522 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



March, 1883, was only 10,251 miles open for traffic, which is less than 

 the construction of a single year in the United States. 



One point in the India question should not be forgotten. The recent 

 increase in exportation is largely due to recent extensions of the railway 

 system, and an enlargement of these facilities would render possible the 

 receipt of much larger export supplies. In this connection it is well to 

 remember that wheat is not the food grain of the India population, and, 

 therefore, the proportion available for export can be largely increased 

 under the stimulus of high prices. Should railway charges be reduced, 

 a similar result would follow. The following rates are quoted : 



Rate per ton. 



Delhi to Howrah on the East India Railway, 954 miles $7 64 



Lahore to Kurrachee, 821 miles 8 27 



Delhi to Bombay, over the RajputaDa Railway, 889 miles 9 11 



Jubbulpore to Bombay, 616 miles .* 7 23 



As compared with these rates, the average all-rail rate from Chicago 

 to New York, 913 miles by the shortest practicable route, was from 

 January 1 to November 1, 1883, 16.1 cents per bushel, or $G.01 per ton. 

 The average of the four Indian rates was a little less than one cent a 

 mile per ton, as against less than two-thirds of a cent on the lines be- 

 tween Chicago and New York. In other words, the average of the 

 four Indian rates is fully 50 per cent, higher than the rate on the Amer- 

 ican lines between these two cities ; while the advantage on the side 

 of the United States is very much greater still, if the Indian rates are 

 compared with our rates by lake and canal, or even by lake and rail, 

 the former being but little more than one-third of a cent, and the latter 

 being less than one-half a cent per ton per mile.* 



Mr. Baring points out that America also has an advantage over India 

 in other particulars connected with the movement of the grain to the 

 sea-board. He says : 



There is far less handling of the wheat between the fields and the hold of the ship 



in the former than in the latter country. The wheat is brought from the field into 

 storehouses, and thence shot in bulk into the wagons [freight cars], which are either 

 brought alongside the ship or to warehouses which lie close to the ship. In India, 

 on the other hand, wheat is brought from the field to a central station, say Cawupore, 

 is there bought by one trader (perhaps the agent of the shipping firm, perhaps 

 another intermediary) from another trader, who has bought it from the cultivator. 

 It is stored and bagged, then carted to a railway station, unloaded, stacked at the 

 station, and again unstacked to be loaded into the wagons [freight cars]. On arrival 

 at the port of shipment it is unloaded, stored, perhaps bought and sold once more, 

 then carted to the shore, and put on board either from a jetty or from a boat. 



The following figures in relation to the charges to which wheat is sub- 

 ject in the course of transportation are obtained from a report to the 

 State Department by United States Consul -General Mattson, of Cal- 

 cutta, dated December 23, 1882: 



Per bushel. 



From Punjab to Kurrachee, average distance 800 miles 25 cts. 



From Northwest Provinces and Pudh to Calcutta, average distance 700 miles. 18 " 



From Central Provinces to Bombay, average distance 460 miles 1G " 



From province to city of Bombay, average distance 150 miles 08 " 



To this cost must be added the charges of the middlemen at the inland bazar, which 

 will average 5 cents per bushel, aud the cost of bagging, shipping, and commission to 

 the exporter at the sea-port 8 cents more ; ditto, insurance aud landing charges in 

 London 5 cents, and ocean freight, which averages from Calcutta to London 30 cents 

 and from Bombay and Kurrachee 35 cents. 



* During the season of 1884 the rates by rail from Chicago to New York were con- 

 siderably lower than the above. 



