﻿OOLITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY 



83 



stone centers, especially in Chicago, and a few are in the region 

 of production. A broker is not as a rule employed by one con- 

 cern only, but by several. When a contract for stone is to be 

 let, he distributes specifications to the various companies, who 

 then make their bids. The brokers are paid by commission and 

 handle almost all the sales. 



The Bedford stone is of such wide popularity that the indus- 

 try seldom suffers for want of purchasers. New York City is 

 probably the chief single market for the stone ; but many pro- 

 ducers consciously seek to broaden their markets, in order that 

 the effect of local conditions may be minimized. For example, 

 the building trades strike of 1903 in New York injured that mar- 

 ket during its continuance, and many companies suffered a tem- 

 porary loss through inability to shift quickly their sales to other 

 markets. Some producers do not cultivate the eastern market 

 at all, preferring to ship their stone west and south and to 

 smaller markets generally, where, as they think, they are not so 

 likely to lose because of local industrial conditions. Chicago is 

 perhaps the chief secondary market for the stone, and serves as 

 the distributing center for the greater part of the entire product. 

 The stone finds purchasers in all parts of the United States and 

 in Canada, and is even shipped to South America. 



Transportation rates, so far as is known, have not varied for 

 many years; certainly there has been no change in the past dec- 

 ade. The rates appear to be fair; at least complaints are few, 

 although it is said that the quarries at Salem and Corydon have 

 been forced by high freight rates to suspend operations. The 

 schedule' per hundred pounds to the principal markets follows: 



New York 28 cents 



Chicago 11 cents 



Indianapolis 7 cents 



It is very difficult to learn whether or not discrimination in 

 rates is practiced. Some of the smaller producers suspect it ; 

 the larger ones think there is none of it. That discrimination did 

 exist some years ago, there is little doubt. One producer states 

 that he used to get a sufficient amount in rebates to run his busi- 

 ness, but that he can no longer get them. Recently it was ru- 

 mored that one of the largest concerns v/as receiving rebates, 

 but an agent of a competing concern made an investigation of 

 the rumor, and satisfied himself that it was false. It seems fair 



1" Ind. GeoL Report, xxvii, 104. 

 [4—247841 



