The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-26

To the enormous cost of what in railway
parlance is known as dead haul traffic.
the South and Southwest owe much OF their
development.
While expense-reducing factors. such as
lessening grades strengthening curves and
cars. of greater carrying capacity and en-
gines OF GREATER hauling power. are intro
ouced. in the operation OF a road they have
but little counteracting influence on the ire
mendous slice which the necessity of bring
ing empty cars from one terminus 10 an
other takes out of the earnings.
Under the conditions of close competition
which exist in the East and West the
''dead-haur' problem soon became recog-
nized as an ALMOST insurmountable obsta
Gle. as long as il existed. to the realization
of traffic officials dreams wherein. when
ever a wheel turns the road earns some
thing.
Gradually il was understood that il
train carrying $50 tons of freight between
the terminal points of the road. must be
brought hack empty, the road did not earn
the freight charges on the 40 tons, but
under those conditions only the charges
on 375 tons, as nothing was made on the re-
turn trip, which in fact was a dead loss
TO the company and halved the profits.
This has been the situation which the
traffic department of the East and West
lines have been studying for some time.
While their trains for the West 10 the. East
have been loaded and the business in that
direction is enormous. the tonnage to the
West from the East has been comparatively
light, and as result II has become neces-
sery that many trains heavily laden from
the West for the East have to be rushed
back empty to handle this traffic.
STEAMSHIPS GIVEN REBATES.
To overcome this. rebates have been given
steamship companies for their traffic and
considerable rate-cutting has been done,
but without avail. Until there is as much
demand for Eastern goods as for Western
this condition will continue to exist.
looking over the ground where the neces-
stty for u dead haul would not be SO
great
1t was found in the Mississippi Valley.
Cotton, lumber. SUGAR cane and early veg
etables, in addition to fruit. would be loaded
on the train coming north while the South
had steady market for the finished prod
ucts Of the North as well as its coal.
All that was required was confidence in
future development.
building bikes and bridging rivers had to
be contended with. as well as the lack of
development along the lines, they were
more than counterbalanced by three future
possibilities which have become facts:
First. the absence of dead haul; sec
ond that along the river , all Of. Of the lines S
Mexico offered almost II not quite as good
an export port as New York.
The second consideration. that Of low
frsste. e -'e' ''-'''O'' 90 ''''''' '''-'' 90 VA
When It is realized that on a / per cent
sson is sS e to t tSs an mile
Travelled, and to do this requires many times
more power than that required to haul II
pense in coal, wear and tear on the ma
chinery and labor: further. that when the
top of the grade has been reached and the
descent commences it costs almost as much
pull il to the top the necessity of cutting
down the grades and advantages of a low
grade road for heavy traffic are evident
HAULING COST OF FREIGHT CAR
Roughly speaking and including only the
natural cost of operating. the hauling OF
a freight car one mile Involves an ex-
penditure OF 6i2 cents: this does not in
clude the interest on the value of the freight
car. the interest on the money invested in
the road represented in the car, and a
multitude of other expenses, but only the
actual cost of coal for the engine and train
labor. This cost is materially increased on
a high-grade road.
Computing on this basis, it will be seen
:.empties' from New York to Chicago
amounts to a large sum, and when 1t is real
lied that not one. but many trains, are
returned from the East empty, the motive
for building lines on which this was not SO
necessary is obvious.
For this reason it is generally believed
that the day of the ascendency of the east
and west line is waning and the future
great systems will be those running north
and south.
Among the first to recognize and avail it
self of the possibilities of the South was
the Illinois Central.
The Illinois Central Railroad and its sis
Valley, cover a territory of about $500
miles.
the east converge toward st, Louis Civ
ing track connection to Chicago on the
north. Louisville on the east, Memphis and
New Orleans on the south. as well as the
BY the reduction of grades. the introduc-
ton of block signals and the use of heavy
rails and stone ballast. the Illinois Central
has brought itself TO the front rank of the
roads entering st. Louis.
In the last few years large expenditures
have been made on this road in the way Of
reducing grades. double tracks and the
construction of new lines in order that the
route between St. Louis and other points
be shortened and to increase its track ca
pacity for business
On the north the grades on the Chicago
St Louis line have been reduced between
Clinton and ST Louis to &c feet per mile
and are in process of reduction between
Clinton and Chicago to 20 feet per mile
Formerly the grades were of a maximum
of 50 feet per mile The cost of this work
will be in the neiGhborhood Of $500. 900.
REDUCING SOUTHERN GRADES.
Southwark the grades are being reduced
from IS feet per mile to Is feet. which with
the construction Of new lines connecting
with East Cape Girardeau and between
Paducah and Cairo will give this company
a line of the lowest grade entering st.
Louis.
The branch line to The5es. with the new
bridge under construction over the Missis-
sippi, will make directly tributary to st.
oi1is a larea Country in the Gnuf hEesf