Note 274 — Chapter XXVI · PRIVATE-CAR ABUSES.

C. B. Hutchins was the inventor of an improved refrigerator car. He built five cars in 1886, and in 1890 he had the California Fruit Transportation Company operating $200,000 worth of cars. In two years, 1890 and 1891, the profits amounted to $250,000 or more than the total investment, and the company thought they had something better than a gold mine. But the Beef Trust undermined them by railroad favoritism and compelled them to sell out to the Swifts.

While the California Fruit Transportation Company was fighting for its life with the Armour lines, it presented the Southern Pacific Railway Company with $100,000 of its stock on condition of receiving an exclusive contract. The contract was made, but the Armour cars continued to go. An influence was at work stronger than the exclusive contract and the power of the California Fruit Transportation Company.