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them there on the fourth day. We want them there on the fifth day. 

 We don't want them to take six, seven, eight, or nine days. The fruit 

 is packed to stand the five days' shipment, and it is expected under 

 ordinary circumstances to arrive at the point of destination in fairly 

 good condition at the end of five days. Now, with the assurance on the 

 part of the railroad companies that we can have a five-day time from 

 Sacramento to Chicago, and equivalent points, I believe that the ques- 

 tion is to a great extent solved, which we have been talking about in 

 this meeting. It is the prompt service that we require, more than the 

 price, in my judgment. And not only that, we want a positive assur- 

 ance that we will get the service, as I told Mr. Smurr last summer 

 when he told me that they would run a ten-car train provided we would 

 load the cars. I told him to give us the assurance that the ten-car 

 train would be sent out, and we would very soon have it loaded. 



Mr. Curtis: There seems to be no insuperable difficulty connected 

 with this matter. As, however, the question will have to be taken up 

 again with our Eastern connections for the next season's business, my 

 suggestion is that the committee bring these questions up when they 

 come together with our people in San Francisco. It certainly would 

 seem, as you say, that it can be arranged, and that it ought to be 

 arranged; perhaps not an absolutely guaranteed time, but there is no 

 reason, no physical reason, why such special trains may not be run and 

 get to Chicago with as little delay as is met with by passenger trains. 



Mr. Motheral: We of Tulare, Kings, and Fresno counties are away 

 from Sacramento. We have to start our trains from those counties 

 to Sacramento. Now we have a great deal of difficulty in getting 

 proper service. I would like to ask if there can be any such arrange- 

 ment as will enable us to get our fruit to Sacramento in time. 



Mr. Curtis: The difficulty is to get ten-car trains. A single car put 

 in among other freight cars sometimes gets delayed. There is no diffi- 

 culty in the company taking care of a special train. If your business 

 could be developed to ten-car minimum trains, it would certainly seem 

 that it ought to be taken care of, and I am authorized to say that we 

 will take care of it just the same as other similarly expedited business. 



Mr. Motheral: Would it not be possible to make Sacramento a cen- 

 tral point to which all these trains would go and be sent from there ? 

 We had our cars side-tracked, some of them, and they stood there two 

 or three days. 



Mr. Curtis: Was not that during the strike troubles? We were in 

 very great distress in our business at that time, and for six weeks it was 

 impossible to get our trains moved properly. It was impossible to give 

 our patrons the service they were entitled to. 



Mr. Motheral: I can say that it is not so much what we lose in 

 overcharge, as it is what we lose in delay. There must be something 

 done. We must either make some central point at which all the freight 

 of our section can be received, or we must wait until we can have suffi- 

 ciently developed our industries to make trains for ourselves. 



Mr. Curtis: My suggestion as to that would be that this matter 

 should be put into the hands of your committee. 



Mr. Buck: In regard to what Mr. Motheral says, I know what he 

 says to be true, from the fact that I have had considerable to do with 

 the shipping of green fruit from Sacramento. All of us who happen to 

 live outside of Sacramento are somewhat unfortunate. We have to get 



