194 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 



of fruit. This, extending through a period of about 

 eight months, would mean an average shipment of 3,500 

 cars a month, or 100 cars and over a day. As it would 

 require from 8 to 12 days for these cars to reach their 

 destination, that would mean from 800 to 1,000 cars on 

 the road at one time. The traffic department's business 

 is to look after these cars and be able to advise the gen- 

 eral management at any time where each car is in its 

 progress along the railroad. 



The Legal Department is purely concerned with the 

 business of the law in connection with the management 

 of the exchange. It looks up questions of law. The in- 

 terpretations of state laws, also national tariffs affect- 

 ing its business and the attending of hearings before 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission are also impor- 

 tant duties. In the small exchanges this simply would 

 constitute a lawyer from some well-known firm who is 

 retained to handle this business, but in the larger organ- 

 izations it is necessary to have a department for this 

 work. 



An illustration of the power of the legal department 

 perhaps can be cited in the following case: A Cali- 

 fornia industry has its strongest competitor in a lemon 

 district of southern Italy. The tariff up to the time 

 of Taft's administration averaged $1 a crate on lemons. 

 The railroad charged approximately $1 a crate freight 

 from the Western coast to the Eastern markets. During 

 Taft's administration, when the tariff was revised, 

 through the efforts of a protective league, the legal de- 

 partment of the Western exchanges was able to have 

 the tariff raised to $1.50 a box for imported lemons. Im- 

 mediately, the railroad handling the citrus fruit raised 



