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INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



to conclude that discrimination in rates has not recently been 

 practiced. 



The same difficulty arises in the question of the distribution 

 and setting of cars. The small producer is likely to think there 

 is discrimination if he does not get cars when he wants them ; 

 but in reply it is stated that the railway is perfectly fair in its 

 distribution, although it is natural that the small shipper may 

 often fail to get cars if the supply is less than the demand. It 

 is impossible to ascertain the truth in this matter, but here also 

 the charges of discrimination are much fewer than the denials 

 of it, which at least suggests that it is neither frequent nor fla- 

 grant. The fact that some of the railways, through their direc- 

 tors, are interested in a number of the quarries, increases the 

 tendency towards belief in the existence of discrimination of both 

 kinds. 



In some respects the oolitic limestone industry presents a 

 peculiarly fertile field in which to apply those economies in the 

 use of material which are so characteristic of modern large-scale 

 industry. Not only does the accumulation of waste stone about 

 a quarry represent a loss in labor and wear of machinery inci- 

 dent to its quarrying, but there is often an absolute loss in the 

 space it occupies. Hence it is that so much stone is practically 

 given away at the quarries, or sold at merely nominal prices 

 which hardly cover the cost of loading. Much stone unsuited 

 for the superstructure of buildings can, of course, be worked into 

 stone for flagging and curbing, but larger quantities are sold at 

 low prices for foundation or bridge work, or for use as riprap, 

 or are crushed for use as road-metal. Of late an increasing 

 quantity has been sold for flux in iron furnaces. For this pur- 

 pose the stone must be broken into medium-sized spalls, and this 

 means of disposing of the waste often affords a slight profit over 

 the cost of preparing and loading. However, only furnaces hav- 

 ing direct railway connections -with the stone belt can purchase 

 the waste for this use. The Illinois Steel Company uses consid- 

 erable quantities of it, and then works the slag up into a sort 

 of cement. 



Very few of the quarry companies have made any attempt to 

 utilize their waste stone in by-products. Some have rock crush- 

 ers at their quarries. The Bedford Belt Railway was ballasted 

 with stone crushed by the Bedford Quarries Company, and is 

 one of the best ballasted roads in the State. However, the 



i« Ind. Geol. Report, xxi, 336. 



