Conditions in the West, according to these figures, are intermediate between those in the East and the South. On the other hand, transcontinental business, as carried on in competition with ocean steamers, is almost entirely confined to shipment by the carload. The Transcontinental Classification is unique, therefore, in offering but very few opportunities for shipment by package, except under specially onerous conditions.
The spread, in other words, between the two sorts of carriage operates most unfavorably by contrast upon the intermountain centres. Denver, for example, under the Western Classification enjoys no carload rates, while competitors at San Francisco have a large number.[329]
A much more elaborate code of rules and regulations having reference to local practices and conditions is the third accompaniment of the growth of trade.[330] Prior to 1887, and again before the recent revival of interest in uniform classification, conditions had become intolerable in this regard. All sorts of details, covering relatively unimportant differences in conditions of carriage, bill of lading contracts, marking and packing, led to constant confusion and annoyance, especially in cases of shipment from one classification territory to another. An eastern shipper of iron bolts, having in mind that a gunny sack is equivalent to a box or barrel in the East, orders a small shipment in a bag to a far western point. He finds that bolts in bags under the rules of the Western Classification, are specially enumerated only for carload lots, and that he must pay a rate one class higher for such shipment than if contained in a barrel, box or keg. This difference in classification may more than absorb his profit. Recent evidence before the Interstate Commerce Commission,[331] contained a striking illustration of such local diversity in rules and descriptions as applied to furniture.
"_Western class_: 'Bank, store, saloon and office furniture, consisting of arm rails, back bar mirrors, bottle cases, chairs, counter-fittings, desk, foot rails, metal brackets for arm and foot rails, refrigerators, tables and work boards. Note--Door, window and bar screens, partitions, prescription cases, patent medicine cases, show cases, wall-cases, wainscoting, office railing and wooden mantels may be shipped with bank, store, saloon or office furniture in mixed carloads at third-class, minimum weight 12,000 lbs.