70 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



Reliable and cheap transportation is essential 

 to agriculture because it is only through the 

 easy flow of products that consumption is en- 

 couraged and the market expanded. The cost 

 of transportation to the farmer is not repre- 

 sented by freight rates alone, but by the effect 

 upon his industry of the development of trans- 

 portation systems of various forms, railroads, 

 waterways and an ocean shipping system, which 

 costs may be reflected in taxes or in a difference 

 in the price of seed for the product he has to 

 sell. 



When prices increased with the beginning of 

 the war, freight rates advanced slowly, and like- 

 wise since the period of high prices, they have 

 remained high and are declining altogether 

 too slowly. Experts agree that we should have 

 a system of adjusting rates which will put them 

 up when prices are high and the industries can 

 stand a high cost of transportation and also 

 make corresponding prompt reductions when 

 prices decline. The tendency, however, when 

 rates advance is for all interested parties, the 

 railroads, the railway workers and the sub- 

 sidiaries to the railroads, to keep rates at the 

 higher level as long as possible. 



The evil of the situation during the past few 



