There is an equalization of rates on the iron ore from the upper lakes in that the rates of the boat lines from the ore mines are the same to each of the Lake Erie ports. From thence to the furnaces they are adjusted under the policy of the railroads to make the transportation charge on the raw material required to make a ton of pig iron approximate the same amount at each of the competing furnaces of southern Ohio, Pittsburg, Wheeling, in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys, and even as far as the Schuylkill Valley. How closely this equalization is effected is shown by the fact that the transportation charge on the ore, coke and limestone required to produce one ton of pig-iron is as follows in these respective districts: At the furnaces on the Monongahela River in the Pittsburg district, $5.82; at the furnaces of the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys, $5.57; at the furnaces of the Wheeling district, $5.78. These charges compare favorably with those at the furnaces on the Lake Shore in the Chicago district, which aggregate $5.63 per ton of pig-iron, but are higher than at the furnaces on the Lake Shore in the Cleveland district, where they aggregate but $4.72. The rates on coal, which gives return loads to the cars that take the ore south front the Lake Erie ports, are maintained at established differences between the coal fields of Ohio, Pittsburg and West Virginia. The rates in effect in the spring of 1908 were $1 per ton from southern Ohio, 90 cents from southeastern Ohio, $1 per ton from the Pittsburg field and $1.15 a ton from West Virginia.