The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-02-28
IN RAILWAY CIRCLES.
The Demurrage System and
How it Works.
SOME ASTONISHING FIGURES.
The Western States Passenger Asso.
ctation-Tnused Tickets-Per-
sohal and General Points.

The de:nurrage system recently in
auguratsd in this city proves very salts
factory. it Is seid, to the railway com
panles, although some shippers are moi
quite so much il love with it as they
might be. The larger shippers, how
ever. claim that the system has its adj
vantayes, because it has a tendency &c
discourage tho practice heretofore in
dulged in of making warehouses cut
Of cars. The railways, too, they claim
have acted. very fairly in the mater
and wherever just cause is shown, the
demurrage has been RENTED. The
Omaha bureau was the first to start in
business. a little over year ago, and
from a report of the commissioner at
Omaha. recently published, the follow
ing facts have been cleaned: In Oo-
tober, 1886, before the bureau began it's
labors, the daily average number of
cars in the various yards at Omaha
was 2 ,312. This was almost blockade.
This number varied through the vari-
Gus months down to August, 1887 when
the average number was 2213 The
succeeding month when the bureau
vas organized, the number vas reduced
tc 1926. in October to 066, in N)vem-
Der to S28. and in December, 1888. the
average daily number was 652. Dur
ing heavy rushes of freight the number
has been larger. but it has also been
down as low as 5i1 in February, 1888.
This means two things; First. the rail-
roads switched the cars promptly to
the proper unloading places; and
second, the consignees unleaded the
that there is a double advantage in this,
for while the railroad has the use Of the
extra number of cars. the consignse
receives his material quicker than other
wise; the yards are also free from
blockade. This idea and an additional
pecuniary one is expressed in the fol-
lowing note appended to the table.
showing the reduction of the average:
1.-The daily average decrease for the
fifteen months amounts to 955 cars per
day, or 436, 434 cars for the 457 DAYS
since the bureau was opened, which
taken at the low figure of so cents per
day, makes a saving of $21 ,217 in car
service since the demurrage system
went into effect. The Union Pacific
Railway has taken off three switch
engines, the Burlington & Missouri two
and the Missouri Pacific one. This
saving amounts to Sc 600 per month, or
800 COS for the fifteen months, which,
added to the saving in car service,
makes the total saving 1903 ,217."
The total amount of demurrags col
lected in that period was $1,000 SO, and
the expenses of conducting the bureau,
IS 4ST OF, SO that the net profit which
the various companies realize for the
use OF cars held beyond the limit was
81 l2l 06.
TWO KINDS OF ADvERTIsIEG.
z One kind of advertising stacks hikh
sounding adiectives regardless Of their
the other presents plat
statements of interest to the public. Is
is customary for every railroad to ad-
Vertise itself as the shortest, quickest;
cheapest, best and all the other tests"
In keeping with their reputation for
taking the first step of advancement in
every line ofrailroad conduct, the Penn
sylvania Lines were fist to drop the
high flown methods of advertising and
to give their announcements simple
a. dignified tone. 1t is well known
that the track, equipment and methods
Of opeI ration Of this railway system are
of nature that elicits the admiration
of patrons and competitors alike. About
all that Is thel efore necessary for the
Pennsylvania officers to do in the way
of advertising is to announce I'll time
of their trains. In the description OF
the fast express trains that leave St.
Louis every day for the east over these
lines there is, however, abundant op-
portunity for the use of commendatory
adjectives. They carry Pullman Vssti-
bule cars through to Baltimore. Wash
ingtop, Philadelphia and New YORK in
quick time. and present comforts and
conyeniences that cannot but be appre-
ciated by their patrons. For full il
formation apply to J N. .Chesbrough,
Assistant General Passenger Agent,
100 North Fourth Street, st. Louis,
Mo.
PERSONAL AND GENERAL.
TIE Union Pacific has heretofore
been run on time sent out from Omshe,
but Superintendent Korty has just
completed an arrangement, which
goes into effect March l, whereby time
will be signaled from Washington Uni
versity at st. Louis The standard for
regulating Signals is 10 O'Clock an,
central tune. Telegraph wires are con-
nected with an automatic clock in the
observatory. Time is announced by
vibrations of the pendulum. which
breaks the current and notifies the
main offices all over the line.
THE FIRST "orange train. of the sea-
son iudulged in some remarkable wheel
ing between Ogden and Omaha. The
train was made up of twelve freight
cars loaded with oranges CONSIGNED 10
various points in Minnesota, Dakota,
Iowa, and Illinois. The run from
Ogden to Omaha. a distance of 1,O32
miles. was made in thirty eight hours
and fifty minutes, which would be an
average of over twenty-six miles per
hour, q rate of speed which railroad
men state is something extraordinary
for freight trains to make, and espeo.-
ally in the winter time.
A PROMINENT railroad authority
states: 1T is claimed that the fact tina
the railroad companies are ready and
willing to redeem the unused portions
of all tickets which purchasers for any
reason have failed to use, has changed
the sentiment Of the people generally
in regard to the business of ticket
scalping. and an amendment to the act