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peach orchards of Central California. As a matter of fact the freight 

 rates are precisely the same, $1 25 per hundred. They are $1 25 a 

 hundred from Los Angeles to Chicago and $1 25 per hundred from San 

 Jose to Chicago. The Southern Pacific Company has not one dollar of 

 interest in any refrigerator company or in any ice company associated 

 in the business. We are only interested in the carrying, and we only 

 collect our transportation rates. Mr. Block wants to learn regarding 

 Oregon rates. I am supposed to be kept informed in regard to those 

 rates, and my information is to the effect that they have been main- 

 taining the same rates on green fruits to the East as the California 

 roads, namely: $1 25 for 100 pounds, or in other words, $250 a car. 

 In the matter of refrigerating there is a difference. I have not the cir- 

 culars on this subject at hand, but my impression is that the railroad 

 companies will have refrigerator cars to turn over to the shippers. If 

 ice is furnished by the railroad company it is, if I remember right, at 

 a nominal price, and shippers take the chances of the refrigeration 

 being attended to in transit. Here in California the refrigeration 

 people own their own cars and look after the fruit; they regard it as 

 absolutely necessary, and my judgment is that it is necessary. But 

 there is another feature that should be taken into consideration in com- 

 paring these rates. Thus far the Southern Pacific has managed to keep 

 out of the hands of receivers, and we hope in the future to continue to 

 do so, and we believe you hope to have us do so, because it would 

 destroy every industry of magnitude should the Southern Pacific 

 Company be compelled to go into the hands of a receiver. We aim to 

 make such rates as will enable us to move the maximum amount of 

 produce at minimum rates. When the market conditions will not 

 enable us to get the higher rate we take as low a rate as necessary to 

 move the business and as consistent with the circumstances. If we can 

 only get a trifle above cost we are willing to move the freight. If we 

 make lower rates it is not with any desire to emulate the example of 

 the Northern Pacific, because we do not want to get where they are. 

 We want to keep out of the hands of receivers. 



Touching the making of rates to the East on the postage-stamp 

 proposition, as we term it. Some reference has been made to the rate 

 to Denver being the same as to Chicago. That is a matter of competi- 

 tion. We make the rate to Chicago to meet specific competition; the 

 rate from Jacksonville, Florida, to Chicago is 85 cents per 100 pounds. 

 The rate is $1 25 from California to Chicago. As a matter of fact this 

 is a much lower rate per mile to Chicago from California than from 

 Florida, although it costs us from 30 to 40 per cent more to do business. 

 It is true that we make the same rates from California to Denver that 

 we do to Chicago. We do not work on the postage-stamp plan as a prin- 

 ciple, but consider that the question of competition to be met is a factor 

 in regulating or determining rates. As I have said, this Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission, which is a recognized authority, says that it costs 

 practically one cent per ton per mile to carry freight. But we are car- 

 rying the produce of California to-day, taking it all in all, from the 

 lowest rate to the highest, at less than the average cost, and the South- 

 ern Pacific Company is doing this carrying and has managed up to this 

 time to keep alive. 



A Voice: How do you stand it ? 



