Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-12-15
WHEN AMERICAN RAILWAYS
MOVE COUNTRY'S CROPS

e IF HARVESTS WERE ON ONE TRAIN, L
d WOULD BE 1000 MILES LoNG-FIF
n TY DOLLARS WORTH OF FARM PRO
a DUCTS TO EVERY AMERICAN-RAIL
WAY CHESS ON BOARD THREE
, THOUSAND MILES SQUARE.
This is the season of the year when
4 American railroads are taxed to theil
utmost, for the autumn days are the
time when the crops are moved. Few
realize the extent of the railroad man s
problem, yet some idea of its magni.
! tude may be gained from a statement
OF the vaue OF the c0untry's agricultur
al products. This year the grain crops
will approximate billions in value, a
sum four times that of the national
debt, and sufficient to give every man,
woman and child in the country fifty
dollars. TWO thirds of this crop will
be fed, to livestock or moved to mills
by wagons in the districts in which 1T
Is grown, but the remaining third will
travel to every part of the word, and
1t is in the moving of this part that the
railroad man finds his great task.
This year will see crops of such size
that the part which comes to the rail-
road will aggregate l 500, 900 carloads of
| frPJDht no
time nearly $4,000 locomotives would
be required. These cars and locomo-
tives, If placed in slgle train would
reach half way around the world, and
since the supply of freight cars in the
country is only trifie in excess of /,
oOO 0OO with something like $4,000 To-
comotlues. one may imagine the wor.
rles OF the railroad man in moving a
single item of freight amounting in
volume to nearly the total capacity of
the rolling stock of all the country's |
railroads. To the railroad man it is |
game of chess played on the board 81 |
ooo miles square, with freight trains |
| for pieces to be moved hither and thi |
ther in hundred mile jumps.
Let the average citizen picture him
self as confronted with this problem,
with the necessity of moving each
year within limited period 1,5O0, 900
carloads of grain. 1t sounds simple
enough to talk of sending trains to
those points from which grain ship
ments will be heaviest, but when it is
remem bered that all this grain must
be moved without disturbing other
s1lpplngs the average citizen doubtless
would be non pulsed with the problem
which confronted him, and ready to
admit the necessity of wonderful
system developed by men with years
and years of experience and training.
The railroad man, In attacking the
problem. understands the .situation
thoroughly. He has given amount
OF freight to move, with given facili.
ties. He is backed by system evolv.
ed from years of training and expert.
ence, system which has built I'D Am
erlcan railroads until they lead the
world, with rates from two to three
times lower than those obtained in apy
other country, and being free from
government regulation he finds that
elasticity SO necessary if changing con-
dltlons are to tbe met The railroad
man understands, too, that his pros
perlty depends upon the prosperity of ,
the farmer, and that in order to move
the crops or indeed even to make their
production attractive to the farmer.
rates must be made sufficiently low to
allow American grain to reach all the
markets of the world.
The railroad man and the farmer
really Cooperate, and it is extremely
difficult. if not impossible, to distin.
gulsh just where the function of the Il
former begins or that of the latter ends.
Every one knows that the American
farmer comes pretty near being lord
of creation, since he feeds not only the
country, but even people in other parts
of the world which produce grain. But
the cause of bis position is not often
considered. 1t is true that his land is
fertile-but other countries produce
larger crops to the acre and then, too,
he pays better wages than the farmer
of any other country.
In reality it is the cooperation of
the railroads which make for his sue
cess-the elasticity of rates which ena-
bic him to meet changing conditions.
For instance, suppose that certain
grain-producing district has had a
hard summer; that labor has been
scarce, and that bad weather has spoil
ed part OF the crops. These condi.
tlons, OF course make the cost of pro.
ductiOn higher for the farmer of that
district, and 1t is out of the question
for him to think of shipping bis grain
as he would have shipped it had every
condition been favorable; but his true
partner, the railroad. steps in at this
point, and, by making a sufficiently
low rate, helps him in overcoming the
hard times of the summer by enabling
him to put his grain on the market at a
profitable price.
This is really the great basic princi-
pie of American railroading-the ad-
justment Of changing commercial con-
dItions and the freedom from hard and
fast rules which government regulation
in other countries has a. ways brought
about. In Germany, for instance, with
good times or bad, large crops or small,
the farmer pays the same rate, and |
these conditions have SO initiated |