[246] 19 I.C.C. Rep., 218 affords an excellent example as between the Union Pacific and the Denver and Rio Grande. Also the Montgomery, Ala., case in the Commerce Court, p. 590, _infra_. Also the Union Pacific Merger case, Brief of Facts for Appellants, 1912, p. 276. [247] For an instance in the tobacco business: _Cf. The Atlantic Monthly_, 1908, p. 487. [248] Page 72. CHAPTER VIII PROBLEMS OF ROUTING Neglect of distance, an American peculiarity, 264.--Derived from joint cost, 265.--Exceptional cases, 265.--Economic waste in American practice, 268.--Circuitous rail carriage, 269.--Water and rail-and-water shipments, 273.--Carriage over undue distance, 277.--An outcome of commercial competition, 278.--Six causes of economic waste, illustrated, 280.--Pro-rating and rebates, 281.--Five effects of disregard of distance, 288.--Dilution of revenue per ton mile, 289.--Possible remedies for economic waste, 292.--Pooling and rate agreements, 293.--The long and short haul remedy, 295. The general acceptance, both in practice and theory, of the principle that distance is a relatively unimportant element in rate making[249] is significant at this time, in connection with the recent amendment of the Act to Regulate Commerce. It is important also because of the marked tendency toward the adoption by various state legislatures of the extreme opposite principle of a rigid distance tariff. The old problem of effecting a compromise between these two extreme theories by some form of long and short haul clause--the original section 4 of the act of 1887 having been emasculated by judicial interpretation--is again brought to the front. For these reasons it may be worth while to consider certain results which inevitably follow the widespread acceptance of this principle of the blanket rate. Its benefits are indeed certain; namely, an enlargement of the field of competition, and an equalization of prices over large areas, and that too at the level of the lowest or most efficient production. But these advantages entail certain consequences--of minor importance, perhaps, but none the less deserving of notice.