Significance of geographical factors,1.—Toll roads before 1820,2.—The "National pike,"3.—Canals and internal waterways before 1830,4.—The Erie Canal,4.—Canals in the West,6.—First railroad construction after 1830,7.—Early development in the South,9.—Importance of small rivers,10.

The decade 1840-1860,11.—Slow railway growth, mainly in the East,12.—Rapid expansion 1848-1857; western river traffic,13.—Need of north and south railways,14.—Traffic still mainly local,15.—Effect of the Civil War,16.—Rise of New York,17.—Primitive methods,17.

The decade 1870-1880,18.—Trans-Mississippi development,18.—Pacific Coast routes opened,19.—Development of export trade in grain and beef,20.—Trunk line rate wars,21.—Improvements in operation,23.—End of canal and river traffic,24.

The decade 1880-1890,27.—Phenomenal railway expansion,28.—Transcontinental trade,28.—Speculation rampant,29.—Growth of western manufactures,30.—Rise of the Gulf ports,31.—Canadian competition,33.—General rÉsumÉ and forecast,34.

Public land grants,35.—Direct financial assistance,37.—History of state aid,39.—Federal experience with transcontinental roads,40.

Analysis of railroad expenditures,44.—Constant v. variable outlays,45.—Fixed charges,46.—Official grouping of expenses,46.—Variable expenses in each group,51.—Peculiarities of different roads and circumstances,56.—Periodicity of expenditures,61.—Joint cost,67.—Separation of passenger and freight business,68.

The law of increasing returns,71.—Applied to declining traffic,73.—Illustrated by the panic of 1907,75.—Peculiarly intensified on railroads, 76.

Growth of mileage and traffic in the United States since 1889,77.—Increase of earnings,79.—Operating expenses, gross and net income,80.—Comparison with earlier decades,85.—Density of traffic,86.—Increase of train loads,88.—Limitations upon their economy,92.—Heavier rails,93.—Larger locomotives,94.—Bigger cars,95.—Net result of improvements upon efficiency and earning power, 97.

The law of increasing returns due to financial rather than operating factors,99.

Evolution of rate sheets,101.—Terminal v. haulage costs,102.—Local competition,104.—What the traffic will bear,107.—Trunk line rate system,111.—Complexity of rate structure,113.—Competition of routes,114.—Competition of facilities,116.—Competition of markets,118.—Ever-widening markets,119.—Primary and secondary market competition,121.—Jobbing or distributive business,124.—Flat rates,127.—Mississippi-Missouri rate scheme,128.—Relation between raw materials and finished products,134.—Export rates on wheat and flour,135.—Cattle and packing-house products,139.—Refrigerator cars,140.—By-products and substitution,142.—Kansas corn and Minnesota flour,143.—Ex-Lake grain rates,145.

Effect of changing conditions,147.—Lumber and paper rates,148.—Equalizing industrial conditions,148.—Protecting shippers,149.—Pacific Coast lumber rates,150.—Elasticity and quick adaptation,152.—Rigidity and delicacy of adjustment,153.—Transcontinental rate system,154.—Excessive elasticity of rates,155.—More stability desirable,159.—Natural v. artificial territory and rates,159.—Economic waste,159.—Inelastic conditions,161.—Effect upon concentration of population,162.—Competition in transportation and trade contrasted,163.—No abandonment of field,165.

Cost v. value of service,166.—Relative merits of each,167.—Charging what the traffic will bear,169.—Unduly high and low rates,171.—Dynamic force in value of service,177.—Cost of service in classification,179.—Wisconsin paper case,181.—Cost and value, of service equally important, checking one another,184.

Rebates and monopoly, with attendant danger to carriers,185.—Personal discrimination defined,188.—Distinction between rebating and general rate cutting,188.—Early forms of rebates,189.—Underbilling, underclassification, etc.,190.—Private car lines,192.—More recent forms of rebating described,195.—Terminal and tap-lines,196.—Midnight tariffs,197.—Outside transactions, special credit, etc.,198.—Distribution of coal cars,199.—Standard Oil Company practices,200.—Discriminatory open adjustments from competing centres,202.—Frequency of rebating since 1900,204-6.—The Elkins Law of 1903,205.—Discrimination since 1906,207.—The grain elevation cases,211.—Industrial railroads once more,212.

Concrete instances,215.—Hadley's oyster case not conclusive,217.—Two variants: lower long-haul rates by the roundabout route, as in the Hillsdale, Youngstown, and some Southern cases, 221; or by the direct route, as in the Nashville-Chattanooga and other southern cases,225.—Complicating influence of water transportation,232.—Market competition from various regions, a different case,234.—The basing point (southern) and basing line (Missouri river) systems,238.—Their inevitable instability and probable ultimate abandonment,242.—Postage-stamp rates, illustrated by transcontinental tariffs,245.—Which line makes the rate?255.—Cost not distance, determines,256.—Fixed charges v. operating expenses,257.—Proportion of local business,259.—Volume and stability of traffic important,261.—Generally the short line rules, but many exceptions occur,263.

Neglect of distance, an American peculiarity,264.—Derived from joint cost,265.—Exceptional cases,265.—Economic waste in American practice,268.—Circuitous rail carriage,269.—Water and rail-and-water shipments,273.—Carriage over undue distance,277.—An outcome of commercial competition,278.—Six causes of economic waste, illustrated,280.—Pro-rating and rebates,281.—Five effects of disregard of distance,288.—Dilution of revenue per ton mile,289.—Possible remedies for economic waste,292.—Pooling and rate agreements,293.—The long and short haul remedy,295.

Importance and nature of classification described,300.—Classifications and tariffs distinguished, as a means of changing rates,301.—The three classification committees,304.—Wide differences between them illustrated,305.—Historical development,306.—Increase in items enumerated,309.—Growing distinction between carload and less-than-carload rates,310.—Great volume of elaborate rules and descriptions,312.—Theoretical basis of classification,314.—Cost of service v. value of service,315.—Practically, classification based upon rule of thumb,319.—The "spread" in classification between commodities,319.—Similarly as between places,320.—Commodity rates described,322.—Natural in undeveloped conditions,323.—Various sorts of commodity rates,324.—The problem of carload ratings,325.—Carloads theoretically considered,326.—Effect upon commercial competition,327.—New England milk rates,329.—Mixed carloads,331.—Minimum carload rates,322.—Importance of car capacity,334.—Market capacity and minimum carloads,336.

Uniform classification for the United States,337.—Revival of interest since 1906,339.—Overlapping and conflicting jurisdictions,340.—Confusion and discrimination,341.—Anomalies and conflicts illustrated,342.—Two main obstacles to uniform classification,345.—Reflection of local trade conditions,345.—Compromise not satisfactory,346.—Classifications and distance tariffs interlock,347.—General conclusions,351.

Conditions prevalent in 1875,356.—Various elements distinguished,358.—The MacGraham percentage plan,360.—Bearing upon port differentials,361.—The final plan described,363.—Competition at junction points,368.—Independent transverse railways,370.—Commercial competition,372.—Limits of the plan,375.—Central Traffic Association rules,376.

Contrast between the basing point and trunk line systems,380.—Natural causes in southern territory,381.—Economic dependence,381.—Wide-spread water competition,382.—High level of rates,382.—The basing point system described,383.—Its economic defences,384.—Early trade centres,384.—Water competition once more,385.—Three types of basing point,387.—Purely artificial ones exemplified,388.—Different practice among railroads,390.—Attempts at reform,391.—Western v. eastern cities,391.—Effect of recent industrial revival,392.—The Texas group system,393.—An outcome of commercial rivalry,394.—Local competition of trade centres,395.—Possibly artificial and unstable,395.—The transcontinental rate system,395.—High level of charges,396.—Water competition,396.—Carload ratings and graded charges,398.—Competition of jobbing centres,398.—Canadian differentials,400.—"Milling-in-transit" and similar practices,401.—"Floating Cotton,"402.—"Substitution of tonnage,"403.—Seaboard differentials,403.—Historically considered,403.—The latest decision,403.—Import and export rates,404-409.

Contrast before and after 1900,411.—Revenue per ton mile data,412.—Their advantages and defects,414.—Nature of the traffic,416.—Low-grade traffic increasing,416.—Growing diversification of tonnage,418.—Present conditions illustrated,419.—Length of the haul,421.—The proportion of local and through business,422.—Effect of volume of traffic,424.—Proper use of revenue per ton mile,425.—Index of actual rates,426.—Its advantages and defects,427.—Difficulty of following rate changes since 1900,427.—Passenger fares,429.—Freight rates and price movements,430.

Improvement in observance of tariffs,431.—Conditions in the eighties,432.—The depression of 1893-1897,433.—Resumption of prosperity in 1898,436.—The rate wars of 1903-1906,438.—Threatened disturbances in 1909-1911,439.

Its general significance,441.—Economic causes,442.—Growth of interstate traffic,442.—Earlier Federal laws,443.—Not lower rates, but end of discriminations sought,443.—Rebates and favoritism,445.—Monopoly by means of pooling distrusted,446.—Speculation and fraud,447.—Local discrimination,448.—General unsettlement from rapid growth,449.—Congressional history of the law,450.—Its constitutionality,451.—Summary of its provisions,452.—Its tentative character,453.—Radical departure as to rebating,454.

Favorable reception,456.—First resistance from unwilling witnesses concerning rebates,457.—Counselman and Brown cases,458.—The Brimson case,459.—Relation to Federal Courts unsatisfactory,460.—Interminable delay,461.—Original evidence rejected,461.—The Commission's court record examined,462.—Rate orders at first obeyed,467.—The Social Circle case,468.—Final breakdown in Maximum (Cincinnati) Freight Rate case,469.—Other functions remaining,472.—The long and short haul clause interpreted,474.—The Louisville and Nashville case,474.—The "independent line" decision,476.—The Social Circle case again,478.—"Rare and peculiar cases,"479.—The Alabama Midland (Troy) decision,481.—Attempted rejuvenation of the long and short haul clause,483.—The Savannah Naval Stores case,484.—The dwindling record of complaints,485.

New causes of unrest in 1899,487.—The spread of consolidation,487.—The rise of freight rates,488.—Concentration of financial power,490.—The new "trusts,"491.—The Elkins amendments concerning rebates,492.—Five provisions enumerated,493.

More general legislation demanded,494.—Congressional history 1903-1905,495.—Railway publicity campaign,496.—President Roosevelt's leadership,498.—The Hepburn law,499.—Widened scope,499.—Rate-making power increased,500.—Administrative v. judicial regulation,501.—Objection to judicial control,503.—Final form of the law,505.—Broad v. narrow court review,506.—An unfortunate compromise,507.—Old rates effective pending review,508.—Provisions for expedition,511.—Details concerning rebates,512.—The commodity clause,513.—History of its provisions,514.—Publicity of accounts,515.—Extreme importance of accounting supervision,516.—The Hepburn law summarized,520.