The railroads have also bound themselves by secret contract to furnish by wire “such information as may be requested by the car-line’s representatives.” This enables the Trust to know what every other shipper is doing all over the country on the lines of the car-line-contract roads. The Armours thus have means of knowing immediately of the shipments made by competitors and the destination of the same, so that they can tell exactly what to do to capture or destroy the competitive business. If a car of apples is loaded by a competitor and billed for Worcester, the Trust knows of it in time to run in a car of apples ahead of the competitor’s and sell out the market from under him. At Buffalo, while the Trust was fighting to control the local fruit market, it forestalled, they say, every shipment that was made to its competitors. The Armour lines have another advantage, through the arrangement of the freight tariffs, and the friendly inspection methods, or non-inspection methods, which enable them to ship dairy products, fruits, vegetables, etc., at much lower rates than others. Packing-house products, _i. e._, hams, bacon, lard, etc., go from Chicago to New York in carloads at 30 cents a hundred; fresh meats, 45 cents; eggs, 65 cents; poultry, 75 cents; butter, 75 cents, etc. The Armours have a practical monopoly on packing-house products and the fresh-meat business, as they own all the slaughter houses of any importance, with 2 or 3 exceptions in the country. So the bulk of their own goods go at 30 and 45 cents which are regarded by railroad men as very low rates for goods transported in refrigerator cars. On the other hand rates upon dairy products are very much higher, and most shippers have to pay those rates. According to all rules of classification packing-house products should pay higher rates than fruit; but, in order to help out the infant beef industry, a commodity tariff is arranged of which this is a sample:[285] ══════════════════════╤══════════╤════════════╤════════════╤═══════════ │ │ │ Beef │ │ │Fruit third │ (commodity │ │Distance. │ class. │ rate). │Difference. ──────────────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────────┼─────────── │ │ Cents. │ Cents. │ Percent. Chicago to Duluth │ 478│ 44│ 28½│ 54 Kansas City to Duluth │ 699│ 53│ 40│ 33 Omaha to Duluth │ 504│ 45│ 35│ 28 Sioux City to Duluth │ 432│ 45│ 35│ 28 Cedar Rapids to Duluth│ 409│ 44│ 28½│ 54 ──────────────────────┴──────────┴────────────┴────────────┴───────────