TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART IX 403 



have the support of the rest of us so that their efforts may be 

 effective. The situation is full of possibilities disastrous to the 

 dairy interests of the country, and every support ought to be given 

 to the organization that for so long has given faithful leadership 

 to the butter making interests of the country. 



FREIGHT RATES ON BUTTER. 



During the last winter a petition of carload shippers was pre- 

 sented to the Western Classification Committee praying a substan- 

 tial reduction of the carload rate upon butter, eggs and dressed 

 poultry, from Chicago to New York and the seaboard generally. 

 It appears that the Western Classification Committee acts as an 

 advisory committee to the Central Freight Association in New 

 York, which latter association actually has authority over such 

 rates, and in such capacity they advised that, instead of the de- 

 crease in the carload rate, an increase should be put in force affect- 

 ing the rates on shipments in less than carload amounts. 



As is well knoA\Ti the western roads all run refrigerator cars 

 once or twice a week over their lines and pick up the shipments of 

 butter made by the smaller creameries until the ear is loaded to its 

 capacity. However, if a shipper has as much as 10,000 pounds he 

 may secure a refrigerator car, ice it at his own expense, and have 

 the exclusive use of that car for his shipment to the point of desti- 

 notion. All such shipments that are east bound, whether large or 

 small, center in Chicago, and are there turned over to the lines 

 whose representatives are familiar to every creamery of the state. 

 The freight rates upon such shipments are composed of the rate 

 from the point of origin to Chicago, and the rate from Chicago to 

 the seaboard, principally, of course New York City. Upon all 

 shipments, whether a carload of the minimum of 10,000 pounds or 

 larger, or the smaller shipments of 100 or 50 or 10 tubs the rate 

 from Chicago to the Atlantic coast is at present 65 cents per hun- 

 dred pounds. This is, the car load shipper has no advantage in 

 freight rate over his smaller competitor so far as the rate from 

 Chicago to the east is concerned. The petition asked that the car 

 load shipper be given an advantage of ten cents a hundred pounds 

 by lowering the rate which he should pay, and the answer made by 

 the Western Classification Committee was to recommend that the 

 car load shipper be given this advantage, but by an increase of the 



