24 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
“TRANSPORTATION” 
By Charles Sizemore, Chairman Transportation Committee, 
American Association of Nurserymen, Louisiana, Missouri. 
Read Before the Meeting of the Western Association of Nurserymen, Kansas City, Mo. 
I N going down the street one day recently. I was almost 
deluged by a sprinkling wagon. After I had. in a 
measure, recovered from the temper into which the 
driver’s carelessness had thrown me, it suddenly dawned 
on me that this was one kind of business that prospered 
from the little leaks. Upon taking another look at the 
sprinkling wagon, l discovered that out of the very small 
holes in the sprinkling attachment there came enough 
water to make necessary three large pipes connecting 
this sprinkling attachment with the tank. 
This incident served to emphasize in my mind, the im¬ 
portance of looking out for the little leaks in the average 
man's business—particularly in the traffic end of it. 
Many shippers of freight and receivers as well give 
practically no thought to this part of their business 
simply because it has been their practice to pass the 
charges along to the ultimate consumer without regard 
to the question as to whether these charges were right 01 
wrong. Such a practice, however, is becoming more 
and more difficult of successful execution simply because 
of the fact that the ultimate consumer in an ever-increas¬ 
ing number is now giving heed, not only to the cost of 
what he buys, but also to the cost of having his purchase 
put into his possession. 
You gentlemen are all. of course, familiar with the 
different provisions of the classification on nursery 
stock, and you take advantage of the fact that the L. C. L. 
rates are less when the stock is put in barrels and boxes 
than when it is put in crates, and that it is less when put 
in crates than when put in bundles. You know the pro¬ 
visions of the Classification with reference to guarantee¬ 
ing of charges, as well as with those concerning demur¬ 
rage. switching, storage, etc. You know when to order 
a 36-foot ear. and what happens if a car larger than you 
ordered is supplied by the carrier because of its inability 
to supply you what you have asked for. so that it would 
be folly for me in this kind of a talk to attempt to tell you 
anything along this particular line. 
I am sure, however, you will agree that too much em¬ 
phasis cannot be put upon the subject of proper packing, 
on proper marking and upon care in the routing of your 
freight. I appreciate the fact that to use unduly heavy 
lumber in the making of boxes and crates or the use of 
more wet moss than is absolutely necessary, makes an 
increase in the weight of your shipments, thus bringing 
about increased freight charges: but the disappointment 
of one customer through receipt by him of dried out or 
otherwise damaged stock w ill frequently cause you to 
lose more than you would gain through skimping in the 
packing of a dozen shipments. 
You. of course, appreciate the fact that if you mark 
with tags they must be put on to some part of the box. 
bundle or crate so that thev will not be easilv torn off or 
so defaced that they cannot be read, and you also ap¬ 
preciate the fact, if these tags are put upon bundles, ink 
that will not run should, by all means, be used for the 
addresses. 
There is one thing that some shippers do that I have 
found from an experience of a good many years to be 
less than useless, and that is the indiscriminate tracing 
of freight shipments. I know of one shipper who traces 
every carload he fonvards, and he also traces a large per¬ 
centage of his less-than carload shipments, and lie tries 
to force the railways to give these tracers preferred at¬ 
tention by having printed across the top of them, in large 
red letters, this statement: “We have the tonnage to give 
for service. Handling our freight shipments and this 
tracer as well with the utmost dispatch is the service we 
demand in exchange for the tonnage.” 
Now, suppose every shipper in the country should at¬ 
tempt to follow this shipper’s example. The railways 
w ould centainly be put under a burden they should not 
be called upon to bear, and the very purpose for which 
a tracer should be started, would be defeated: for a 
tracer, as you will agree, is only intended as a method of 
finding and hurrying along a shipment that is not making 
as good time as it should, or that has become lost; and if 
all shippers adopted the plan referred to. no shipments 
would be expedited and no tracers would be of any ser¬ 
vice whatever. 
Another thing to be considered in connection with this 
particular shipper’s method of tracing his shipments is 
that it works a hardship upon every other shipper of 
freight using the lines of railway used by this particular 
man, for his threat, doubtless in many instances, brings 
him preferred attention and his shipments are not 
perishable. 
There is just one thing that I would urge upon you, 
and that is—never file an unjust claim, and when you 
have one that is right, be sure that every necessary docu¬ 
ment accompanies it. and then insist on its payment. I 
am sure every one of you has been in business long 
enough to know that fair dealing and a disposition to 
co-operate and to arbitrate differences pays better than 
does a disposition to be contrary and to insist upon your 
‘rights to the last ounce, and if what I have said shall 
have caused but one of you gentlemen to feel that you 
will, in future, be willing to meet the carriers half way, 
•to do what you can to enable them to earn a fair profit, 
to only order cars when you are ready to load them and 
to promptly unload cars when they are set into your 
place of business. I shall feel amply repaid for having 
presented these facts to you. 
