Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-12
THE FREIGHT BLOCKADE.
Sharp Criticism Of the Railroad COM
panies at the Meeting Of the Builders
Exchange.

pauies AT tne MeethnS VI the buliuefs'
Exchange.
special meeting of the builders' exchange
was held last evening at their building on @
street near 18th. The object Of the meeting
was TO take some action relative TO the delays
in the delivery Of railroad freight, and gen.
era invitation was extended to all interested,
whether members Of the exchange or not to at
tend. The president of the exchange, Mr..
Chas. A. Langley, presided, and after stating
the purpose of the meeting, the secretary, Mr.
Thos. ]. King, read q letter from President
Willett Of the lumber dealers exchange of this
city, stating the action already taken by that
body and offering to cooperate in any move
ment promising relief. An offer of co-opera-
ton was also extended in a letter from the
builders exchange of Philadelphia, which was
read.
EFFECT ON THE LUMBER INTERESTS.
Mr.. Thos. W. Smith Of the lumber dealers
exchange, described the effect OF the present
freight blockade upon the lumber interests of
the city. He said that at least $50 cars of lum-
Der were side tracked ON the Richmond. Fred
er'cksburg and Potomac railroad and were
likely TO remain there for some time before
being delivered in this city. He spoke of the
letter received from President Roberts of the
a
in another column Of THE STAR, and said that
he thought additional facilities were needed in
this city by the railroads.
Mr.. HASNAS's CRITICISMS.
In the opinion of E. ]. Hannah. the present
difficulty arose mainly from the desire of the
railroad company to complicate matters and so
compel the merchants of the city and the citi-
zens generally to cooperate with them in
securing greater privileges from Congress.
he thought that the railroads would handle
the freight more rapidly than is now done If
they really had the desire to do SO. He
characterized the present situation as being
IN the nature of a boycott in this city. As an
instance of this Mr.. Hannah spoke of the
fusal of the Pennsylvania company to pay
reasonable price for square of ground near
the Navy Yard tunnel, which was needed for
the storage of freight cars. This square was
subsequently purchased by real estate COM
pany OF this city at forty cents, the railroad
only Offering twenty-five cents per foot for the
same property.
SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT.
On the other hand MIR. Smith said that he
had noticed recently slight Improvement in
the freight service, and he thought that if the
companies showed a desire to handle freight
promptly and to improve their present facil
tiles by securing additional ground. that the
citizens ought TO cooperate with them. He
thought that If the companies gave no evil
dence OF desire to improve the freight service
that the matter ought to be presented to Con-
gress and the Intervention of that body re-
quested.
NOT NEW THING.
The president called attention to the fact
that the defects in the freight service were not
of recent origin. In bis business as builder,
he said that he had suffered from delays in the
delivery of freight for eight months in a year
past. Car loads of stone from Hummellstown,
Pa, had been dispatched to the city, and in
stead OF being placed in position where they
could be unloaded, had been left at Bennings
Tor four weeks at a time. Car loads of tiles
from Baltimore and mantes have been side
tracked for four or five weeks within the city
limits. He thought that there was some mean
ing in this and instead of the railroad COM
panies being helpless to the extent they
claimed, that they desired. perhaps, to infiu-
ence Congress i'll favor Of some other locality
for the world fair, by creating the impression
that the crowds and business occasioned by
such event would be too great for the
facilities possessed by the city.
INCREASE OF THE CTTY's FREIGHT BUSINESS.
As an evidence of the increase in the freight
business of the city Mr.. H. A. Jones said that
in 1887 tie b. and o. road had only one shift
ing engine for handling freight cars. Today
this road has five shifting engines. He, there
fore. thought that their facilities in other
directions ought to be increased in proportion.
For instance, the freight yards ought to be five
times as large. He said, however, that he
thought the B. and D. was doing as well it
could under the circumstances and said that,
in his opinion, the company was hampered by
adverse legislation and the orders of the Com
missioners in securing all the trackage which
was needed. He was of the opinion that the
roads ought to be assisted by the citizens in all
honest efforts to improve the freight service.
INDIFFERENCE OF THE COMPANIES.
1t was claimed by Mr.. Thos. j. King that the
present difficulty did not arise altogether from
the lack of suffcien. freight facilities He be-
lieved that the companies we're Indifferent to
the interests OF the people, and, as an evidence
of this fact, he stated that the Baltimore and
Ohio company lad provided only one derrick
and the Baltimore and Potomac company hut
two derricks Zone of which is Of no use,
owing to its location) to handle the
large stone and iron freight business
of this city. He thought that private cor
poration or an individual would provide suffi-
cient facilities for attending to this business
with dispatch. He spoke OF another instance
of the neglect of the companies. He said that
frequently members Of the exchange were
obliged at their own expense to secure the aid
of the employees of the company to shift the
loaded cars to a position where they could be
unloaded. Certainly, he said, an order from
the company could have secured the service
which the energy and money of individual citi-
facilitate the prompt delivery of freight
The further discussion of the question
brought out statements that the members of
the exchange had suffered heavy losses in con-
| sequence of the freight blockade or embargo
as il was termed, and the general drift of opin-
ion seemed to be that the companies could if
they would greatly relieve the present condi-
ton of affairs.
COMMITTEE APPOINTED.
A committee consisting of c. A. Langley,
chairman, E. ]. Hannah, J. F. Manning
Thos. J. King and H. A. Jones was appointed
to cooperate with the Lumber Dealers ex-
change of this city and all others interested in
effecting prompt delivery OF freight.
1t was pointed out that the companies could
secure additional ground, if they wanted to do
SO, at fair prices, and the committee was au-
thorized to assist the companies, if it was nee
essary, in securing additional territory ada
cent to their present yards. The meeting then
adjourned
They Put Citric Acid I'm the Milk.
Adulterated milk caused the Rhode Island
creamery company such great losses that finan-
cial embarrassment is at hand. The company
has not failed, as reported Mr.. Fitz, the
manager of the works. said that the cause of
the trouble was the loss of $4,000 worth of
milk The milk received from several sources
had been adulterated with citric acid, and
when mixed with the pure milk had resulted