The sun., 1909-05-23
, SOME NEW BOOKS.
A Book That the Nation Has Needle,

SOME NEW BOOKS.
A Book That the Nation Has Needed.
Attempts to investigate the subject
of the relation Of railroad freight rates
70 .dietrloution and production have re-
Gently been made in GERMANY so
far as we know the first careful
tion OF il made in English is IiG /
in book entitled Rdilrodd Freight ..,',s
IN Relation TO the Industry and Commerce
o. hce United STATES Henry Holt Co..
The writer. Mr.. LOGAN q. MCPHERsoN, is
already known to many readers as the
author Of Tho Working Of the Railroads
and as the lecturer on transportation in
jchns Hopkins University During the
last three or four years we have all felt
tho need for fairly comprehensive and
Trustworthy account Of the effect OF the
freight rates Of the railroads upon the
industry and commerce OF the United
States. The author tells us that in the
effort to satisfy this need by setting
forth the anatomy and physiology as
we'll as the pathology Of the freight rate
structures he has visited every part OF
the country interviewing important ship
pers, the representatives OF commercial
organizations and the officers in charge
of the traffic departmental OF various rail-
roads. &. We are warned, however. against
expecting too much precision in details.
It is pointed out that the steps in the de
.velopment Of the freight rate structures
have been attained largely through dis
oussions of which the records have dis
appeared and through correspondence
no longer in existence, The facts must
be sought in the memory of veteran
trafio managers, and as their recollec-
tions are not always exact as to dates 1t
ia only possible in parts Of the book to
indicate the general sequence of the evo-
luton
In, a chapter on The Channels OF
Trafic' Mr.. Mcpherson reminds us that
the Colonists who settled on the Atlantic
seaboard we're dependent for many gen.
erations upon the Fatherland for all manu-
factured articles except those Of the cr,Id-
est handiwork The commerce which
elowly developed in the products OF agri-
culture was conveyed by wagon or by
stage to the eaboa rd, thence to be sent
tn Europe in sailing vessels, which in re-
turn brought fabrics. firearms household
utensils and even brick and other build
ing material. The more important settle
nents we're naturally therefore on the
harbors. Even mp to the outbreak OF
the Revolution, however, there was very
little Commerce between one Colony and
another, but the area from which agri-
cultural products we're received for ex.
portland throughout which manufactures
from Europe were distributed increased
as the interior was developed.
Our author goes on TO recall that the
domestic tranquility and solidarity Of
interest brought about by the Revolution
gave a stimulus to domestic manufactures
and to the interchange of products be-
tween Colonies, thenceforward known as
states. Although this stimulus how
ever. was intensified by the War of 1912
and although it was recognized that there
was need Of an enlargement Of the means
of communication between the Atlantic
seaboard and the interior. the situation
was not greatly changed within the dozen
years that elapsed before the time when
OF roads of iron rails. The first railroads
led from the seaports into the interior
for but short distances only. but they
extended the area tributary to each sea-
port, bringing products Of the soil over
greater distances to the seaboard. fur
r,ishing trustworthy means by which
the residents Of the interior could obtain
the supplies which they did not produce.
Thus an early result Of the building Of
railroads was the furthering Of the di-
vision Of labor, the residents Of the towns
giving less attention to the growing Of
food and the farmers not being obliged
many things. The period from 1880 to
1850 was Of contest between ths rail-
roads and the canals which had been
huilt largely by the aid of the several
States. Toward the close Of this era the
superior efficiency OF the railroads was
generally recognized and the canals
with but few exceptions had gradually
Apsed into disuse
The civil war. interrupting the industry
and commerce Of the country in general,
naturally brought a cessation in railroad
building, hut Immediately after its close
construction was resumed and railroads
we're rapidly extended. Our author shows
how they wound a nktwork over New
England. fhe north Atlantic and the
Middle States they stretched further into
fhe West. sending out branches that COW
cred the region from Missouri and Kansas
TO Minnesota and the Dakotas; from Hi,
nois they reached down into Texas. In
1893 was driven the golden spike that
marked the completion of the first through
rail route from the Missouri River to the
Pacific coast. Rv that date also the ra H.
roads Of the States south of the Ohio and
east Of the Mississippi had resumed active
operation and in their turn were being
extended, although less rapidly than in the
North. Every section Of the country was
thus connected by rail with every other
section and the main channels OF OUR
domestic traffic were then outlined. Our
author directs attention 70 the fact that
in the last forty years railroad building
east Of the Missouri ever has been inten-
sive rather than extensive; sections which
previously had not been supplied with