Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-05


cAEHARr AND LEIDY.
"0ur firm has experienced q great deal of
trouble" said Mr.. A. Carhart Of the firm Of
Carhart & Leidy. "Our trouble has been prin-
cipally with Philadelphia shipments. il taking
about ten days TO deliver goods here shipped
from that city. Recently there has been an
Improvement, but still there is room for further
good work in that direction.
J. W. scHAEFER.
Mr.. A. Schaefer of the firm of J. W. Schaefer
a Bro, china dealers, when questioned by
STAR reporter said that they had had the biggest
KIND OF trouble with the railroad companies.
During the conclave, he said, it was simply i'm
possible TO get any goods shipped 1t just took
US from Tour to six weeks TO get goods that we
ought to get in less than that many DAYS.
we ordered goods for the conclave." said
Mr.. Schaefer, that did not arrive in time aud
the consequence is that still have them on
our hands II they had been delivered in time
they would have been sold, but the failure of
the railroad to deliver them was the means of
a loss OF 1900 to s40O 10 our firm. We were
certainly treated very shabbily. One car of
goods that could not be found We traced TO
Eckington and then had to do the hauling from
that yard. but the railroad wanted their money
very promptly all the same"
n. W. BURcHELL
''The freight traffic was very much interfered
with about the time the conclaye was held
here" said Mr.. n. W. Burchell. the grocer.
after the conclave the roads seemed to become
clear and have experienced but slight trouble
since that time. recall one instance Of delay
where goods shipped from Rochester, n. u.
about October IL, were not delivered to me
until the early part of November. But while
that may be an exceptional case, yet it is plain
that we need better freight facilities IN this
city. Either new railroad should be built
between this city and baltimore, for example.
or else the present roads ought to be obliged
to provide means for handling the business
which comes to the city over their lines"
wHyTE BROTHERS.
The Whyte Bros. of 18th street. galvanized
cornice makers, have a grievance against the
Baltimore and Ohio road, for the freight that
they order from Baltimore over that road is
from fve to seven days in transit They get
their New York goods quicker than those from
near at hand, for the reason that they bring
them by fast freight, which costs more. II can
see no reason" said one of the members of the
firm, flor this unwarranted distinction, except
that the railroad may want to force o right of
way from the people. In the west this would
not be tolerated day. The trouble here is
that there Is no competition; the railroad IA
seventeen years ago. Ii we had two more
roads running into the city there wo1ld soon
be a change"
THE PALAIs ROYAL.
At the Paiais Royal it was learned from the
manager, Mr. Blount, that the establishment
was having considerable trouble in getting
goods shipped from points other than New
York and Philadelphia. Some shipments"
said Mr. B!ount. ''sent from Lancaster. n. H.,
on the 18TH of November were only received
yesterday Mr.. Blount could give no reason
for the delays, and has about decided to simply
sit down and wait for goods.
wILMARTH AND EDMoSs-oS
Mr.. Edmonston OF Wilmarth 4 Edmonston
said their firm was experiencing much annoy
ance from the delays in delivering their goods.
shipments, he said. from such large places as
New York had a habit of coming through with
regularity, although he had i'll his mind one
shipment to them from Brooklyn started on the
lOtn Of September and only received on the
18th OF November. IF you especially want
goods you can't get them" was Mr.. Edmon-
ston's summing up, land" said he, Il think
the railroads are plrposely putting the mer-
chants to Inconvenience in order to get them
to stir up Congress to legislate i'll favor of the
roads,"
THE BRADBURY PIANO COMPANY.
At the Bradbury piano agency on the avenue
the manager said their freight was coming in
much better at present than a few weeks ago.
but while affairs were better with them Just
now he thought the roads were discriminating
against Washington in an effort to obtain legis-
lation from Congress.
KENNEDY AND SON.
Geo. E. Kennedy of the firm of Kennedy 4
Son, grocers. said that during the thirty-five
years of his business experience in this city he
had never had SO much trouble in procuring
goods by freight az he had this year. He had
special trouble with the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad. Some goods had been two months in
coming from Baltimore, and others one month
in coming from Ohio. He had finally ADAM
g.. Ia 4 l. Al
had all his goods sent by express. He thought
that the one cause of the trouble in the case of
the Baltimore and Ohio was that it
was too mean to employ sufficient
force Ok men in this city to handle the
freight and that the road had but little consid-
Grafton for the business men of this city. In
the Baltimore and Ohio depot freight was
massed in great piles and instead of the en-
ployes OF the company looking up articles when
called for the citizens were obliged to do it
themselves. Both roads, he thought, needed
better facilities, but this particularly true
OF the Baltimore and Ohio road.
w. b. MOSES.
"What is needed" said W. b. Moses. the fur
niture dealer, in talking about the disorganized
freight business of the city, as he termed it,
sis that euch road should have freight depots
five times the size of the present depots, and
that each road should have two more tracks for
their business. To supply the needs of the
business ana OF the crowds that will come here
to attend the worlds exposition of 1892 each
road ought to have besides four additional
tracks. Why, goods shipped to us have been
delayed thirty and thirty five days, and there
is one car that has not arrived yet although it
ought to have been here month ago. IT is
plain to me what is the cause of the present
trouble. The roads are trying to do business
with the same facilities that they had five years
ago. During that time the business of the CITY
has increased 100 per cent. We feel the made
quate freight facilities of the railroads this year
more than last year because the business has
increased this year at least % per cent Each
year the business viii continue to increase, and
it is folly for the railroads to continue to refuse
to recognize this state of affairs and attempt to
do business with their inadequate facilities"
W. II. HoUaHroN
without explanation or reason" is what W.
II. Houghton, the furniture dealer, says about
the delay which his house has suffered in the
delivery Of freight. Every day." he added,
II send a special messenger to the freight
offices Of both roads, and by persistent nagging
/ manage to get some things delivered. Itis
the only way. Why, goods shipped from Balti-
more have been delayed fifteen days, goods
from Indiana nine weeks from Grand Rapids
and the west six to nine weeks. Freight from
New York is promptly delivered. But lust
think Of doing business under such condi-
tions 1t ia n nerfact o1itra