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stantly occur, the price at which transportation can be had is fluctuating and uncertain. Railroad managers are distrustful of each other and shippers all the while in doubt as to the rates secured by their competitors. Enormous sums are spent in purchasing business, and secret rates accorded far below the standard of published charges. The general public gets little benefit from these reductions, for concessions are mainly confined to the heavier shippers. All this augments the advantages of large capital and tends to the injury and often to the ruin of smaller dealers."

In discussing attempts of the Commission to extort the truth as to these practices from railroad officials, the following expressions are used by the Commission:

"The inquiry was greatly hampered by the disappearance of material witnesses;" and the "inability of several who did testify to recall transactions of then recent date." "All of the railway witnesses denied knowledge of any violation of the statute," but "it was nevertheless established that secret rate concessions had been generally granted on this traffic, and that the carriers had allowed larger rebates to some of the flour shippers than to others."

Several pages of the Report of 1898 are devoted to matter of this kind affecting many railroads, and some of the methods adopted to violate the act without detection are exposed. It is evident that the Commission believes that the entire railroad system of the country is permeated by frauds, by means of which the rich oppress the poor, but which the Commission is without power to remedy.

The farmers will do well to see that the Commission is clothed with the power, or that their congressmen tell them the reason why not.

3. STATISTICS OF RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES.

FROM THE REPORT OF THE U. S.

INTERSTATE

FOR 1898.

Total railway mileage, June 30, 1897

COMMERCE

Increase over previous year.

Total mileage, including side tracks and double tracks

Increase over previous year.

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$ 465,601,581 3,222,950 10,635,008,074

59,620

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The sums disbursed for interest on funded debt and for dividends represent

the net income of the roads. These were:

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These sums may therefore be taken as the actual current value of the railroads of the United States, regardless of their prospects for the future, the larger or the smaller sum being taken, according as one may believe, four, five, or six per cent to be the proper rate of interest. In this case, also, the net income is spread over the whole mileage, although some roads were operated at a loss. If we deduct from the total capitalization of the roads (stock and bonds) the amount of stock which paid no dividends, and is, to a great extent, doubtless, mostly "water," there remains the sum of $6,873,915,797, which is

very nearly the sum upon which five per cent interest was paid in 1897. Upon the average, therefore, railroad investments in America pay very well indeed, all this being free of taxes, or, at least, mostly free, and very much better than investments in farms. The wish of the railroad owners is to make the roads pay as good interest as possible upon their entire paper capitalization. It is the wish of the farmers and others that this should not happen, but that increasing business should be accompanied by such diminution of rates as will keep down revenue so that it no more than pays fair interest on actual and honest investment, reserving the "unearned increment" to the people. The railroad owners claim that they are entitled to the unearned increment because they took the risk of construction, and in many cases have lost money. That is one phase of the railroad question."

Appendix F.

COOPERATION.

I. COOPERATION AMONG FARMERS.

There are few statistics of cooperation among farmers in the United States for business purposes. There is probably much more of it than we know anything about. As is inevitable in the beginning of the practice, large numbers of societies are started without adequate foundation and amount to nothing. Still others start off well, but develop no staying qualities, and soon pass away. In many cases societies-especially cooperative creameries-are started by those who do not develop the business capacity to make them profitable, and so pass into the hands of better business men, as private concerns, while still retaining the cooperative title.

The purposes for which cooperative societies of farmers have been formed in this country, are, in the probable order of their relative importance, creameries, irrigating ditch companies, fire insurance companies, marketing societies, general stores, and flouring mills. Our decennial census reports ought to show the facts as to the progress of cooperative work, but thus far have not done so. I understand that there is a probability that some inquiry will be made as to these facts in the census of 1900. I am not able to find data from which to form any estimate of the present status of cooperation in the United States, and therefore do not attempt it.

I gathered, in 1898, for the United States Department of Agriculture, as good a list as was possible by correspondence, of the farmers' cooperative societies of California. It included seventy-three irrigating ditch companies (certainly incomplete), three flouring mills, and two fire insurance companies. It was impossible to obtain by correspondence a list of the cooperative creameries. Some of the granges and farmers' clubs do more or less purchasing for their members. There were once a good many cooperative stores, but none were ever managed on the Rochdale plan, and while some are still in existence and retain the cooperative title, if any remain really cooperative I do not know it.

The following is a list, very nearly correct, of the cooperative fruit marketing societies of California which actually did business in 1898, or are so organized as to give reasonable assurance of permanence. Quite a number of new ones are in process of organization; the sales of these societies, in 1898

1899 aggregated over $5,000,000, with a membership of something less than seven thousand. An estimate of the average capital of the members at $3,000 each would give a total product capital of $21,000,000.

Citrus Fruit Societies Selling through the Southern California Fruit Exchanges, 122 West Third Street, Los Angeles.

Duarte-Monrovia Fruit Exchange, Duarte.
San Antonio Fruit Exchange, Pomona.
Semi-Tropic Fruit Exchange, Los Angeles.
Azusa-Covina-Glendora Fruit Exchange, Azusa.
Riverside Fruit Exchange, Riverside.
San Bernardino Fruit Exchange, Colton.
Orange County Fruit Exchange, Orange.
Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, Corona.

Ontario-Cucamonga Fruit Exchange, North Ontario.
Santa Barbara Lemon-Growers' Exchange, Santa Barbara.
San Diego County Fruit Exchange, Chula Vista.

Chula Vista Fruit Exchange, Chula Vista.

Fallbrook Fruit Association, Fallbrook.
Fillmore Citrus Association, Fillmore.

El Cajon Fruit Exchange El Cajon.

Independent Citrus Exchanges.

Redlands Orange-Growers' Association, Redlands.
Redlands Fruit Association.

Highland Orange-Growers' Association, Messina.

East Highland Orange-Growers' Association, East Highland.
Golden Belt Fruit Company, Fullerton.

Placentia Fruit Exchange (?), Fullerton.

Dried Fruit Marketing Societies.

Santa Clara County Fruit Exchange, San Jose.
West Side Fruit-Growers' Union, Santa Clara.
East Side Fruit-Growers' Union, San Jose.
Berryessa Fruit-Growers' Union, Berryessa.
Campbell Fruit Union, Campbell.

Willow Glen Fruit Union, Willow Glen.

Woodland Fruit Exchange, Woodland.

Niles Cooperative Fruit Association, Niles.

Pajaro Valley Fruit Exchange, Watsonville. (Handles fresh fruit also.) Napa Fruit Company, Napa.

Visalia Fruit-Growers' Union, Visalia.

The Following Dried Fruit Associations are affiliated with, and Sell through, the Southern California Deciduous Fruit Exchanges, 122 West Third Street, Los Angeles.

Pasadena Fruit Exchange (three associations), Pasadena.

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