ment in the advertisement is to prevent inquiries from bona fide customers who feel that they can purchase from a western jobber to better advantage than from the eastern manufacturer. In the survey of sources of production and centers of consumption, the traffic man is in a position to develop questions of shortage and to recommend extensive advertising in areas where there is a shortage of his firm's product. Without such assistance, advertising men with little or no knowledge of local conditions or of supply or demand have sometimes tried to sell "coals to Newcastle." SALES DEPARTMENT In an earlier chapter we have seen what valuable assistance the traffic department can render the sales department in the preparation of sales charts and in furnishing field representatives with rate books. The effort is well directed and repays many times the expense it entails. The positive statement of a field representative that his prospective customer can obtain the goods for a specified price is much more convincing and satisfactory than to quote him "F.O.B. factory" or "F.O.B. shipping point" and to require him to guess at the probable amount of the transportation, charge. ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT A carrier may undercharge as well as overcharge an industry. These errors are usually detected later and a duebill is rendered against the industry for the amount involved. The payment of the duebill of course requires an added item, or items, in the general books of the organization. Virtually, this amounts to "making two bites of a cherry." The careful auditing of freight bills before the bill is paid makes it possible for the accounting department to dispense with such additional entries. If goods are sold on consignment, the proceeds of the sale, less freight and commission, are remitted to the consignor. It has been established in many cases, however, that if an undercharge is made and the railroad cannot locate the consignor, it may proceed against the consignee and recover the amount. Thus the industry suffers a clear loss which would have been avoided had competent traffic men been employed. PURCHASING DEPARTMENT By developing sources from which supplies may be obtained at the lowest cost to the industry, the traffic manager can render a valuable service to the purchasing department. By analyzing the bids secured from competitive interests from the standpoint of transportation, road-haul cost, and local transport charges, the traffic department is able to determine which of the bids, if quality be equal, it is most advantageous for the industry to accept. In the case of imports, a study of the consular reports frequently opens up new available sources of supply if other fields have become depleted or are closed by the fortunes of war. PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT In the manufacturing end of the business a continued survey of the output of the plant should be undertaken at the hands of the traffic department, having in view the standardization and condensation, thus reducing weight and bulk; two very essential factors in the aggregate transportation expense paid by an industry, to say nothing of the added expense incurred in packing articles of unnecessarily large size. PASSENGER DEPARTMENT Particularly in those lines of endeavor where there is a considerable out-of-town clientele who call on the firm or where a large number of salesmen are employed, the traffic department can be utilized to draw up itineraries, quote the time of arrival and departure of trains, procure tickets, and make berth reservations. This is a service that is appreciated by the firm's patrons and as concerns its salesmen, leaves high-grade men free from the petty annoyances of looking up these details which might better be handled by some junior clerk. Many of the salesmen carry samples of more or less volume. In this connection it is a function of the traffic department to see that baggage is properly tagged and the requirements complied with. Very few people understand baggage regulations and rules and are, therefore, continually subjecting themselves to penalties of various kinds. Many articles checked and carried in baggage cars should not be, and in consequence tariffs and laws are violated. There are many instances of loss on record where recovery could not be made for the reason that the contents have not been properly declared. HOUSE ORGAN Many of the leading commercial and industrial organizations have magazines or house organs which treat the activities of the concern from both an external and an internal standpoint. The traffic manager can contribute to this publication interesting articles on happenings in the traffic world, suggestions for the improvement of service, information of value to the dealers, court decisions bearing on loss and damage issues, and the like. CIVIC DEVELOPMENT Many of the problems of development confronting the municipality resolve themselves into questions of transportation. The traffic manager should, therefore, be a member of the local chamber of commerce or similar development enterprises, or should appear before such organizations in order that they may benefit by his suggestions for the solution of local and national problems. TRADE ASSOCIATIONS Recognizing that "in union there is strength," the traffic managers of competitive industries engaged in handling the same lines of commerce have found periodical meetings of mutual benefit. Annual, semiannual, or quarterly meetings can be arranged at which classification problems, rate adjustments, and general transportation conditions can be discussed with the purpose of securing readjustments advantageous to all. NATIONAL ORGANIZATION Numerous national organizations are charged with certain phases of our industrial and commercial life. The California Fruit Growers Association, the National Implement and Vehicle Association, the National Petroleum Association, the National Poultry, Butter, and Egg Association, and many others are national in their scope or boast a large membership composed of individuals in various sections of the country. Usually these organizations are represented by a general traffic director. An interchange of ideas between a representative of the industry and the general representative of the association leads, in many cases, to a satisfactory course of action to pursue in adjusting some vexatious transportation complaint or practice. The premier organization of industrial traffic men is the National Industrial Traffic League. Those eligible to membership are traffic directors, traffic managers, traffic commissioners, or other officials in charge of the traffic of industrial or commercial organizations, and traffic officers of representative shipping concerns in the United States. Nominal dues and initiation fees are assessed to cover the working expenses of the organization. Many standing committees are charged with the scrutiny of transportation practices, and reports from such committees are made at the periodical meetings of the League. TRAFFIC CLUBS Practically every large city boasts of a traffic club. Such local traffic clubs differ from the National Industrial Traffic League in the matter of membership, which is not restricted to industrial representatives but includes also representatives of the carriers of a given rank and over. The advantage of such an organization is that it promotes a spirit of good feeling between |