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swelling chorus of discontent against the railroads. Part of this 

 public discontent, as of all popular dissatisfaction, is due to the 

 ambidextrous efforts of the ubiquitous demagog. A part is based 

 on real grievances in connection with the service and the rates. 

 Railroad rates, it may be safely assumed, will never give popular 

 satisfaction, no matter whether they are made higher or lower, 

 whether they are made under government or private ownership. 

 The chief grievances at the present time, so far as service is con- 

 cerned/ have to do with two things, namely, the speed of freight 

 trains and the supply of cars. The serious losses in the transpor- 

 tation of poorly packaged freight has already been mentioned. 



These two subjects have had repeated airings before commit- 

 tees of Congress and before State Railroad Commissions. One 

 illustration will serve to show the concrete situation. At a hearing 

 before the United States Senate Committee on Interstate Com- 

 merce in 1908, on the subject of Prompt Furnishing of Transpor- 

 tation Facilities, the largest live-stock growers in the United States 

 were present. Among these was Murdo Mackenzie, one of the 

 greatest stockmen of North and South America. Some of his 

 testimony ran as follows: 



"I will first touch on the shortage of cars and my own experience in this 

 direction. A year ago last fall I ordered cars from the Fort Worth and Denver 

 Railroad for shipment to Kansas City, either over the Rock Island system or 

 the Santa Fe. I gave the railroad from two to three weeks' notice to supply 

 the cars, and after that time had expired, and I had my cattle gathered, they 

 kept me from day to day waiting for cars until two months had expired . . . 

 On the 15th of September, 1907, I ordered cars for shipment to Kansas City 

 and St. Joe, and on the 5th and 6th of October to ship from the same points 

 in the Pan Handle. I proceeded to gather our cattle, and after I had them 

 on the trail for 30 miles, I was only then informed by the railroad that I could 

 not get the cars. I was compelled to turn the cattle back and turn them loose 

 again. This was on the 18th of October. I was informed by the superintendent 

 of the Fort Worth and Denver that there was no hope for my getting the cars 

 to ship over the Rock Island or Santa Fe before the middle of December . . . 

 I came down to Chicago from home; I saw the Rock Island people and the 

 Santa Fe people. I put my case before them and asked them if they could 

 not, even on personal grounds, help me out. They remarked that they could 

 not do it; that they had more business on their own systems, a part of which 

 runs through Texas, than they could supply cars for; that they were not going 

 to supply cars to connecting roads. Now here I was, between the devil and 

 the deep sea, located on the Fort Worth and Denver road, that is presumably 

 a road engaged in interstate commerce. They publish schedules for carrying 

 our cattle. They refused to supply me with cars, because they did not want 

 to let their cars go off their own system, fearing, as they stated, that if they 

 did so they would not get their cars back. The Rock Island would not supply 

 cars to connecting roads because they had more than enough to do with their 

 cars on their own system. Now, what is a man going to do who is in this 

 kind of a business? We have to ship our cattle. We cannot walk them, we 

 cannot put them on the trail, as we used to in years gone past. We are com- 



