The Press., 1913-08-13

ace, BostOns market 0ay IS now the same as New York's. and Portland, Me, is but one market day later than Philadelphia. Today a carload of strawberries can make the Journey be tween Norfolk and Boston in just thirty-six hours and half.
 Perishable freight is the bane of the
 railroad mans existence. He some times loses more sleep over 1t than he does over passengers. 1t involves problems not met with in most kinds of freight It must be delivered in the quickest time possible, and fin this connection the railroad, like the ship pers and the commission men, must always reckon on the market day. The loss of one market day on perishable freight like strawberries often means the loss of the entire shipment The failure of railroads freight schedule to insure delivery of this kind of freight for a certain market day may mean the loss to that railroad of this entire business; to the commission men and marketmen 1t means so much less business to get returns from. On the other hand, the ability of the time table experts and the trafHc men to knock off half an hour even on the run ming time of a freight train may mean to the road thousands of dollars of new business and for the commission men may open up brand new line of trade. For years men have worked over these freight train schedules try ing to Top off precious minutes of time In the yards, in the stops en route and In the delivery. Always their aim has been in the case of New England to get table luxuries, such as early strawberries, melons and peaches, into Boston by the second market day.
 There Is no more perishable produce than strawberries, and next to them comes fish. The New England rat- roads must bring the first into New England and carry the second out. In the case of berries it Is absolutely es- sential that they be consumed within seventy-two hours from the time they are picked for them to command a price that will make the business worth while. When one considers that these early berries are picked in Vir- g1nia and points farther south the problem confronting the New England railroads in getting them on the New Englander's table within this limit of seventy-two hours Is thus seen to be q big one. If a carload of strawberries consigned to a New England produce merchant misses a market day at the South Boston yard it means usually a depreciation of at least cents on every box; on melons it means prob ably a cent apiece. That may not seem much, but in the aggregate it is enough frequently to wipe out the profit on an entire shipment. s.Ez.
 In order to make a market day with this kind of freight, the railroad must get 1t into Boston, say, between the hours of a. m. and a. m. The market day begins promptly at 6 a. m. That is the hour when the big bell yard and there begins a scene of ac- tivity among the marketmen. When this bell rings the cars must be ready to open so that their contents can be inspected and sampled and the fruit or vegetabl sold right as they stand in the car. Ten minutes after this bell rings the contents of the train may be on the way to the market.
 This hour of 6 a. m., then, is the goal upon which the eye of the operat- ing man and the traffic man in the railroad organization Is fixed. It Is the hour they must make, not one day, but every day, or lose the busi- ness. Down in Virginia, through Mary land and Delaware a freight train loaded with the luscious early berries of southern plantations, the first to feel the vitalizing effect of the spring sunshine, may be rushing through the night toward this goal with the speed of a passenger train. The engineer has this goal in mind, the yardmen along the route have it in mind, and up in the railroad offices the operat- ing men have 1t in mind too. Like the man with the ball in the football game, these men are all working to put the train with its produce over the goal line before the big bell in the Boston yard rings out as a signal for the AA0A ACL AACA tAdk dAOLASI u1AEkGS udy has begun. a4ss -@. s.a.s.-e
 New England has not always enjoy ed the privilege of having strawberries In February or even melons in May. It was not many years ago that the average householder had to rely chiefly on his local fruits and vegetables. He waited until July for his strawberries. His melons and peaches he got later. Vegetables out of season were rare. This was when New England, by the then means of transportation, was many market days away from the south. These were the days of inten- sive railroads. as MT. Brandeis would probably call them, short railroads connecting with one another, but op- erated separately and involving many transfer points. When freight has to go over several railroads operated on the intensive principle 1t is bound to suffer delays. Between Boston and New York there were the New Haven, the old Stonington road and the Bos