Freight Rates: Selected Aspects of Uniform and Nodal Regions

N a commercial economy having specialized transportation, the movement of goods is influenced by several forces, one of which is the freight rate structure. The spatial differences in transport charges is not only a geographic factor influencing the circulation of goods but also a geographic element in terms of which the character of a region may be expressed. Mankind is not spread evenly over the face of the earth but tends to cluster in certain areas, which vary from each other. . . . Within such areas relationships arise. . .. It is through the means of transportation and communication that these interrelationships are set up and maintained. . .. But the cost of its use is often as great an element in the importance of a transportation line as its actual presence. Hence freight rates are of greatest value in outlining regions and in affecting their