Reprinted by permission from "Railway Freight Rates in Relation to the Industry and Commerce of the United States," by Logan G. McPherson. Copyright 1909 by Henry Holt and Company, New York. Vastly the greater proportion of the commodities moved by the railroads are in the processes of commerce; that is, the conveyance from the place of consignment to place of receipt in the majority of cases is sequent to a transfer of ownership. The seller cannot continue in business unless he obtain a market for his material, or his merchandise, and the purchaser can not continue in business unless he secure the material, or the merchandise, which he needs. The margin within which the added charge for transportation may be adjusted is therefore limited in one direction by the amount which the seller of a commodity will accept and the purchaser will pay and continue in business. If the seller or the purchaser cannot make a profit at least approximately as great as from other operations in which it might be feasible for him to engage he will, other things equal, change his business, and the railroad will no longer have the traffic that flowed from his operations. A railroad, therefore, must adjust its transportation charges that production may continue. This includes the adjustment of rates that products may be sent to markets, that the products of the region tributary to one railroad may reach markets in competition with similar products of other regions, and in competition with other products that will answer the same purpose. The wider the markets that the producers can reach, the greater is the encouragement to production. The more numerous and varied the sources of supply of which the purchaser has choice, the more likely that his requirements will be met to his satisfaction. This is the case whether the sale or purchase be of food, whether it be of raw material to feed the processes of mill or factory, whether it be of wares for wholesale distribution, or whether the purchase be of merchandise by the retail dealer, or the final consumer. It has long been claimed by the railroads of the United States that their rates of freight are lower than those of any other country, and that the nation's progress in industry and commerce has in large measure been due to the cheapness and the efficiency of its transportation service. By way of proof has been instanced the proportion that the transportation charge bears to the selling price of the staple commodities. It is said that the rate charged for the transportation of food products does not affect their selling price in any market of the United States--that price being fixed by the processes of supply and demand which the amount of the freight rate does not influence. In the spring of 1907 inquiry was made upon this point among the produce dealers of the city of New York, who gave the information contained in the following paragraphs.