, 1897-09-14
IN RA|LWA CIRCLES.
THE CAR SHORTAGE is DISCUSS
ED AT CONSIDERABLE
LENGTH.
How a Big Superintendent Borrows Cars
From Other Lines-A Fast Run on
Sherman Hill-A Popular Conduc-
tor Reported Married, Nit-Charley
Washburn Goes to Railroading.

Railroad statisticians who have been
figuring OUT the number OF freight cars
available on January l, 1897, the number
that will be built this year and the num-
Der which will have to be discard
ed have arrived at the con-
clusion that on aJnuary /. 1898,
The railroads Of the United States
will be short of freight cars by at least
10000, says the Omaha Bee. A good
share of this shortage is appreciated at
present by western railroads, not one O.
which has sufficient ears to adequately
handle the stock and grain thai are being
shipped out of the west.
The shortage Of cars on the western
reads is not a new problem. as every
superintendent OF car service has been
bothered for several weeks past about
The supply OF cars, hut not every rail-
road will admit that it is short OF cars
for fear that such an admission might be
regarded as a reflection on the operating
department. and a bad advertisement for
the railroad company. It may be safely
stated that every railroad in Nebraska
is today supplied with all the freight
business it can possibly handle.
y Union Pacific attache. who is in a
position to know, said: while we are
not blocked anywhere, we could handle
a great deal more business il we only
had the cars to do it with. But there is
no great shortage at any one point"
A Rock Island freight official said:
Western roads are thousands OF cars
short today and have been for some time.
To guess at the number is to make a wild
guess. We are hundreds Of cars short
in this territory and have business for
every car we can get hold Of" The Mis-
souri, Pacific officer stated that it was
several hundred cars short, but that the
shortage was not so great as IL was two
weeks ago.
The most successful superintendent OF
a car service is he who can. when his
own supply of cars runs short, reach
out and steal from other roads enough
cars TO meet the demand. To be sure
the theft Is not a permanent one. as the
cars are bound to be returned to the
company that owns them some day. But
when several roads are lying in wal,
to grab the same string OF empty cars
the one that succeeds in capturing i.
makes a borrowing that is a pretty close
| nnnsAlrh IN a thnff IhIl nrNrpf-
ure. however, is regarded as legitimate
railroading under the conditions now ex-
isting in Nebraska, where the business
Of a railroad depends practically alto
gether on its ability to rush empty cars
10 the stations where there are thousand;
Of bushels Of grain awaiting shipment.
In this respect 1t is generally concedet
that Omaha has the most expert super
%intendent OF car service in the business
His is a western railroad and a pretty
big one. lust as soon as a string Of
empty cars comes across the big bridge
between here and Council Bluffs they
are seized by this smooth borrower o.
cars. rushed out on his line, filled with
grain and returned here to be delivered
to the railroad east Of the river to whom
the cars belong. The railroad canno;
object very s~crenuously since it thereby
receives the haul on the grain from here
to Chicago. but it may be greatly en-
barrassed quite often when it thinks ii
has 20 or 30 empty cars in the Omaha
yard and plans to send them west on
some other line, only to later discover
that they hav been grabbed and hustled
out on the western line that boasts OF
having the smoothest car superintendent
in the United States.