488 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



expense, and the whole co-operative movement starts out to reduce the 

 expense item. Once you begin to analyze those items of expense you see 

 that the transportation cost looms up very large. The history of the 

 Corn Belt Meat Producers indicates that. They realized the importance 

 of that particular phase of the work, and years ago they tackled it and 

 from time to time through their history they have been working on it. 



But I venture to suggest that what is needed for the shipping in- 

 dustry of this state is not merely the excellent organizations of the Corn 

 Belt Meat Producers to have it attend to certain rate problems, but what 

 is needed is a real traffic organization in some sort of a permanent sys- 

 tem with the shippers' organization constantly studying every phase of 

 the traffic problem as it presents itself to these local associations. 



We find, for example, that in the first place the local manager's 

 losses are larger than they need be, and that is a service which this de* 

 partment should be getting at. In some cases it is poor train service, 

 which could be improved. In some cases it is poor loading, not properly 

 cleaning the cars, overloading, a lot of questions which start right at the 

 loading station but which reach forward through the whole transportation 

 system into the terminal market. 



We find that the local manager knows very little about transportation 

 methods. He does not know from the occasional use of a car the rates 

 that are charged, whether he is getting all that he is entitled to or not. 

 Losses occur from time to time. He does not know exactly how to pre- 

 sent his claims and to present them in the form which will most fully 

 insure the collection of the part which is a just claim. In a great many 

 cases the charge which is made is not the correct charge. He is not a 

 traffic man, and he is not in a position to check up on that. 



Now I submit that the business which ships $100,000,000 — well, not 

 that now, but could very well ship a good deal more than that if the co- 

 operative shipping movement was universal over the state — but a busi- 

 ness of that magnitude— call it $50,000,000— a business of $50,000,000 that 

 has no traffic department, no one to check up to see what the freight 

 rates are, that you take advantage of the freight rate as fully as possible, 

 no one to audit the freight bills, no one to systematically present claims, 

 that is a business which is very loosely organized and in a very weakly 

 managed condition. 



Seems to me that the lesson of the figures which they are getting at 

 from these shipping associations indicates very clearly that there must 

 be some organization in competent hands and a trained, professional 

 traffic man on the job, I guess we can say 365 days a year, because they 

 ship stock on Sundays so often, who should be on the job the year around 

 to render service to all these shipping associations so that their bills will 

 be audited, and the results from that will largely support the bureau, so 

 that their claims will be — in the first place, that the cause for claims 

 will be reduced to the very minimum, and that when claims do arise that 

 they will be presented promptly and in such a way as to get the best at- 

 tention and the first chance of collection. 



Now there is another phase of that, and for that I want to use a map 

 which I brought here. The freight rate structure, as you all know, is a 

 funny sort of a critter. It just "growed," like Topsy, but I believe it 



