Part II.] RELATIOX OF THE RAILROAD. 103 



the roads cannot be operated except at a loss, or with a very 

 meager return to those who have suppHed the capital. 



With all these incentives it is no wonder that the progressive 

 railroad systems of the day endeavor not only to provide, 

 through either their freight or express or special service, ad- 

 equate transportation facilities to enable the farmer to get his 

 products to market under the most favorable conditions, but 

 also (and this is the principal subject of my talk) to give him 

 such assistance, advice and service in connection with the pro- 

 duction of his output as the highly organized character of the 

 railroad business frequently makes practicable and easy where 

 it would be difScult, if not impossible, for individual farmers 

 or groups of farmers acting for themselves. 



Under the head of transportation of farm products, let us 

 say a word in passing. You know, of course, that in the 

 transportation of grain, hay, tobacco, cotton, potatoes and most 

 of the staple vegetables the regulation type of box car is used, 

 which with certain modifications for the different classes of 

 products satisfactorily answers the purpose. The railroads, how- 

 ever, recognize that there are products that cannot be trans- 

 ported in the farmer's interests nor in their own or those of 

 the general public by this means, and a great many millions 

 of dollars are invested in cars specially constructed for carry- 

 ing such products as milk, poultry, horses and highly perish- 

 able fruits and vegetables. Moreover, where perishables are 

 produced in sufficient quantities to warrant it, special fast serv- 

 ice is provided, such as the well-known transcontinental citrus 

 fruit trains, the peach, watermelon and small-fruit trains be- 

 tween the southern farms and the northern markets, and the 

 fast milk service which is performed in connection with all of 

 our larger cities. The company of which I have the honor of 

 being an officer, the Lackawanna Railroad, brings into New 

 York City every night 60 cars of milk in three trains operated 

 on limited passenger train schedules from central New York, a 

 distance of 250 miles. When you realize that this meant in 

 the past year 126,000,000 quarts of milk, and know, as you 

 do, that one cow produces on an average of 2,500 quarts per 

 year, you can see how this company is, on the one hand, 

 aiding some 50,000 cows to do their daily duty, and, on the 



