A. Never—not for any length of time.
Q. For a month at a time?
A. Oh, no—a day or two.
Q. How did freights compare in July last with what they had been for three months preceding that time?
A. They had been extremely low the whole of the year up to that time, and were then extremely low on east-bound business. On west-bound business on the 1st of July that arrangement was made to have a division of the business.
Q. How were freights after the strike was over?
A. On west-bound business, the arrangement that went into operation then is in operation now. On east-bound, every two or three weeks they have the same chronic trouble. After making an agreement, they violate it and break down, but as a general thing, the rates are better now than they were a year ago.
Q. How did rates compare the fore part of last season with the year before, at the same time?
A. Very much lower. Two reasons brought it about. First a short crop in the fall of 1876, when there was very little freight to come east—nothing at all equal to the facilities of the various companies, the result being a scramble and competition to get it, and prices ruled away below the cost of doing the work.
Q. How did the amount of freight or tonnage during the months of May and June, 1877, compare with the months of May and June, 1876?