The changes in the proportions of traffic carried in the various
classes is also illustrative of the operation and effect of the
changes in the classification. For the purpose of presenting the
results in this connection the business from New York to Chicago
may be taken as representative of the general movement from the
East to the West. Previous to 1886 no considerable number of
articles were permanently assigned to the ifif th and sixth classes ;
these classes then embraced onlv a few commodities which had
been given a special rate. At that time the fourth-class rate was
on the basis of 35 cents per hundred pounds, and the greater por-
tion of the lower-class traffic was carried in the fourth class.
Since 1887 we find the tonnage proportion of the fourth class
very greatly reduced, and a pronounced increase in the sixth
class ; the rate of the latter is now permanently 25 cents. Over
40 per cent of the total traffic is now carried at this rate, whereas
prior to 1886 the proportion at the same rate was very much less.
It has also been stated that 47 per cent of the descriptions in
the classification now applying westward from the seaboard is



176 DEVELOPMENT OF FREIGHT CLASSIFICATIONS.
found in the fourth and lower classes. The tonnage of these
classes from New York is 60 per cent of the total traffic, the great-
er portion of which now receives lower rates than in 1886.
