A fourth evil, akin to this, consisted of the difficulty of maintaining through rates, not as among the trunk lines who might be made parties to a pool, but by reason of cut-throat competition between their western connections.[396] The agents of these western lines would indiscriminately cut rates to or from points on their lines, and then expect their trunk line connections to accept a proportionate shrinkage of the joint through rate for their part of the haul. The weaker companies would, of course, be susceptible to such temptations in order to secure the business. No stable apportionment of this western traffic among the eastern lines would be possible until they could agree upon a fair rate for the trunk line haul, and rigidly adhere to it. And, finally, water competition, causing constant fluctuations in the lake and Ohio river rates, while directly potent only at waterway points, was continually putting the through rates from these points out of line with the local rates from non-competitive inland centres. Or, perhaps, the Ohio river and lake rates would be out of joint with one another. The Chicago basis, if applied to Paducah, would make a rate on tobacco that would send it _via_ New Orleans.[397] Products would go down the Mississippi after the lakes had been closed by ice. A considerable amount of corn was certainly moved to New York by that route.[398] Some device for coordination of the through and local rates--or, as one might put it, for the distribution of the localized shock of water rate changes--was imperatively necessary.