102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



ness, almost, if not quite wholly, to our railroads. But let us 

 pass over all these evidences of how the railroads have re- 

 garded the farmers in our past and turn to the situation as it 

 is to-day. 



\i^ Because the country is now considered to be "settled up" — 

 w^hich, of course, it is not, only sprinkled with population in 

 a large part of its arable area — it is sometimes thought the 

 interest of the railroad in furthering the development of the 

 farm has subsided if not died out. 



Is this the case? The conditions show it to be unlikely and 

 the practices of the railroads show it to be untrue. 



In the first place, the railroads of the country at large de- 

 rive 15 per cent of their entire freight traffic (in tonnage) from 

 the products of the farm, including animals, varying geograph- 

 ically from 10 per cent in the far east to 25 per cent in the 

 far west. In addition to this, it is roughly estimated that, 

 the country over, 25 per cent of all the passenger traffic con- 

 sists of farmers and their families and employees. Very good 

 reasons of self-interest, these, why the railroads desire to see 

 the farmer successful. Then, again, the successful farmer pro- 

 duces a very appreciable inbound freight traffic, in the matter 

 of building material, household goods, clothing, agricultural 

 implements, fertilizers, coal, etc., which yields a considerable 

 revenue to the roads, and which, obviously, is in direct ratio 

 to the farmer's prosperity. Further, the growth of cities and 

 towns is directly dependent, to a large degree, upon the de- 

 velopment of the agricultural sections in which they are located, 

 and the traffic of those towhs is all grist to the railroad mill. 

 Another element it is well to consider, though we hear little 

 of it in this connection, is that the railroad is a large employer 

 of labor, this item comprising over 60 per cent of the cost of 

 operation, and involving the services of nearly 2,000,000 men, 

 who, with their dependents, represent a population of at least 

 8,000,000 persons. Now, the primary element in the wages of 

 employees (as we have seen so clearly in the past few years) 

 is the cost of living, and the principal item in the cost of 

 living is the price of food. Hence the railroad is very directly 

 interested in the production of a sufficient food supply, so that 

 wages may not be forced to a point, as threatens now, where 



