The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-28

the Seaboard had no difficulty in it's
management of the traffic:
" The Seaboard Air Line has made
record and scored victory this year
of which the management of that
great system has good reason to feel
proud The strawberry and vegetable
shipments over that line between Will
mington and Hamlet this season have
been in the neighborhood of zoe per
cent over that of last year, and not
single complaint has been heard
against the service rendered, nor has
there been any trouble reported in the
shape of a car shortage. Ample trans
portation and up to date facilities have
been furnished the growers with the
result that everybody is pleased and
delighted with their experience and
returns. This is certainly a most
striking contrast between the service
given the shippers along the Atlantic
Coast Line, where the growers have
been subjected to a car famine down
here and irregular and belated deliv-
cries up North. There is no finer
trucking lands in this or any other
State than those tributary to the Sea-
board Air Line from Wilmington all
the way up to Laurinburg and Hamlet.
and the strawberry vegetable and
melon developments along this line
| this year and in years to come Will
be an eye opener to the rest of the
world"
The Legal Aspect.
New questions have arisen out of
1.-THE recent car famine which may soon
be passed on by the courts For the
first time i'm the history of the industry
i'm this State the question was raised
as to whether the railroad could be
held responsible for not furnishing
cars under such extraordinary circum-
stances. When the crash came on
Monday May 1st, the growers imme-
diately sought advice as to Whist
course to pursue. The attorney of
the East Carolina Truckers and Fruit
Growers Association advised that the
berries be picked and placed at the
depot and his opinion is expressed i'm
an interview in the Morning Star"
at that time as follows:
81 am advising the truckers to pick
the berries as fast as they ripen and
tender them to the railroad company
in good condition. and to use all the
diligence and care that they would
use if cars were ready to receive them
If the berries are in the field and cars
arrive they cannot be marketed by
the company but if the company
holds itself out as using refrigerator
cars for the purpose of shipping fruit
and invites such business, then the law
Will lOlu the com Ddlly I6SpOllSlDiG lOI
any loss suffered by the truckers by
reason of it's failure to furnish the
proper transportation. If the railroad
is endeaVoring to place cars here, then
on their arrival it is the duty of the
trucker to have his berries ready to
load: on the other hand if he has them
ready to load it is the duty of the rail-
road to receive them and carry them
properly or compensate the trucker
for his loss by reason of any failure to
do So There is nothing to do but
pick the berries and tender them to
the company for transportation.
The berries We're picked and tend
cred to the railroad and it is now adj
mitted that the transportation COM
panies are liable for damages for lack
Of cars. The growers will endeavor to
establish the liability of the railroad
for damage caused by reason of delay
in transportation, and for overlooking
cars, and will seek in the future to
fix i'm some way a maximum as we'll as
a minimum car load so as to Insure
the best possible refrigeration and
guarantee the delivery of the fruit in
good condition.