Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/181

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE FARMER AND THE RAILROAD

siderably more than doubled their returns from a single crop. Divided among the 308,141 farms in these three states in 1910, this increased harvest would have brought each farmer an additional $829.13, or a premium of $829 in one year for doing as thorough and productive farming as is done in the United Kingdom.

The business in which the farmer is engaged is the most important in the United States. The business of second importance is that of transportation, which I represent. The two are very closely related, and the success of agriculture means the success of the railroad, for it hauls what the farmer produces and consumes. The farmer is equally dependent upon the railroad, for without transportation he could not market his product, and his success depends upon the regularity and adequacy of the transportation available to him and the fairness of the rates. The close interrelation of

these two businesses is less appreciated than it should be. The farmer should not be led into the error of believing that the railroad is trying

153