rates in the United States; and that their chief idea is to fix them high. Nothing can be further from the truth. A railroad rate is the result of a large number of commercial and geographical forces and conditions working one upon the other, consultation between shipper and railroads, consultation between officers of one railroad and another, a study of all the conditions surrounding the problem,—of the density or volume of business, of grades, engines, car-supply, and cost,—and this process is going on every day among thousands of railroad officers and shippers.
Another element that is effective in the direction of causing a gradual reduction in rates, if the railroads are left reasonably free, is the fact that railroad transportation cannot be stored up and saved for future use. The railroad-owner and manager never can strike an exact balance between the demand for transportation and the supply. He has, therefore, on his hands at all times some unused transportation,—empty cars standing on side-tracks, engines waiting in round-houses, a
