The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-28
panies agree to pay by reason of fail
ure to furnish cars.

panies agree to pay by reason of fail
ure to furnish cars.
The Settlements Agreed On.
The proper and prompt transporta-
ton of the berries depend upon the
full performance of the duty of the
4wo transportation compan ,ess-lhe
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and the
Armour Car Lines. The latter has a
contract with the former to furnish
all cars needed to move the crop in
good time and we'll iced, and the
A. G. l.. contracts with the grower to
transport the berries and collects both
freight and refrigerator charges, issu-
ing bills of lading for the berries re-
ceived and the grower has no dealing
with the Armour Car lines directly.
The period of the car famine began on
Nav LIST and continued for a week or
more and it was during this time thar
so many berries rotted on the plat
forms and were taken away and
dumped as worthless. The Armour Car
lines admit their liability to the
grower for a failure to furnish cars
from Nav 1st to 4th inclusive and are
Offering to pay for all berries not snip
ped on these days for want OF cars,
but they claim that for the time AFTER
the 4th they are not liable for the lack
of cars because they had placed cars
within the territory Of the A. c. l.. IN
time to be delivered by that date TO the
shipper The amount offered by the
Armour Car Lines in settlement OF
claims for these days is as follows:
For Monday, May 1st, $500 per crate;
for Tuesday May End, $1.75 per crate;
for Wednesday, May 3rd, $3.50 per
crate; and for Thursday, May Attn
$125 per crate. The difference in the
price offered for the several days is
based upon the idea that on Tuesday
it began to rain and continued until
Thursday, which rendered the berries
very soft and damaged their value,
and Armour contends that if cars had
been furnished the fruit could not
have brought the best price on ac-
count of it's condition. There is moth
ing in the agreement which will COM
pei the shipper to accept these figures;
but it is merely an offer and each in
dividual can accept it or not as he de-
sires The majority of the shippers
are accepting the price offered and
many of the claims are now being
paid It is estimated that the amount
which the Armour car lines have OF
fered to pay will amount to from $50
600 to $125,000, which does not in
chde the berries which rOtted on the
platform after May 4th These claims
will be presented to the railroad as
soon as Armour car lines have paid
for all for which they admit liability.
Cost of Making and Harvesting.
One endeavoring to ascertain the
approximate cost of cultivating to ma
turity a quart of strawberries meets
the same insurmountable difficulty
that he would meet in ascertaining the
cost of making a bushel of corn. 1t
depends upon the man, the land, the
labor, the skill used and every pos
sible contingency that might arise to
increase or lessen the expense or the
amount of the crop per acre. But it
is not so in calculating the cost of
marketing the crop after it is mature
in the field, which is as follows:
Picking per quart 1 cent. cost Of
crate and packing / cent, freight 2 IL
cents. Add to this commission and
hauling to depot IL cent. Total cost
of marketing a quart 5 cents.
In other words. before a cent is
returned to the shipper for his land,
his labor, his fertilizers and all other
expenses necessary to cultivate the
crop he must receive five cents per
quart for actual expense of market
ing