Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, May 19, 1906
Pacific Coast Co. and Northern Pacific may come under provisions which prohibit carriers operating plants
Shipments outside Washington forbidden by the operators, but Hill line will me most seriously hurt by rule; Piles made fight to help local industries and Portland coal market to suffer if supply must be cut off
If the House agrees to the amendment made by the United States senate, forbidding common carriers from hauling coal mined in their own properties to points outside the state, the Pacific Coast Company and Northern Pacific will be seriously affected.
It was to save the coal properties of these two lines that United States Senator S.H. Piles is understood to have introduced his amendment exempting lines whose principal business is not that of a common carrier.
Just how this would have helped the Northern Pacific is not clear, but it would have been of some advantage to the Pacific Coast Company. That it was lost is believed by railroad men to have been due to the necessity for regulating the anthracite roads. The Pacific Coast Company can probably escape the provisions of the bill, but it will be a more expensive task to market the coal of that corporation. The Northern Pacific is expected to be compelled to limit its market to this state. (more…)
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