Having stated the theory of these economic wastes, we may now proceed to consider them as they arise in practice. Concrete illustration of the effect of disregard of distance naturally falls into two distinct groups. Of these the first concerns the circuitous carriage of goods; the second, their transportation for excessive distances. Both alike involve economic wastes, in some degree perhaps inevitable, but none the less deserving of evaluation. And both practices, even if defensible at times, are exposed to constant danger of excess. It will be convenient also to differentiate sharply the all-rail carriage from the combined rail and water transportation. For as between railroads and waterways, the difference in cost of service is so uncertain and fluctuating that comparisons on the basis of mere distance have little value. Recent instances of wasteful and circuitous all-rail transportation are abundant. A few typical ones will suffice to show how common the evil is. President Ramsay of the Wabash has testified as to the roundabout competition with the Pennsylvania Railroad between Philadelphia and Pittsburg by which sometimes as much as fifty-seven per cent. of traffic between those two points may be diverted from the direct route. "They haul freight 700 miles around sometimes to meet a point in competition 200 miles away."[251] Chicago and New Orleans are 912 miles apart, and about equally distant--2,500 miles--from San Francisco. The traffic manager of the Illinois Central states that that company "engages in San Francisco business directly _via_ New Orleans from the Chicago territory, and there is a large amount of that business, and we engage in it right along."[252] Wool from Idaho and Wyoming may move west 800 miles, to San Francisco; and thence _via_ New Orleans over the Southern Pacific route to Boston.[253] This case, therefore, represents a superfluous lateral haul of nearly a thousand miles between two points 2,500 miles apart. The Canadian Pacific used to take business for San Francisco, all rail, from points as far south as Tennessee and Arkansas, diverting it from the direct way _via_ Kansas City.[254]