“There has been no material change, I think, in any cotton rate in more than ten years, except that certain reductions have been made in the State of Texas by the commission of that State. “Now, when I observe instances of that kind, when the ablest and most experienced traffic officials tell me that there is no sort of reason for 500 to 1,000 changes in interstate tariffs every twenty-four hours, as our files show there are, you must not be surprised if I fail to accept at par value all that is said here about the necessity of adapting rates to commercial conditions. Undoubtedly, when you take a considerable period of time, great influences do operate to an extent which may justly require material modifications in freight charges, but to my mind it is quite unsuitable that the little surface fluctuations in trade should find expression in extended changes in the daily tariffs. I believe that those surface currents should adjust themselves to the tariffs, and not the tariffs to the currents. And I am saying this, gentlemen, not as a result so much from my own observation or from any _à priori_ view of the case as because of the statements made and arguments submitted to me by practical railroad men of the highest distinction.”[407] To lay stress on the number of men required to arrange the details of tariffs might seem to imply the belief that a very large part of existing railroad rates will be found unreasonable and need the attention of the Commission. It may however imply merely that there is likely to be a very large number of complaints. The fact is that the fixing of rates is a complex business, with a considerable percentage of guesswork, experiment, broad judgment, and arbitrary decision. There are some general principles of cost, distance, what the traffic can pay and move, what shippers demand, what other carriers are charging, what rates are necessary to create new business and fill up the cars both ways, etc., but they are like the principles of law, you can come to any conclusion you wish and then find a principle that will back up your decision. Railroad men do not trouble themselves about consistency. They do not and cannot adjust rates with reference to just relations between places and commodities. They are looking for dividends and they make the best rates they can with that object in view. The chief traffic officer of one of the trunk lines, being pressed by the Commission as to his method of making rates, said: “We make rates very much as the honey bee makes its cells, by a sort of instinct.” When we look at his rates we find that he is not so successful as the honey bee in respect to symmetry and balance. Another traffic manager whose skill brings him a salary of $50,000 a year, testifying as to the reasonableness of his grain rates, was asked question after question as to methods of determination, till finally he said: “To tell you the truth, gentlemen, we get all we can.” Now it is because the railroads know that the