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for nothing and take ten to fifteen days' time to deliver it in, as they have 

 done heretofore. When the committee meets the railroad people I would 

 rather they would make a proposition to have the rate of transportation 

 fixed at a certain figure for a schedule time of five days, and for every 

 day over that time that there should be a reduction of $50 a car. If the 

 rate from Sacramento to Chicago is $250 a car, and the time agreed on is 

 five days, then if they take six days they should collect but $200; if they 

 take seven days, then $150; if eight days, $100. Then they will have an 

 incentive to bring the fruit in on time. Our losses have come more from 

 their manner of doing business, where they have promised five days and 

 taken nine and ten, than from the high rates they have charged. I think 

 the question of time is more important than the question of rate. I think 

 there should be an understanding with the railroad company that what- 

 ever understanding they make they will live up to. If they agree to give 

 a five-day time on a ten-car train, and they have to lose $50 on every car 

 for every day over time, that will make $500 a day on that train, and 

 that amount will make them very careful that cars are not side-tracked 

 while on the road. 



[R. D. Stephens in the chair.] 



Mr. H. E. Parker, of Placer: I wish to correct the impression that we 

 are all bankrupt. We are not; neither are we all mortgaged. W r e have 

 made money in the past in the fruit industry, and we have made plenty 

 of it, too. But, unfortunately, during the last year or two we have not 

 been so successful, and particularly this year, owing to outside circum- 

 stances, and one thing particularly has been the high rates of transporta- 

 tion. There have been other causes. I want to say that we in our county 

 represent one fourth of all the green fruit (deciduous) shipments of this 

 State. Placer Count}' ships about 1,500 carloads of green deciduous 

 fruits, while the State ships about 6,000. Therefore, I feel that if there 

 is any complaint to be made in regard to excessive charges we have a 

 right to bring them. We feel that it is right that those who are suffering 

 under these excessive rates shall demand — I say demand — that they be 

 reduced. W T e have begged long enough. We have begged the railroad 

 company in the years that are past. We have gone before them with 

 abject mien and asked: " Won't you please do this for us?" But, gentle- 

 men, the day has come when we can do this no longer. We cannot do it 

 consistently with our own interest, with our own safety, with that of our 

 industry, the greatest industry of this State. And therefore we must 

 bring before the public, no matter how hard the facts may strike us, no 

 matter how discouraging they may be, we must tell the public and the 

 world, too, and the railroad company in particular, what these things are, 

 and that they cannot exist any longer. 



Now, there are several questions which ought to be brought before the 

 convention, which we feel have been neglected. I am told that they can 

 ship a carload of oranges from Los Angeles to Chicago for $60 a car less 

 than we have to pay for our peaches. They can do that, and they are 

 making money. I suppose you all know that the railroad company has 

 made $2,000,000 this summer out of our fruit industry for their services. 

 And what have we made? We find that in Placer we are not the only 

 sufferers in regard to excessive freight rates. There is a gentleman pres- 

 ent who says he shipped 6,000 boxes of pears to the Eastern market, and 

 the returns are $1,100 less than the charges on the shipments. I could 

 bring before you numberless instances. A great many have lost their 



