Pennsylvania Railroad Agricultural Activities: The American Land and Irrigation Exposition, November 15 to December 2, 1912, 71st Regiment Armory, New York City

THE Pennsylvania Railroad System operates 25,236.5 miles of track, running through thirteen States and the District of Columbia, in which live more than one-half of the population of the United States.

The thirteen States upon which the Pennsylvania Railroad System relies for the greater part of its freight and passenger traffic are Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Pennsylvania Railroad has set out to build up the industries of these thirteen States, to attract new industries to them, to assist farmers already there, and to bring to these States more farmers.

These are some of the reasons why, five or six years ago, this Company undertook an active campaign in the interest of the agricultural communities along its lines, and these are some of the reasons why this Company is represented at the American Land and Irrigation Exposition.

More farmers, better farmers, more industries, and better industries are represented in the goal for which the Pennsylvania Railroad System is striving.

The value of staple crops grown in the United States in 1911 -- such as corn, hay, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, tobacco, etc. -- was more than $3,500,000,000. In Pennsylvania alone the value of staple crops for the year was over $150,000,000, and there were some 224,000 farmers who shared in this production. It has been estimated by the Chief Agronomist of the State College of Agriculture of Pennsylvania that if each of these 224,000 farmers had increased his yield of corn one bushel to the acre, the additional revenue to them from corn grown in the State would have amounted to $1,044,000. Further than that, $780,000 would have rolled into the pockets of these farmers if they had selected and tested their seed corn carefully and thus added ten kernels to each ear of corn grown by them.

It is this sort of development for which the Pennsylvania Railroad is working. Just as it has been adding second, third, and fourth tracks to its line, so it is seeking the same intensive development of the agricultural and industrial districts. The Railroad realizes that with expansion limited, as it is today, by reason of the net-work of lines that cover the country, there must be an internal unfolding of resources.

II

Several years ago a representative of the Pennsylvania Railroad was compelled to while away a few hours between trains in a small town. He inquired of the station agent what was to be seen in the neighborhood, and was advised to take a boat trip up the river. In the course of a ride of an hour or more he noticed a number of vineyards lining the river banks. The railroader was an observing man, and his first through was, "to what place are those grapes shipped and over what road?" All thought of catching the train left his mind, and a horse and wagon was summoned to take him on a tour of the different farms. After a few interviews he learned that the grapes were used for wine which was shipped over another railroad to market.

In the travel of a day the freight agent saw every grower of grapes in the district, and after some hesitation they agreed to ship some of their product over his road if he would provided means of getting it to the Railroad and find someone to handle it at the market. Trouble loomed up, however, when a commission man in a nearby city said that a carload of white Niagara grapes would flood the market in his town; but he finally agreed to take them on consignment, and arrangements were made for the grapes to arrive on a Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon a wagon provided by the Railroad went from farm to farm and
collected the grapes, taking them to the car. The latter arrived at its destination about four o'clock the next morning, and the grapes were distributed among the retailers. In the meantime large placards had been printed by the freight agent, reading:

"Take Home a Basket of White Niagara Grapes for Fifteen Cents"

At nine o'clock on Saturday morning every basket of the grapes had been sold and people were calling for more. Such was the start of a traffic in grapes from the station, which is today shipping nearly a thousand carloads every season.

The Railroad provided the transportation, the market, the buyers, the advertising, and the customers, yet not one whit of expense did it incur outside of its ordinary expense of hauling, other than the hire of a horse and wagon for a few hours and the cost of printing the placards.

III

The activities of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the development of the agricultural districts traversed by its lines have, within the last year, been further expanded by the creation of a bureau to supervise and handle its milk traffic. The office is in charge of a milk agent, with an adequate force, whose func-
tion is the development and encouragement of new fields for the production of milk. The Company is putting the dealers in large centers of consumption in touch with dairymen in the producing regions adjacent to the lines of the Pennsylvania System, and then organizing a service to handle promptly and efficiently this highly perishable food commodity.

Not so long ago many of these populous towns received the bulk of their milk supply from nearby dairies, the milk being drawn in by teams and peddled direct from the wagons. With growth, the demand exceeded the supply from suburban farms to such an extent that today the quantity of milk teamed into the cities is but an infinitesimal portion of the daily requirements. The milk companies who have built up an enormous traffic in dispensing milk to homes in the large cities depend entirely on the organized milk service of the great trunk lines, whose trains have gradually
extended their runs until they now reach out to dairies over four hundred miles from New York City.

The great problem of today in a large city is to keep pace with the growth in the demand for milk. As an illustration, it is reported that the population of Greater New York increases 18,000 per month, in itself a sufficient number to populate a large town. This means 4500 families, and they all want some milk -- just about a carload.

The milk department of the Pennsylvania Railroad further stands ready to be of assistance in locating prospective milk producers on farms in good dairy communities. Inquiries of this character should be addressed to F. B. Barnitz, Milk Agent, with offices in Room 218, Arcade Building, Philadelphia.

IV

The Pennsylvania Railroad has undertaken the dissemination of farming literature. This is being done, the company announces, to offer the farmers in the territory which it serves the benefits of scientific research and improvement in methods resulting from careful study and experiment. The first pamphlets issued were on "Alfalfa," and "The Use of Lime on Land." Some 30,000 copies were distributed. Later four booklets on orchard development were sent out; the subjects of these were "Planting," "Cultivation," "Pruning," and "Spraying." Following these, books
were issued on "The Essentials of Soil Fertility," "Potato Culture," "Seed Grain Suggestions," "Corn Culture," "Beef Production in Pennsylvania," "Use of Dynamite on the Farm," "Farming Possibilities of the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia Peninsula," "Good Roads at Low Cost," and "The Pennsylvania Railroad and the Farmer."

Farmers who buy land and locate along the Pennsylvania can at all times have the opportunity of consulting the Company's Agriculturist, H. S. Lippincott, with offices at Broad Street Station, Philadelphia. He is prepared to advise as to the agricultural conditions in every State through which the Company's lines run.

V

The Railroad must do more than create traffic. After persuading the farmer that he can make a greater profit by varying his crops and raising certain vegetables or staples that he has not been growing, the Railroad must assist him to market his crops profitably.

To meet this contingency the Pennsylvania Railroad is undertaking to exploit the agricultural districts through which it runs. This plan aims at supplying to commission and produce merchants a list of reliable growers and shippers in various territories.

In addition, the Railroad supplies information that may be desired regarding the commercial advantages of different districts. If anyone is seeking a farm, a
manufacturing site, or a suburban home, the Company supplies a list of real estate agents and a full description of available properties.

VI

When a Railroad creates traffic, and markets as well, it must offer a train service that will place the commodity in the most favorable market in the best possible condition. This is done by the Pennsylvania Railroad through the operation of preference freight trains on fast time schedules, so arranged that the freight will reach the market at the time when commission merchants make their deliveries to customers.

In this manner does the Railroad supply a market, and by so doing, while improving the condition of the farmer, it receives a revenue from hauls to various parts of the System, instead of a haul to one market, and that one near by. The acreage planted in produce increases, and a corresponding growth is felt in the traffic offered the Railroad for shipment.

Agents of railroads scour the country for advance information about farm crops. They realize the extent of the tonnage, the value of which is expressed in billions of dollars. Special agents go out into the "by-ways and hedges" to see the growers themselves. They obtain by personal interviews information which enables them to estimate correctly what crops will be offered for transportation. In this way cars are pro-
vided at different stations at appointed times and crops moved with despatch.

VII

The Pennsylvania Railroad wants to locate as many farmers as it can in territory where the greatest opportunities are offered. Any Division Freight Agent of the Pennsylvania is only too anxious to give information about the agricultural possibilities of southern New Jersey, the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia Peninsula, the central part of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and the other States through which the Railroad operates.

Inquiries concerning farms and industrial sites on the Pennsylvania Railroad should be addressed to any of the following representatives.

Mr. S. L. Seymour, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Mr. Wm. J. Rose, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Harrisburg, Pa.

Mr. G. H. Cobb, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., New York, N. Y.

Mr. William Coffin, Division Freight Agent, W. J. & S. R. R., Camden, N. J.

Mr. Edw. T. Johnson, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Buffalo, N. Y.

Mr. J. M. Gross, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Mr. W. G. Spangle, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Williamsport, Pa.

Mr. V. C. Williams, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Philadelphia, Pa.

Mr. W. H. H. Willis, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Wilmington, Del.

Mr. H. A. Haines, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Baltimore, Md.

Mr. John B. Large, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Erie, Pa.

Mr. F. P. Truesdale, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Uniontown, Pa.

Mr. W. C. Glynn, Division Freight Agent, P. R. R., Altoona, Pa.

Mr. Chas. F. Nye, New England Freight Agent, P. R. R., Boston, Mass.

Mr. J. H. Whittaker, Special Agent, P. R. R., Philadelphia, Pa.

VIII

What does it all mean to the Railroad? It means there will be more fertilizers to haul, more farm implements, more raw material from which these tools are made, more crops to haul, and more passengers to carry; it means that the Railroad will be doing its duty to the public and to its stockholders in the intelligent exercise of its initiative, and, when reduced to a finality, that the Railroad is performing its share of the work which must be done by the newly formed partnership -- Railroad and Farmer -- if agricultural communities are to progress and prosper.