FROM FARM TO MARKET 349 



to face the difficulty of obtaining reasonable 

 traffic rates on the railways. Here the State, 

 by practically giving the railways a monopoly, 

 should step in either to control rates, or to take 

 over the entire management of the railways. 



England is the only European country of 

 any commercial importance that leaves the 

 great steel public highways under the control 

 of individuals whose business it is to serve tne 

 public at as high a price as they can possibly 

 exact. 



It is not only the agricultural producer who 

 feels the pressure of high railway rates, but 

 the merchant princes as well. Not only has 

 the farmer to pay (according to Sir Bernhard 

 Samuelson) 59s. 3d. to send cattle from Hull 

 to Manchester, while for the same distance the 

 charge in Germany would be only 38s. 6d., in 

 Holland 37s. 6d., or in Belgium 29s. 6d. ; but 

 the dealer in agricultural wares would, in 

 England, have to pay 25s. to send a quantity 

 of machinery from Leeds to Hull that in 

 Germany would only cost him 4s. 6d., in 

 Belgium 8s., and in Holland 5s. 6d. for the 

 same distance. 



Ireland seems to fare worse than England 

 and Scotland, not only in tariffs on goods, 



