Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-06-14
PER DIEM SYSTEM.
The Santa Fe Road VIII Soon Pit il
in Operation.
SOME IMPORTANT RULES.

superintendent Z. w. kounS, of the
transportation department of the Santa
Fe, is now engaged in solving the prob.
lem of per diem in practice, says the
Topeka State Journal.
Per diem in theory has been talked
of for years. and written about for
months in the newspapers. Finally.
at the meeting of the American Rail
way association at New York on April
"a, the plan was officially adopted and
will go into actual operation on July l.
An elaborate code of rules was drawn
up, and a committee was appointed to
sit in arbitration on disputed points of
Interpretation.
Since then, the superintendents of
transportation have been busy explain
ing to the minor officials, and the
minor officials to the clerks, how to
use the per diem system of collecting
for the use of freight cars by other
lines.
When asked as to the effect which
the change in system would have on
the work in his department, Mr.. Kouns
said:
"Of course the per diem system will
have the effect of changing to some ex.
tent our methods of keeping books, but
| do not expect that any very material
difference will be made. The object of
the rules is to secure the prompt re-
turn of freight cars. AT present
the amount received from freight cars
while in use on other lines is only. on
an average of from Is to IS cents a
day. Under the per diem rules. the
amount is 20 cents per day. Now the
roads charge by the mileage made by
the car. and it is easy to have a great
lnot of nnuippnopt tin1 ,N xr,tL nu,;.
waiting for transfer, and the road own
ing the cars gets nothing for the cars
while so in use. The amount we re-
ceive from mileage on freight cars does
not pay the cost of repairs. 1t would
be impossible to enter into a detailed
explanation of the per diem system.
1t requires study to master it in it's de-
tails"
These are some of the new rules of
per diem charge which are of especial
importance. One is on the list as No.
5. 1t is as follows:
AN arbitrary amount for each car
in switching service may be reclaimed
by the switching line from the road for
which the service was performed. This
amount shall be based upon the aver
age number of days actually required.
and determined by the roads directly
interested for each local territory"
This rule will prove of benefit to the
Kansas City Belt. which is a switching
road, and which is owned by the Santa
Fe.
There is another important rule TO
prevent a road from stealing equip
ment during the rush of the season.
and using some other roads cars for
it's own freight. The rule is as follows:
4. ,A-a ,@aA 1,lg,a,N 5000,
freight car without the consent of the
owner, to a road which does not pay
per diem. or If a road permits the load
ing or reconsigning of a foreign car
without the consent of the owner to
such a road, it shall be responsible to
the owner for the payment of an
amount equal to the per diem accruing
on the car while on such road.
When a road refuses OF fails to
promptly receive from a connection
cars Upon which it has laid no embar-
go. it shall he responsible to the con-
nection for the per diem or cars so
held Tor delivery, including the per
diem on the home car of such nne
ton. If such refusal or failure to 1e-
ceive shall continue for more than
three days, the delinquent line shall
thereafter in addition he responsible
for the per diem on all cars in transit
which are thus held back for delivery.
1t shall he the duty of a road intending
to reclaim such per diem allowed to
notify the delinquent line daily of the
number of cars so held by it."
The rule provides for a system of re-
ports by which the location of cars can
be ascertained, and the amount per
diem can be figured out.
The new rules will be of especial
benefit to the Santa Fe because the
Santa Fe is rather short on freight a
equipment. The Santa Fe now has
about 5000 freight cars in service.
There are about l 800, 900 freight cars
owned by members of the American
Railway association, and the gross
amount of exchange rate under the
new per diem plan would he $500 900
a day if all were affected. 1t is esti-
mated hat about 60 per cent of the
freight cars remain on their home
roads.