"A Missouri-like inquiry, eh?" queried the President, as he took back the letterhead of a very prominent industrial corporation.

"And what do you think of this one? It came along a couple of weeks later." He tossed me a sheet of similar stationery. It contained:

"If I correctly understand that you are furnishing reports of the activities of the Interstate Commerce Commission, together with the other information indicated in the sample letters received, for $30 a year, put me down at once for a year's subscription."

"To make the story complete, here is another letter from the same people-just one month later." I took the sheet and read:

"During the short time we have been a subscriber to this Service, it has proved invaluable to us."*

"As you started to say-" I ventured, as I handed back the letter.

"Yes, Fenton, as I started to say, there are many other doubting Missourians. Question is, how are we to get at them? What can we say or do to be given an opportunity to prove what we have asserted that the information provided in these Daily Traffic Letters cannot be secured from any other source for many times the nominal price we charge."

Right then and there it was my privilege to examine the Three Hundred and One Letters (none less than four pages) issued during the year just passed. I soon discovered that the mass of information therein presented in such concise, yet comprehensive, manner, would cost the individual several thousands of dollars to produce similarly.

Yet this traffic service institution is able, by distributing the burden, to provide it for their subscribers at a cost of LESS THAN TEN CENTS A DAY.

Strange, you query, that this is possible. But, on reflection, not so mysterious. The company specializes in this sort of work, just the same as your undivided attention is concentrated upon the individual problems of your department. That the work has met with favor and approval is attested by renewals averaging nearly 90 per cent. since the inauguration of the Service.

"Suppose you reproduce some of the things which have been said concerning the letters," the President continued, as I looked up in anticipation. Here is what he handed me:

From the Traffic Manager of a Louisiana lumber

concern:

"The Daily Traffic Letters are proving very valu able to our company; have fulfilled all of our expectations."

From the Traffic Secretary of a Wisconsin Association of Commerce:

"The Daily Traffic Letters have been of inestimable value."

From the General Freight Agent (R. R.) at Atlanta, Ga.:

"The Service is quite valuable in giving a quick report upon important happenings in the railroad and shipping world."

From a Commerce Attorney, at Washington, D. C.: "They give me at a glance what is going on at the Interstate Commerce Commission and before other public bodies. I think your Service fills a place in my line of business."

"Conclusive evidence, eh?" ejaculated the President, when I had finished reading. "But there are some doubters yet, and it appears as though they have got to be shown. Problem has been, how to do it. We've blown our horn before, others have helped us, as these unsolicited letters attest. Still there are some doubtful Missourians abroad in the land.

"I have it, Fenton," he continued, enthusiastically; "I have it. If they're doubtful, we'll show them. How? By offering to send the Letters, say, for a week, as a trial, and without obligation. In that length of time the most patriotic inhabitant of that State just west of the Mississippi can tell for himself whether we are delivering the goods.

"Tell it to your readers in the January issue. To any one making request we will send, entirely free, seven consecutive Daily Traffic Letters-the recipient to judge at the expiration of this trial period whether he wishes the Service continued or not. That's fair, isn't it?”

I agreed, and he concluded:

"We will certainly welcome such an opportunity to PROVE as well as show the money, time and labor saving features of these Traffic Letters."

Here is an opportunity. You, who have deferred making an investigation of this Service or have hesitated looking into the matter, having conjectured that an outof-the-question cost was involved-here is your chance, for the President says: "If they're doubtful, we'll show them."

Just a request-"Send along the trial Letters" will suffice on a postcard, if more convenient.

But do it now and take the first step toward greater efficiency, with its resultant saving of time, labor and money during 1923.

Address: Daily Traffic Letter Service, care of The Shipper & Carrier Press, 11 Water Street, New York, N. Y.

The entry of the Associated Traffic Clubs of America into the field of "going" organizations through its meeting in St. Louis last month is a source of satisfaction to all who are interested in seeing traffic men join forces for their own good and for the welfare of the country in general.

The fact that thirty-two organizations were represented -the list of delegates including a number of the most capable transportation men of the country-means that the organization started on its career as fairly representing the traffic clubs of the country, both as to numbers and capabilities. We believe that those present showed good judgment in considering only a few topics, proceeding with conservative deliberation on some of them, with the realization that the questions involved were too big to be dealt with hastily.

In order that we may intelligently consider the possible future activities of the organization it is well to note the following principal matters disposed of; (1) a provisional plan of procedure for member clubs with a view towards prompt action on such matters as might be referred to them by the organization, including a suggestion that action should be taken by the clubs within thirty days of the receipt of such communications; (2) a committee appointed to study the correlation of transportation agencies; (3) a committee appointed to report on the advisability of giving the Interstate Commerce Commission jurisdiction over inter-coastal traffic; (4) an adopted resolution advocating the appointment of only men with transportation experience to the Interstate Commerce Commission; and (5) a resolution expressing the feeling of the organization, subject to the approval of the member clubs, that there should be no attempt to amend the Transportation Act, 1920, although admitting that certain changes in the law might be profitably made.

With this program of activities and proposed activities before us it is quite in place to consider along what lines the organization is going to find its greatest field of usefulness and, as equally important, what danger there may be in its efforts reflecting on the present effectiveness of some of the more successful local clubs of the country. True, while reviewing the situation, we must not allow the fact that what we are considering is an innovation and that some objections may develop simply because we have never done anything like this before, to warp our judgment.

That one of the functions of the Associated Traffic Clubs is to deal with transportation matters more or less in a national way and to present unit action cannot be questioned. This prompts a consideration of the nature of the membership of traffic clubs as may affect the ability of the individual clubs to act as members of an organization trying to arrive at uniformity of action.

We

From the standpoint of their relation to transportation we find traffic clubs composed of representatives of carriers, shippers and receivers of freight, and manufacturers of products used by carriers and shippers, warehousemen, trucking and transfer companies, freight forwarders and others interested. While there no longer exists the antagonism between those who employ transportation agencies and those who operate them, we must recognize that the interests of the two are often not uniform. must also consider that there is a material amount of variation of interest between water lines and rail lines, with a not inconsiderable divergence among the rail lines themselves; also among water carriers. It is only necessary to look at the inter-coastal situation to see a difference of opinion among those involved,-rail lines, water lines and communities. Some transportation lines in this service want the water carriers regulated, others do not; some communities agree with the recent decision of the Federal Commission relative to Fourth Section Violations, others do not, and so on, ad infinitum.

Going a step further in our analysis we find conditions, so far as many of the railroads are concerned, as follows: (1) they have more or less extensive representation in many clubs, so that the views of their representatives throughout the country mean many duplications of views through their respective local clubs; (2) their representatives are not generally policy determining employees and their actions must necessarily be in harmony with policies determined by their executives at headquarters, and (3) their interests are not uniform as between communities and ports. To this may be added the more indefinite but nevertheless important variation in interest which often arises between industrial representatives in various sections.

As we see it, the ideal function of the Associated Traffic Clubs would be to find a way to utilize the traffic knowledge and ability represented in the individual clubs without sacrificing the beneficial work of the clubs as at present organized and operating locally.

It is not to be denied that most of our traffic clubs have developed a distinctive club function, in that a "gettogether" place for representatives of shippers and carriers is provided. Here they may meet, away from the field of business activity, to chew over things of mutual interests, with an occasional settling of differences over the nonpayment of a claim or an explanation of why a car was en route ten days when it should have been delivered in six.

The very fact that club members can confab in a personal way rather than as official representatives of their lines or firms has paved the way for much of the good accomplished towards bringing shippers and carriers together. Without wishing to be understood as saying

A Graphic Presentation of the Number and Scope of Freight Agreements Existing in the North Atlantic-European Trade in 1914. While the World War Changed the Membership of the Various Conferences, the Effectiveness of the Agreements Has Not Been Materially Affected.