The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-29

theatre things which each man thinks he can run better than those in the business, said the late Petroleum V. Nasby. Thousands of Americans have been ed- ueated by experience with "women's, .tschoolboy'' and other special editions to the fact that the making of a news paper is not the easiest task. Anna teur theatricals have taught other thousands (and their suffering audi ences) that theatrical management is harder than 1t looks to the man who has come in on a deadhead ticket.
 Comparatively few people believe, however. that railroading is at all diff ficult. New Workers got out injunc- tions against night work on the Grand Central Improvements and now object because the work does not progress faster and because the improvements demanded and granted necessarily de- lay trains. Every commuter, whether from Chicago. Philadelphia. Boston or San Francisco can tell his seat mate how the particular road should be run if his seat mate will refrain long enough from airing his own particu- lar theory of railroad management Nothing is, simpler for instance, in popular estimation, than establishing rates and no person Is more positive in settling such question of compli-
  lowances than the man who cannot get his laundry count correct and thinks there must have been wash sales" when he numbers his socks.
 Yet a change in its freight rates to the extent of one cent per hundred pounds cost the New York, New Ha- ven and Hartford Railroad Company $11,000 just to prepare the new sched- ules, slight as the changes seemed to ha lar n main office Is now filled with pamph- lets setting forth the cost of shipping goods from every point in the road s territory to every other point. What has just been done on this New Eng land railroad is at times necessary to every one of the great railroad sys- tens of the country. It is not surpris- ing, therefore, that President Mellen of the New Haven road recently de- clared that any one of the big railroad companies of the United States spends more money each year in the adjust ment of freight rates than the entire expense of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
 The freight business of a railroad is, perhaps, the most sensitive barometer of the commercial condition of the systems territory. Not only are com mercial interests reflected in the freight traffic: the daily life of the people and their ever-varying demands are revealed in railroad statistics. From New England, for example, there is a steady flow month after month, year after year, of manufactured ar ticles which find their way to all parts of the globe. Curious things are brought to light when a study Is made of the ever-flowing river of freight. For instance, 90 per cent. of. the clocks manufactured in the United States are made in Connecticut and 50 per cent of the hinges are turned out by sim gle firm in New Britain. Freight Is often destined for points where 1t would seem to be of little or no value. Thus sand Is carried to Cape Cod, a region of sand. But this is pecu- liar kind of sand valuable in smelting operations to which the sand of the sea is unsuited. Cape Cod sand Is not shipped away and consequently does not pass the sand travelling to the Cape, but iron mined in New England goes West while Western iron travels East This is due to the fact that the New England iron ore is of low grade not suited to use in industries carried on in the region where 1t Is found.
 The contents of the cars which com pose the long freight trains constantly rumbling across the country furnish as the years roll around evidence of the march of the seasons. Long be" fore the snow has left the ground in the Northern States early fruit and vegetables are being shipped from the South and as summer approaches these come from places further and further North until finally the New England farms begin to aid in the task of sup plying the city. With September the first shipment of the cotton crop ar rives to be transformed into cloth in Northern mills, Thanksgiving and Christmas are heralded by the ship ment of turkeys in carloads instead Of in fiocks. Thanksgiving Is the great New England feast, but New England cannot begin to supply it's own tur- keys, although the Rhode Island pro- duct has worldwide renown and tur- keys from the little State have graced the Thanksgiving board at the White House during many administrations. While New England is obliged to inn port many of its holiday turkeys, 1t supplies to other sections of the coun- try great quantities of the necessary cranberries from which is made the sauce without which the holiday feast would seem poor indeed.
 Nowhere in the world has the science of transportation been developed to such an extent as in the United States.
 
 this country than in any other. The general freight agent, the freight traffic manager. the men in charge of the special branches of the freight business are important factors in railroad organ ization. They are not only thoroughly trained railway men, they are also busi ness experts. The general freight agent is, to a large extent, the umpire between business interests in competi- tion in the territory traversed by his road
 Suppose, for instance, that in city on the Great Lakes. and in an interior city of the same State two companies are engaged in manufacturing the same product The concern in the lake port receives its raw material and ships it's product by steamer, getting the beneft of the cheap water transportation. The other company is in touch with the outside world only by rail lines. If nothing offsets the advantage due to geographical situation the company doing business on the lake shore can deliver its goods cheaper than it's rival. Unless conditions are capitalized the company in the interior of the State