6oo Freight Charges on United States Wheat, [jan., 



The advantage enjoyed by the British farmer in the produc- 

 tion of wheat owing to his proximity to the home market was 



estimated in this Journal (June, 1903, 

 Freight Charges on p. 91) to amount at that time to from 

 United States Wheat. 15s. to 20s. per ton, or 3s. 2d. to 4s. 4^. 



per quarter, in the case of the bulk of 

 the United States grain coming through the Atlantic ports. 

 These figures represented broadly the cost of transport from 

 some of the great interior markets, like Chicago or St. Louis, 

 to Liverpool, but were exclusive of charges incurred by the 

 American farmer in moving his crop from the farm to the central 

 market. A recent investigation by Mr. Frank Andrews of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture shows that these 

 latter expenses may easily exceed, as they frequently do in 

 Great Britain, the whole cost of the long distance transport. 



The average cost of carrying wheat from the farms in the 

 United States to the local railway stations was ascertained 

 from returns from 1,051 wheat-producing counties to be /\\d. 

 (9 cents) per 100 lb., or 2\d. (5 -4 cents) per bushel. The actual 

 cost to an individual farmer at a given time may vary greatly ; 

 he may cart his wheat when he has nothing else to do and when 

 his horses would otherwise be idle, or he may be compelled to 

 carry it at a time and under conditions which involve no little 

 sacrifice of labour and expense. In order to arrive at the 

 average value it was assumed as a basis that in any given 

 community the usual cost per day of hiring wagon, horses and 

 driver is a fair measure in that community of the average outlay 

 of capital and labour required to perform the work. The 

 average cost as stated above, was found to be ^\d. per 100 lb., 

 but in the North Central States it was \<L. (8 cents) ; in Kansas, 

 Ohio, Indiana and Michigan it was 3d. (6 cents) ; in Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska it was ^\d. (7 cents) ; 

 in Missouri \\d. (9 cents) ; in North Dakota $d. (10 cents) ; in 

 South Dakota $\d. (11 cents); and $d. (10 cents) in the wheat 

 region west of the Rocky Mountains. The higher rates are 

 largely due to the long distances over which the grain has to 

 be carried. 



From the regions east of the Rocky Mountains large quanti- 

 ties of the grain are gathered into such interior cities as Min- 

 neapolis, Chicago and Kansas City. The mean of the railway 



