me as that charged to
Boston, Mass., while other towns in New York not far removed have
taken a lower rate.

Differential rates are recognized to be legitimate. Railroads are
allowed to charge a less rate for wheat intended for export than that
intended for local consumption. There has sometimes been a wide
difference between the freight rate on wheat between Kansas City and
Galveston, Texas, depending upon whether the wheat was to be exported
or intended for domestic use.

In certain sections and for certain products the railroad rate varies
with the season, because of difference in competition. The railroad
rate between Chicago and New York on grain is higher while the
navigation of the Great Lakes is suspended. As an illustration of the
cheapness of transportation by water, it is stated that sometimes it
is cheaper to ship wheat from Chicago to Buffalo by boat than to store
it in a grain elevator for an equal period of time.

Products may sometimes be sent by baggage to greater advantage than by
express, special arrangements for which are generally required.

FACILITIES FOR FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION

American railway facilities are, perhaps, unrivaled among the nations
of the world, but the United States is still behind other nations in
the matter of means of local transportation, in which good roads is
only a part of the problem. In France, the so-called _messagers_ are a
common feature of local traffic. Thus in the Department of Touraine
there are 246 towns each having from one to four _messagers_, who with
their great two-wheel carts, each with single draft horse, make one or
two trips to Tours each week. The _messagers_ carry freight both ways
precisely in the same capacity as railroads do. While the railroads
are fairly abundant these local agencies continue to thrive because
delivery can be made directly to the consignee and delivery at the
exact time and place is more certain. The enormous loads conveyed in
these two-wheel carts by one horse is an element in this system to
which the good roads of France now contribute. In 1799, France had
constructed 25,000 miles of roadway. Since that time, over 300,000
miles of roadway have been completed and about 30,000 miles of railway
have been constructed--ten miles of roadway for each mile of steam
railway. The good roads of France are of comparatively recent origin,
contributing materially to the improvement in well-being which has
taken place durin