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AIR LINES

The municipal airport of Portland, Oreg., is located on Swan Island, which lies within the central harbor and is connected by a causeway with the mainland. The field, consisting of 250 acres, is about 3 miles north of the business section of the city and is easily reached by motor bus, taxicab, and street car. A still-water basin 700 feet wide and 11⁄2 miles long borders the east side of the landing field, and provides a splendid base for seaplanes.

The commercial air lines operating to and from the city of Portland are shown in the following table:

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There are six commercial radio stations in Portland. Details regarding these are contained in the following table:

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In addition to the above the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Lighthouses, maintains a radio station at Portland. The call signal for this station is KCY.

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH LINES

Portland has telephone connections with all parts of the United States and Canada. The telephone system is operated by the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. Telegraph communication is afforded by the Western Union Telegraph Co. and the Postal Telegraph Co., each of which has arrangements for communicating with vessels at sea.

THE FREIGHT-RATE SITUATION

RAIL RATES

The transcontinental freight-rate structure has attained its present form only after a long series of changes in both eastbound and westbound class and commodity rates. Since 1909 about 20 cases affecting this rate structure have been before the Interstate Commerce Commission for determination. Some of them involved relief from the requirements of the so-called "long-and-short-haul" clause of section 4 of the interstate commerce act which renders unlawful unless especially permitted, the imposition of a higher charge for the transportation of freight for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same route in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance. Some cases were in the interest of lower rates to and from specified points, and in certain cases rates were found to be unreasonable and discriminatory and revisions thereof by the railroads were required. The eastbound and westbound commodity rates, being of major importance in transcontinental traffic, have been the subject of more frequent and important attacks than have other rates.

Generally speaking, the present rate structure has developed from two principal causes: First, the repeated efforts of the several interested carriers to maintain lower rates to and from the Pacific coast ports than to and from the so-called intermediate territory; that is, territory east of the coast in the Coastal States and in Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona; and second, the increased rates authorized in General Order No. 28, of the Director General of Railroads, effective June 25, 1918, and the advances provided for by the Interstate Commerce Commission in Decision Ex Parte No. 74 of August 26, 1920. Class rates to and from the North Pacific coast ports remained practically unchanged from 1912 to 1917. Many changes have, however, been made since 1910 in the class rates to and from the territory intermediate to the ports and also in the eastbound and westbound commodity rates applicable to the same territory.

For many years rail rates to and from Pacific coast ports were generally maintained on a level lower than were rates to and from intermediate points, the justification for this practice advanced by the railroads being the competition with which they were confronted by water carriers operating on lower water rates than the prevailing rail rates. Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal the intercoastal water routes followed were (a) around Cape Horn or through the Strait of Magellan; (b) from the Atlantic seaboard to the Isthmus

of Panama, thence across the Isthmus by rail and from the western coast of the Isthmus to the Pacific coast ports; and (c) from the Atlantic seaboard to the eastern coast of Mexico at Puerto, Mexico, thence across the Isthumus of Tehuantepec by rail to Salina Cruz, thence by water to the Pacific coast. The rates over these routes were lower than the rail rates between the two coasts, although the volume of traffic handled over them was not large.

Upon the opening of the canal in 1914 these water routes were practically abandoned for intercoastal trade. The inauguration of intercoastal steamship services through the canal resulted in the development of a still lower level of water rates between the two coasts. These rates were not only lower than the rail rates to the Pacific coast from the Atlantic seaboard but they were also lower than the rail rates to the Pacific coast from the Central Western States. To meet in some degree the developing competition of the water carriers, the railroads reduced their rates between Atlantic and Pacific coast points without reducing them to and from central western points. The higher rates to the western intermediate territory indicated above were maintained.

Owing, however, to a marked decline of traffic through the canal during the war, the Interstate Commerce Commission on June 30, 1917, decided that rates applicable to coastal and intermediate points should be maintained on the same level and the coastal differentials were discontinued. After the close of the war the railroads, prompted by the renewal of intercoastal traffic through the canal and its rapidly increasing volume, attempted to reestablish the lower coastal rates. While recent decisions of the commission granted the rail carriers a limited amount of relief from the long-andshort-haul clause, its decision of June 30, 1917, has been upheld.

The railroads have maintained for a good many years the practice of blanketing rates on many westbound commodities over much of the territory east of the Missouri River. This system of blanketing rates covered not only commodities destined to trans-Pacific points but also many of those moving westward under both class and commodity rates which were intended for domestic consumption. Its application has also in the past been more or less general to import rates and to eastbound domestic class and commodity rates. comprehensive application of the blanket rate system has been modified materially, however, since its inception and now has its widest application in connection with export and import rates to and from the Pacific coast terminal points, and in connection with eastbound domestic commodity rates.

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Import and export rates.-Import and export rates on traffic moving through the Pacific coast ports are, with some important exceptions, uniform over that section of the United States east of the

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