Vol.  LX XV. 
Ruined  by  Careless  Express  Handling 
The  Plain  Statement  of  an  Egg  Shipper 
| The  following  .statement  is  made  by  a  reputable 
man  who  has  the  fuels  to  support  bis  statements.  We 
print  it  to  call  attention  to  a  great  evil  which  many 
farmers  and  pmillrymen  will  recognize.  If  this  case 
is  an  isolated  one  we  want  to  know  it.  If.  as  we  be¬ 
lieve,  there  are  many  others  who  have  suffered  in  the 
same  way.  we  want  the  facts — plainly  and  clearly 
s  ated — and  we  will  do  what  we  can  to  start  a  move¬ 
ment  for  reform.] 
STARTING  A  Pit  TV  ATE  TRADE.— I  moved,  with 
my  family,  from  our  former  home  in  New  Jer¬ 
sey  to  Maryland,  there  buying  a  small  place  which 
I  purposed  to  use  for  the  production  of  first-class 
eggs  for  shipment  direct  to  private  families  in  and 
about  the  city  of  New  York.  My  reason  for  select¬ 
ing  New  York  and  vicinity  as  a  market  was  that  I 
NEW  YORK.  JUNE  24.  11)16. 
suiting  annoyances,  until  today,  instead  of  having 
a  flock  of  1000  or  more  hens,  I  have  little  over  100. 
It  did  not  seeiu  wise  to  continue  producing  eggs 
merely  for  the  express  company  to  destroy,  and  it 
was  of  no  use  to  try  to  get  new  customers,  when 
I  was  nimble  to  deliver  safely  to  the  old,  so  my 
clientele  now  consists  of  just  three  private  cus¬ 
tomers  who  are  all  relatives  and  who  I  presume 
continue  to  take  my  eggs  in  the  effort  to  aid  me. 
This  sort  of  thing  has  been  going  on  for  over  four 
years,  during  which  time  T  have  had  constant  as¬ 
surances  from  all  sorts  of  express  company  officials 
that  the  service  would  be  made  satisfactory.  These 
assurances,  made  in  apparent  good  faith,  induced 
me  to  go  on  year  after  year,  in  the  hope  of  better 
things. 
RESULTANT  LOSSES. — It  is  needless  to  say  that 
No.  4:133. 
a  short  time  ago,  seven  dozen  eggs  out  of  eight 
dozen  were  hopelessly  smashed  and  of  a  crate  sent 
to  replace  this  one,  10  more  were  frozen  and  de- 
st  royed. 
FIXING  THE  BLAME.— The  fault  does  not,  as 
may  be  supposed,  lie  with  the  crates.  That  has 
been  demonstrated  in  many  ways.  Further,  the  e.r- 
press  company  officiattn  admit*  it*  inability  to  de¬ 
liver  eggs  safely  in  Yew  York  City.  I  believe  that  is 
so.  for  another  official  assures  me  that  the  eggs 
reach  New  York  in  perfect  order.  Certain  facts, 
known  to  me,  corroborate  that  statement.  It  seems 
to  me  a  travesty  on  justice  if  this  great  corpora¬ 
tion  can,  through  the  ignorance,  stupidity  and  in¬ 
competence  of  its  officials,  cause  the  complete  fin¬ 
ancial  ruin  of  a  law-abiding  citizen  and  liis  family. 
Yet  this  is  what  has  happened,  for  we  are  com- 
June  Days  on  a  Maine  Farm,  where  the  Heavy  Rains  have  Delayed  Spring  Work.  Fig.  349 
had  a  considerable  acquaintance  there,  and  h  id  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that  I  could  readily  dispose  of 
all  my  product,  and  at  good  prices.  I  had  no  doubt 
that.  I  could  produce  and  sell  eggs  at  a  profit,  be¬ 
cause  I  had  already  done  so  in  New  Jersey.  rPhe 
time  came  when  I  was  able  to  produce  eggs  in  a 
commercial  way.  As  expected,  I  secured  the  cus¬ 
tomers  but,  from  the  very  first,  my  attempts  at 
shipping  the  eggs  in  care  of  a  great  (express  com¬ 
pany,  resulted  in  disaster.  While  in  the  hands  of 
the  express  company  the  eggs  were  smashed,  they 
were  stolen,  my  first-class  eggs  wore  taken  out  and 
inferior  ones  substituted,  and  my  crates  were  han¬ 
dled  in  a  criminally  careless  manner,  resulting  in 
unreasonable  damages  to  them. 
LOSS  OF  TRADE.— I  laid  a  very  satisfactory  list 
of  customers  at  the  start,  but  one  by  one  they 
dropped  off,  because  of  the  constant  losses  ami  ro¬ 
under  such  conditions  1  lost  money,  in  cousequenco 
ol  which  our  place  has  become  heavily  mortgaged. 
In  buying  it.  I  did  so  with  the  sole  idea  of  utiliz¬ 
ing  it  for  a  poultry  plant  and  our  money  was  spent 
on  it.  accordingly.  Unless  the  place  can  he  used  for 
the  plumose  intended,  its  value  is  much  lessened.  As 
the  express  company  lias,  by  its  inability  to  perform 
the  service  for  which  l  pay  it  (always  in  advance) 
destroyed  m,v  egg  business,  it  has  also  rendered  my 
investment  there  of  no  value.  There  is  no  other 
way  in  which  I  can  use  the  place,  that  I  know  of, 
in  order  to  make  a  living.  Consequently,  I  have 
been  obliged  to  leave  home  and  secure  employment 
elsewhere,  while  my  wife  carries  on  the  remnant 
of  my  business.  Today,  after  all  this  time  and  after 
all  the  assurances  that  1  have  received  from  ex¬ 
press  company  officials  of  good  service,  conditions 
are  im  better  than  they  were  four  years  ago.  Only 
polled  to  offer  our  place  for  s«.lo  and  take  what  we 
can  get  for  it.  which  will  he  little  or  nothing,  be¬ 
cause  the  express  company  makes  if  impossible  tj 
use  it  for  that  which  it  is  best  fitted. 
THE  SEARCH  FOR  REDRESS.— The  law  can¬ 
not  help  us.  Our  State  1‘uhiic  Service  Commission 
is  without  jurisdiction,  so  is  the  Interstate  Com¬ 
merce  Commission.  L  tried  to  interest  our  Congress¬ 
man,  with  the  idea  of  having  a  law  enacted  that 
would  prevent  others  being  ruined  as  have  L  He 
said  he  would  do  what  he  could,  which  in  effect 
means  nothing.  Of  our  F.  S.  Senators,  one  was  too 
busy  to  he  seen,  though  he  lias  since  solicited  my 
vote.  The  other  gave  me  2U>  minutes  of  his  val¬ 
uable  time,  informing  me  that  the  government  had 
given  me  ample  redress  through  the  parcel  post 
law.  I  got  a  statement  of  my  case  as  near  to  the 
President  of  the  United  Stales  as  his  private  sec- 
