solicitation of freight, and supervise the administration of traffic work so far as it concerns station employees and others within their jurisdiction.

Chief of Tariff Bureau

The chief of the tariff bureau is charged primarily with the duty of issuing railroad freight schedules setting forth the rates or charges for transportation over the line.

The Foreign Freight Agent

If a road has a seaboard terminal, it usually establishes there a foreign freight agency. The foreign freight agent is charged with the duty of entering and clearing such shipments as may be intrusted to the care of the line, arranging for cargo space, quoting current space rates, and directing many other activities which have to do with foreign markets.

Usually, the larger systems have fast-freight lines or dispatch lines. The activities of such lines are centralized in a dispatch line manager, who studies the quality and frequency of service, and makes the necessary revision in schedules from time to time. In many cases, the dispatch line manager will have a separate solicitation force. This practice results in sending two men after the same consignment, and for this reason it has been condemned. Nevertheless, it is continued by many managements.

General Agents

General agencies, which are in charge of general agents, are established thruout the country, not neces

sarily at points served or reached by the company by which they are employed. In many cases, they have jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to transportation in that particular locality, whether passenger or freight.

The Commercial Agent

Where the locality is not of sufficient importance or where, for some other reason, it is deemed unnecessary to open a general agency, a commercial agency may be opened with a commercial agent in charge who is vested with the supervision of matters pertaining to the development of the road's tonnage into and from that point.

The Traveling Freight Agent

The traveling freight agent may work out of a division, a general, or a commercial agency. His duties contemplate interviewing shippers within a certain zone, for the purpose of influencing them to route favorably the tonnage under their control.

The Industrial Agent

It is the business of the industrial agent to develop the resources on and adjacent to the line he represents. Not only must he sell transportation to the industries already accessible, but he must induce new industries to locate where they will increase the road's traffic. The industrial agent can with advantage keep in close touch with development boards, chambers of commerce, commercial clubs, and the like.

Selling Transportation

Transportation has been alluded to in this work as a staple, an article of barter and trade. It seems fundamentally wrong to call the development of business by a transportation company "the solicitation of freight" instead of "the selling of transportation."

Every Railroad Employee a Salesman

Everyone connected in any capacity with the operation of a railroad is selling transportation directly or indirectly. A track walker, negligently performing his duties and overlooking a badly worn or broken rail, is responsible for the subsequent wreck which causes the destruction, damage, or undue delay of goods. The result of this one act of carelessness may be that the incensed patron will route future shipments via a competing line.

Similar consequences may result from the failure of the carrier to maintain a time-schedule upon which the patron, assured by the commercial representative, has relied. Likewise, if the general freight agent requires a shipper to prosecute his complaint before some public utility commission before making a readjustment of discriminatory rates, the road is unlikely to sell transportation to that shipper again, if he can possibly avoid buying it.

The Law of Supply and Demand

The marketability of nearly every article is influenced by the law of supply and demand. Transportation is no exception to this rule. Following the declaration of the European war, hundreds of American tourists,

caught abroad, willingly paid for steerage accommodations on homeward-bound boats sums in excess of normal first-cabin rates.

One of the railroad promoter's strongest arguments is the great amount of tonnage that will be attracted to the new project in preference to slow-going water transportation, and more slow-going highway traffic, either horse-drawn or motor-propelled. If an becomes productive, the development of transportation instrumentalities naturally follows.

Salesmen's Practices

In regions abundantly supplied with transportation, the shipper may choose one of several routes, all more or less direct. One line may have advantages of service which other lines cannot possibly offer. For instance: From points in New England to many Texas destinations, the coastwise steamship lines, in conjunction with their rail connections, have a decided advantage over the overland route, both in point of time and in the amount of charge.

A railroad solicitor once assured a shipper that his company could handle the shipments as cheaply as any other railroad. In accordance with the soliciting representative's instructions, the shipment was forwarded via this road entirely by rail. Subsequent developments showed that the shipment could have been forwarded via one of the coastwise lines for a smaller charge and in a shorter time.

On being accused of misrepresentation, the railroad representative replied that he meant that the railroad company he represented could handle the shipment as cheaply as any other combination of rail lines; that

the shipper had not asked about rail-and-water lines; and that he inferred that the shipper was interested in all-rail service only. This, to say the least, was viewed by the shipper as rather a sharp practice, and it required considerable missionary work to wean him from his subsequent policy of routing all his business against the railroad whose representative was at fault.

It is better that shippers be informed of such differences. Too often railroad representatives urge the advantages of their routes without referring to the disadvantages.

QUALIFICATIONS OF TRANSPORTATION SALESMEN

The first requirement in successful salesmanship is that the salesman thoroly know and understand what he is to sell. With this in view, the traffic department representatives should analyze the services their company offers to the public to determine: (1) the class, that is, rail, water, or a combination of both; (2) the quantity or frequency of service; and (3) the quality, expedited, slow, or a combination.

Package car routes out of centers thruout the country should be given consideration. In many cases, it is possible to route business up to such centers by way of a connection operating a package car from a junction point. This may result in a much more satisfactory service than if the goods were routed at random.

The advantages possessed by the competing lines should be carefully studied in order to determine whether or not they may be overcome by the establishment of a special train, a thru package car, or an expedited service of similar merit.