RATES 77 



trolley systems should be feeders to the steam 

 roads, and that these systems which are rapidly 

 being extended through rural districts should 

 afford to farmers a freight service that is ready, 

 rapid, and cheap. It is charged that this is not 

 done, that steam lines discourage the use of the 

 trolleys for freight, or absorb them and eliminate 

 competition to the detriment of the farm popu- 

 lation which they should most benefit. 



The Interstate Commerce Commission ex- 

 ercises a most valuable governmental function. 

 It is a body to which complaint may be made of 

 any rate considered to be unreasonable. It has 

 been of great benefit to the farmers of the 

 country. What is needed now is a careful study 

 of the railway situation with a veiw to reaching 

 and correcting abuses and practices still in 

 existence that operate against the unorganized 

 and the rural interests. 



In this connection, attention is invited to the 

 fact that many states have railway commissions 

 charged with the dufy of protecting the public 

 from paying exorbitant frieght rates, and farmers 

 who feel that they are charged more than is fair 

 should see to it, first, that their state railway 



