CHAPTER XVIII 



THE UNITED STATES 



T 1 J HEN visiting the United States in the 

 VV winter of 1902-1903 to collect data for 

 my book on American Railways, I had many 

 opportunities of learning how, in various ways, 

 and in different directions, the agricultural in- 

 terests of the country had been advanced by 

 a resort to improved methods of production, 

 and especially by systems of combination which 

 had enabled producers to make arrangements 

 with railway companies that tended to the ad- 

 vantage of both. I have thought, however, 

 that for the special purpose of the present work, 

 it would be better, instead of attempting to deal 

 with United States conditions as a whole, to 

 give a study of a particular district, and it 

 seemed to me that no one district among those 

 I saw in the course of my journeyings on the 

 American Continent would be more suitable for 

 the purpose than that of the Illinois Central 

 Railroad. Apart from numerous ramifications. 



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