126 STATE HOKTK'UI.TrUAT. SOCIETY. 



those engaged in vegetable production frankly confess through leading 

 producers that they do not know whether they have an industry or not. 

 By this they mean that they cannot tell whether their industry can 

 possibly survive under the present schedule of freight rates. However, 

 this matter will be developed in greater detail later. For the present, 

 it is sufficient to point out that unless the rates can be reduced in many 

 territories, production will be shifted to new regions nearer to the market 

 of consumption, insofar as climatic conditions will permit shifting. 

 Our interest in transportation is of two chief kinds — 



First — Service 

 Second — Rates 



although these two points do not cover the whole thing. 



With respect to service — the question of inadequate supply of re- 

 frigerator cars has in the past been the most important factor limiting 

 proper distribution. This situation promises to be greatly helped by 

 the reconstruction of old cars along the lines of the Standard Refriger- 

 ator car devised by the Department of Agriculture and now adopted 

 by many of the railroads and bj'- the Master Car Builders Association. 



Of equal importance in kind — though not in degree — is the question of 

 heater car service, either in the form of special heater cars for moving 

 products to market from the colder sections of the country like Maine, 

 New York, Michigan and Minnesota, or combination cars that can be 

 used for both refrigerator and heater purposes as may be required. 

 The latter is the more practicable and of the greater importance in trans- 

 continental shipment across the mountain in winter. 



In the past, there has been a relative deficiency of high grade motive 

 power. With the reduction in traffic, and with the coincidental increase 

 in motive power, this problem will assume less importance in the future. 



One of the most important points in the matter of Service is that of 

 quick schedules. Before the war, as an illustration, cantaloupes from 

 Imperial Valley in California were delivered in Chicago on the sixth 

 day and in New York on the ninth. Under conditions prevailing more 

 recently, eighth and twelfth day deliveries have been more common. 



A similar situation applies in other sections of the country and to 

 other products. As recently as December, 1920, we had occasional 

 cars of fruit and vegetables that took from twenty to thirty-five days 

 to make the trip to market. Needless to say products that have tarried 

 that long in transit are frequently wholly unfit for consumption, entailing 

 loss to producer, distributor and carrier. 



With the sharp reduction in traffic that has taken place during recent 

 months, the question of schedules has already lost importance, the 

 carriers having cars and motive power to spare. This situation is doubt- 

 less induced by two factors: 



First: the general depression in business which has caused a let-up 

 in shipment of commodities of all kinds; 



Second: the reduction in the amount of traffic offered to the carriers, 

 due to high rates militating against the movement of commodities, 

 like perishables at rates that the commodity cannot bear. 



This is illustrated by our present experience in Pittsburgh. Sweet 

 potatoes, now being received from the Eastern Shore of Maryland regu- 

 larly come through in three days. Only a few months ago, it took six. 



