The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-07-23

s. however, because OIL the ClasSlllChtlO ihdoo
for the railroads by their transportation bu.
Arenus. When the freight bill on a car OF
nails shipped from Chicago to a New Mexico
town5is considerably larger than the price Of
the nails, the necessity for careful routing
/ OF freghts in order to get the benefits Of
both. rates and classilcatlons appeals strong
5ly to the layman. In every way to combint
celebrity OF movement and the minimum. OF
cost Is the work OF tho traffic manager. @
One traffic man In a Chicago house has
had good deal Of soreness to express over
a certain classification In one Of the western
districts The distinction involves the two
commodities, stove bolts and machine bolts
AS might be guessed by any schoolboysof'
#practlcaltu turn the average machine bolt costs
about four times as much as the average
stove bolt. Yet the freight cha rge on n
barrel Of stove bolts Is Just twice as much US
the charge on a barrel Of machine bolts.
When the traffic manager Of a ra ilroad a
thousand miles long gets into the traffic
managers chair In q wholesale house SIX ~
eight stories high his troubles are considered
BY the postgraduate class TO have Just
begun; q, # ,j s: .5$..
al Some Penalties OF Competition
Competitions have made his Job possible,
but also they}hnve put upon the traft1c man Z
ager some Of the petty penalties that shar RI
competitions only make possible y rom the
competitions Of the business houses them
selves the country merchant has been tleo
Into d !. hand TO mouth !" system Of buying
The fast freight train has led the country
buyer to expect his goods in express time
at freight rates and IL the expectations are
not realized there is q kick on the traffic
mans methods. 5s M s
In many sales the element of time Is more
vital TO the customer than Is the cost II the
freight, but, while the buyer may admit
this, he wants the goods on the double quick,
with no extra charge for the extra speed
that Is made necessary by his slowness In
anticipating his own sales. And in a thou
sand ways, for a thousand small causes.
real or fancled. the traffic manager receives,
correspondence through the houses depart-.
ments In which the customer threatens to
".huy somewhere else unless things are
made right. @
4 Chicaso's Jobbing Trade Huge.
Chicago In the last ten years has seen
an enormous growth In its jobbing trade, tax.
Ing In almost every country on the globe as
a territorial Gust omer. In the correspondence
OF any department. OF such u house as keeps
OF stenographer having half q dozen Ian
guages at his nngers' ends. Water rates and
the rates and speeds Of foreign railroad lines
will need be reckoned with until to have
these at his hand. the traffic mans card cabi-
net becomes an imposing piece of office turni-
turc. Rules and rates anywhere are subject
to, change at a moments notice, until. when
tile sales department has a rate on a carload
of stoves from Chicago to Beaumont. Tex,
on Tuesday, It is quite necessary to make
inquiry OF tho traffic manager on the follow-
ing Friday ms to the same shipment over the
same lines to the same place, For the rates
may be different!
Claims Of Losses Adjusted.
TO all OF these duties and worries and work
the traffic manager has to add tho burden
OF the claims which the house may have
against the railroad companies for lost.
broken, and wrecked shipments. and to con-
slider the claims which the customer out OF
town may have against the house because
Of extra treights. shipments under wrong
tons, errors In Freight charges.
and all the category Of mistakes possible to n
crring human nature. And not only mistakes
Of figures, but OF material conditions arise
on the part OF the traffic man. AS. for 4;
SluHCG, lIlul " tllS IicuIiHS ~ GaIl5 4Oou,
A car Is not always q car, lntelrglbly to the
shipper. One ear may carry 100000 pounds;
another may be overloaded with half as
much. a single snowshed IN a Rocky moun-
tain district may cut the capacity of the
modern box car half In two for the reason
hat tho IS 5000 pound car only will clear II.
Out OF 1t all, however, the traffic manager
IL the wholesale house suggests the Initial
solution OF one OF the troublesome questions
If the modern business world What shall
re do with the old MANI The solution seems
% be to put the railroad traffic manager OF
lccomplished worth into the wholesale house
n the position Of traffic manager for the
,ousei there no win learn SO much more OF
ratlio as 1t Is NOV ed that the railroad cpn-
,any should be glad to have him back at 3
TIL greater salary for q lie term!
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