EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 149 



with business activity ; on the other hand, it is to the interest of the 

 public generally to obtain this service for the lowest rates which 

 do not seriously interfere with railroad activity. Here you have 

 a plain, clear-cut conflict of interests. There is no use trying to 

 dodge it or get around it. It seems to me that is the situation of 

 the buyer and seller over and over again. The seller wants to get 

 as much as he can, and the buyer wants to pay as little as he can. 

 It is to their interest to have high rates ; to your interest to have 

 low rates. 



Now, what has been the course of the history of freight rates on 

 your farm products ? You people are interested in farms ; you have 

 to get your product to market. If I were able to show you that you 

 have been paying for the past seventeen years, from 30 to 50 per 

 cent more than the Illinois farmer who lives on the same railroad, 

 the same distance from Chicago, in the same territor^^ to get your 

 cattle to market, wouldn 't that be something concrete and tangible 1 

 These matters are of importance. They affect the amount of money 

 in circulation in our state ; they affect farm values. Let us ap- 

 proach the question of freight rates from a purely business stand- 

 point, leaving out all questions of general morality and politics. 



During the past fifteen or twenty years there has been a great 

 many reductions on all freight rates in the country. This has been 

 made possible ©n account of larger engines, larger cars, stronger 

 road-beds, and general equipment. For the figures you may ex- 

 amine the Inter-state Commerce reports and the Illinois reports on 

 the average revenue per ton hauled. 



This average in the state of Illinois was 24 per cent higher in 

 1891 than it was in 1906. In the United States there was a 22 per 

 cent decrease from 1890 to 1905 on all traffic. In group 6, that is 

 the Iowa group, there has been a decrease of 25 per cent. So we 

 have the figures ranging from 22 to 25 per cent decrease on the 

 revenue of all tons hauled a mile in Illinois, in group 6, and in the 

 United States. What is the situation as to your farm products'? 

 A careful examination of the schedules in force in the state of 

 Iowa, from Januarv' 1, 1890, to January 1, 1907, shows, that there 

 has been absolutely no decrease upon wheat, flour, millet, flax seed, 

 corn, barley and other grain and mill stuffs; horses, mules, cattle, 

 calves and sheep. You are principally interested in live stock — 

 but I want to say there was a small decrease in hogs along in 1893, 

 and just about the same time there was an increase in cattle and 

 sheep. This increase was made on the quiet. There is no record of 

 any consultation whatever. Our commission, with the assistance 

 of some learned railroad officials, when they made out the schedule 



