leased from its president, while the remainder of the equipment is leased from various owner-drivers. The equipment in the service of applicant but not owned by it is operated under written leases providing for the assumption of control, management, and responsibility to the general public by applicant during the period such vehicles are in operation thereunder. The drivers and owners of leased vehicles receive as compensation a specified sum for each trip completed.

Applicant's financial statement as of June 30, 1939, shows assets of $13,419 and liabilities consisting of capital stock issued in the amount of $5,000, accounts and notes payable $12,346.61, and a deficit of $3,945.61. Of the accounts and notes payable, $3,750 represents an unpaid balance on a judgment for $5,000. Approximately $5,250 represents old debts, and about $3,000 is for current accounts. There is some doubt whether applicant owes all of the $5,250, but such amount is nevertheless carried on applicant's books as an indebtedness. Applicant's president testified that since he assumed management of the corporation, after a reorganization in January 1938, the old indebtedness has been materially reduced. Applicant's profit-and-loss statement for the 6-month period ending June 30, 1939, shows operating revenue of $98,596.34, and other revenue of $1,641.37, or a total of $100,237.71. The net profit was $2,021.81, of which $380.54 was profit from operations.

The proposed operation would embrace the transportation of new automobiles obtained at Detroit or points within 5 miles thereof, either directly, or through interchange with other carriers, over irregular routes extending through Ohio and West Virginia to the points specified in the application. Transportation time from Detroit to Jacksonville would require 48 to 52 hours; to Savannah approximately 42 hours; and to Miami about 60 hours. Applicant's

president testified that with present equipment 160 vehicles a week can be transported.

As indicative of the past operations of applicant, there were submitted in evidence summaries of freight shipments moving from Detroit to points in other States. During 1938, applicant transported 294 truckloads of 4 automobiles each, of which 260 shipments were delivered at Jacksonville, 19 at Miami, Fla., 2 at Sanford, Fla., 5 at West Palm Beach, Fla., 5 at Savannah, Ga., 2 at Augusta, and 1 at Washington, D. C. During the first 10 months of 1939, applicant transported 462 truckloads of 4 automobiles each from Detroit to points in Florida and Georgia. The summaries show that 224 of these shipments were delivered at Jacksonville, 131 at Miami, 39 at West Palm Beach, 24 at Orlando, Fla., 20 at Augusta, and the remainder at Winter Park, Daytona Beach, Tampa, Sanford, Sarasota, and Clearwater, Fla., and Valdosta and Gainesville, Ga. Nineteen of the shipments moving to Jacksonville and Miami during 1938 and 1939 were interchanged at Ironton, Ohio and Wytheville, Va., with White Star Lines, Inc. These operations were ostensibly conducted under applicant's "grandfather" application which was denied effective November 1, 1939. That application, among other things, specified a route extending from Detroit through South Carolina and Georgia to Miami, "delivering to dealers in cities and towns located in the States through which this route passes." The "grandfather" application was amended at the hearing to exclude points south of Jacksonville. The transportation of automobiles to Washington in 1938, and to points south of Jacksonville subsequent to the limitation of the "grandfather" application, exceeded the scope of such application, but it would appear this situation was at least partly due to applicant's erroneous belief that its new-service application covering transportation from Jacksonville to points in Florida, which was then pending, gave it the right to begin immediate operations.

Twenty-four automobile dealers and distributors, whose sales aggregated 8,000 to 10,000 automobiles during 1939, testified in support of the application. With the exception of one dealer in Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles, these individuals are engaged in the sale and distribution of Plymouth, DeSoto, Dodge, and Chrysler automobiles at Miami, Clearwater, West Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Deland, Fort Myers, Winter Park, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Orlando, Sanford, Tallahassee, and Tampa, Fla., and Augusta, Brunswick, and Savannah. These witnesses testified generally as to the advantages of truck-away service over other methods of transportation. Those residing at coastal cities have generally found combination rail and water service unsatisfactory because of