DEMUEKAGE liSTFOKMATION FOE FAEMEES. 15 



has to purchase them. An indirect and remote advantage accrues 

 when he is selhng on commission such of them as grain, hay, or 

 potatoes. The agricultural products on which additional time is 

 allowed in Florida are cabbage, cottonseed, cottonseed hulls, ferti- 

 lizer material, potatoes, and seed cotton. Minnesota grants addi- 

 tional time on fruit and vegetables. South Carolina provides more 

 Hberally for agricultare by granting additional time on bran, cotton- 

 seed, cottonseed hulls, cottonseed meal, fertilizers, fertilizer material, 

 grain, hay, meal, mill feed, bulk apples, and bulk potatoes. 



Additional time is allowed in some States to consignees located a 

 certain distance from the station. In Alabama from 4 to 6 days are 

 allowed for distances of 3 miles or more. In Arkansas a maximum 

 of 5 days is allowed for 5 miles and over. Mississippi allows 5 days 

 for distances of from 3 to 10 miles and 7 days for distances over 10 

 miles. Oklahoma allows 72 hours for distances greater than 5 miles. 

 South Carolina allows more time for distances greater than 4 miles. 

 Texas allows 96 hours for distances greater than 5 miles. 



As a matter of practical business there is little justification for 

 allowing additional time on certain excepted commodities. So far as 

 the labor of loading and unloading is concerned, a carload of any of 

 the special commodities mentioned above can easily be loaded or 

 unloaded in the 48 hours allowed on other commodities. A sliding 

 scale of timie varying with the quantity of the carload is more reason- 

 able, but in both cases the real reason for shippers wanting more 

 time usually has no connection with the actual time necessary to load 

 or unload a car. Usually it springs from a desire to shift elsewhere 

 an item of expense that should properly be borne by the shipper's 

 business. 



At first glance the regulations of those States that base the length 

 of time on the distance from the station would seem to be the most 

 logical. A close examination, however, reveals the fact that none 

 of them appUes the principle consistently in detail. Texas, for in- 

 stjince, allows 90 hours for distances greater than 5 miles. If 96 

 hours is u reasonable period of time to aUow for loading or unloading 

 a car when the shipper is located 6 miles from the station, it is cer- 

 taiidy not reasonable for u shipper located at a distance of 10 miles 

 or 20 miles. 



Instead of asking for long periods of "free time" in which to load 

 and uidoad th(;ir carload shipments, and then using aU of it merely 

 because! it is "free," it wijidd be a distinct economic gain and an 

 advantage to aU shipyxTs if Llic farmers would insist on some of the 

 pres<!nt periods Ix-irig siioi-tcruid uud would us(5 c.yvry cd'ort to rciduco 

 car d(!t(;ntioii to tlu; actual time needed for loading or unloading a 

 ciiv. Cooperative! associations could solve the prohjein for those who 

 live long distances from tlic; luilroad hy erecting warehouses at a 



