TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE 55 



4. "The extent to which rates should be graduated according to 

 distance is still one of the greatest transportation problems. Some 

 believe in ' postage stamp' rates, others in a rigid adherence to the 

 distance principle. It is believed by most students of the problem, 

 however, that the compromise system gradually developed by the 

 railroads in spite of many inconsistencies and discriminatory prac- 

 tices has worked out to the greatest advantage of everyone con- 

 cerned and has been a great factor in the orderly development of the 

 country." Explain this fully. Do you agree? 



5. "Until the railway service of the United States became finally 

 and fully connected East and West (about 1861) the greater part of 

 the substantial food of each community was of necessity produced 

 within a short distance of the populous centre. Under these condi- 

 tions the best land of each state, near towns and cities, was neces- 

 sarily devoted to the production of the coarser staples, i.e., Indian 

 corn, hay, meat, potatoes, and the like. When distribution became 

 less costly, those coarser and more bulky products of agriculture 

 became border crops, and much land which had previously been 

 devoted to their production in the East was now released and became 

 used for market gardens, small fruits, and such purposes." Was 

 there an economic gain to society from this process ? Was there a 

 benefit to eastern landowners ? to western landowners ? to workmen 

 (a) in their cost of living? (b) in their industrial opportunities? 

 (c) otherwise? 



6. "The agricultural promotion projects of railroad companies 

 include, not only efforts to make farms yield greater returns and to 

 increase the number of farmers, but also efforts to make more land 

 available for farming purposes." May the zeal of the roads to get 

 traffic lead to the opening up of unprofitable or less profitable areas ? 

 May it lead to local or to general overproduction ? A grower writes: 

 "You railroad people have got us to raise a whole lot of stuff and now 

 we can't sell it." Is such a difficulty temporary or permanent? 

 What was the economic benefit or harm wrought by Mr. J. J. Hill's 

 agricultural development work ? 



7. In a certain Red River Valley community in i860, "the 

 principal crops as measured by the number of bushels in order of their 

 importance were corn ( !) , potatoes, oats, wheat, and rye. Small quan- 

 tities of butter, cheese, tobacco, maple sugar, barley, hay, and 

 slaughtered animals were also produced. This period of diversified 

 agriculture lasted until about 1876. After that more railroads and 

 cheaper freight rates brought the one-crop system and the bonanza 

 farms for which the Red River Valley is famous." Can we lay the 

 blame for the one-crop system on the railroad in general ? Was there 

 an economic gain to the people of the United States when the Red 



