Railway Rates and Charges 345 



Then we have the fact that, even if these figures could be 

 arrived at, many of the commodities carried would be unable 

 to pay the rates fixed thereon. This would especially apply to 

 coal, iron-stone, manure and other things either of low value 

 or of considerable weight or bulk. Whatever may be the real 

 cost of carrying them, commodities of this kind cannot pay 

 more than a certain rate. If that rate is exceeded either they 

 will be sent in proportionately smaller quantities or they 

 will not be sent by rail at all. 



We arrive, in this way, by the logic of actual facts, at the 

 fundamental principle, adopted by railway companies, of 

 charging " what the traffic will bear " ; and by this is meant 

 " charging no more than," rather than " charging as much as," 

 the traffic will bear. Findlay, in his book on " The Working 

 and Management of an English Railway "(fourth edition, 1891) 

 says of the practice based on this principle : 



" The rates are governed by the nature and extent of the 

 traffic, the pressure of competition, either by water, by a rival 

 route, or by other land carriage ; but, above all, the companies 

 have regard to the commercial value of the commodity, and 

 the rate it will bear, so as to admit of its being produced and 

 sold in a competing market with a fair margin of profit. The 

 companies each do their best to meet the circumstances of 

 the trade, to develop the resources of their own particular 

 district, and to encourage the competition of markets, pri- 

 marily, no doubt, in their own interest, but nevertheless 

 greatly to the advantage of the community." 



The application of the principle is worked out by the 

 division into various classes of all minerals and merchandise 

 carried on the railway. The classes are known respectively 

 as A, B, C, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, the rates charged being lowest for 

 commodities in Class A and highest for those in Class 5. 

 The type of article included in each class may be indicated by 

 the following examples : 



Class A (applicable to consignments of four tons and up- 

 wards). Coal, coke, gravel, iron-stone, limestone, stable 

 manure, sand. 



Class B (applicable to consignments of four tons and up- 

 wards). Bricks, concrete, various articles of iron and steel, 

 granite (in blocks), lime (in bulk), salt (in bulk), common 

 slates. 



