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Show SALT LAKE ROUTE NOTES THE TRUE TEST One test of the efficiency of a system sys-tem of transportation Is the cost of service. Some of our public men have been asserting that the cost of transportation transpor-tation is a very large factor In prices, pric-es, and that increases in freight rates rat-es have greatly added to the cost of living. Railroad transportation Is the cheapest thing that the public buys. It is being sold at less than cosl of production, when we fairly take into account all the elements of cost. Let me cite one or two illustrations illustra-tions of the present relation between freight rates and cost of living. Before the war, a suit of clothing from one of the Chicago factories, selling for $30 in a retail shop, was carried from Chicago to Los Angeles for 16 1-2 c. The suit of clothes now retails at $50 to $6 0, but the freight rate on the 2200 mile haul has advanced only 5 1-2 cents while the price of the suit has gone up $20 or $30. Who has received the benefit of this increase in the productive efficiency effi-ciency of railroads? Think it over. It is splendid food for sober thought, i |