REDUCTION OF WASTE IN MARKETING 
In a similar way other large shippers 
keep in close touch with the progress of 
a car on its way to market, at the same 
time keeping informed as to the prices 
and relative supplies in different cities 
and towns. 
For produce moving from the South 
northward many of the principal points 
of diversion are along the Ohio and Po- 
tomac rivers, but the route of a car may 
be changed at any one of a large number 
of railroad junction points. Cairo, Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati, and Potomac Yard (near 
Washington) are important points from 
which these shipments are distributed 
among various destinations. 
Between Hastern markets and producing 
regions in the far West and Southwest 
the chief points of diversion include Min- 
nesota Transfer (between St. Paul and 
Minneapolis), Council Bluffs, Chicago, 
and St. Louis. Over one route from Cen- 
tral California to the Hast the principal 
points from which one leading shippers’ 
association receives “passing” reports are 
Roseville and Truckee in California, Og- 
den, Council Bluffs and Chicago. <A Cin- 
cinnati firm may receive notice of a Flor- 
ida shipment when the car passes Jack- 
sonville, Atlanta, and Chattanooga, and 
another notice just before the arrival at 
Cincinnati. On peaches shipped by this 
fast-freight service to Northeastern mar- 
kets from Tampa, a car’s progress over 
a certain route is reported from Jackson- 
ville, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Columbia, S. 
C.; Hamlet and Raleigh, N. C.; Rich- 
mond and Potomac Yard, Va. 
The service of diversion includes not 
only changing the destination of a car 
in transit, but forwarding it to a destin- 
ation beyond the one originally named. 
For instance, a car shipped to Cincin- 
nati may be forwarded under certain con- 
ditions to Indianapolis for unloading; or, 
it is reported, a car consigned to a given 
town may be partly unloaded there and 
the remainder of the consignment sent 
on to another town. This, however, costs 
more in freight than would a direct ship- 
ment of a full carload to one market. 
1333 
How a Car Is Diverted 
Conditions on one route will illustrate 
how the system of reporting car move- 
ments may be used by a patron of the rail- 
road. Suppose a dealer in Chicago, on a 
Thursday morning, wishes to know the 
location of a carload of tomatoes which 
were shipped to him the morning before 
from Crystal Springs, Miss. He makes 
the request of the railroad company’s 
agent in Chicago, giving the initial and 
number of the car and the date and place 
of shipment. On consulting the “pass- 
ing” reports it is found that this car, 
known in transit by the symbol “CS-4,” 
passed Fulton, Ky., at 6 a. m. that day 
(Thursday) and would be due at Cairo, 
Ill., at 8:30 a. m., or, let it be assumed, 
about an hour after the time the dealer 
made inquiry. It would be due in Chica- 
go Friday at 4:50 a. m. With this infor- 
mation the dealer knows that, if he de- 
sires to divert the car, he may select dne 
of a number of markets located north of 
the Ohio river. He knows that there is 
a large movement of tomatoes toward 
Chicago and believes that the prices on 
Friday will be better in some other places 
than in Chicago on the day his produce 
is due on the market. He has already 
received news from some points. An as- 
sociate in St. Louis may have telegraphed 
the evening before that the supply al- 
ready in that market, together with what 
was due to arrive on Thursday, would 
be about as much as could be sold at 
fair prices; that, if more was received, 
prices would probably be low. On the 
other hand, a report from Indianapolis 
may indicate good prices for Friday 
morning, better ones than are promised 
in Chicago for that day; so the Chicago 
dealer orders the car to be diverted to 
Indianapolis. He may wait until 3 p. m. 
Thursday before reaching this decision, 
so that he may hear from other markets, 
Meanwhile the car has been moving north- 
ward. The order for diversion is sent by 
the superintendent of transportation to 
the proper official at Effingham, MIIl., 
where the car is due to arrive about 5:45 
p. m., and where transfers are regularly 
