194 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 
of fruit. This, extending through a period of about 
eight months, would mean an average shipment of 3,500 
cars a month, or 100 cars and over a day. As it would 
require from 8 to 12 days for these cars to reach their 
destination, that would mean from 800 to 1,000 cars on 
the road at one time. The traffic department’s business 
is to look after these cars and be able to advise the gen- 
eral management at any time where each car is in its 
progress along the railroad. 
The Legal Department is purely concerned with the 
business of the law in connection with the management 
of the exchange. It looks up questions of law. The in- 
terpretations of state laws, also national tariffs affect- 
ing its business and the attending of hearings before 
the Interstate Commerce Commission are also impor- 
tant duties. In the small exchanges this simply would 
constitute a lawyer from some well-known firm who is 
retained to handle this business, but in the larger organ- 
izations it is necessary to have a department for this 
work. 
An illustration of the power of the legal department 
perhaps can be cited in the following case: A Cali- 
fornia industry has its strongest competitor in a lemon 
district of southern Italy. The tariff up to the time 
of Taft’s administration averaged $1 a crate on lemons. 
The railroad charged approximately $1 a crate freight 
from the Western coast to the Eastern markets. During 
Taft’s administration, when the tariff was revised, 
through the efforts of a protective league, the legal de- 
partment of the Western exchanges was able to have 
the tariff raised to $1.50 a box for imported lemons. Im- 
mediately, the railroad handling the citrus fruit raised 
