The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-09
CONDITIONS
 GET WORSE Commercial Life Feels Grip of Weather. RAIN IS STILL GENERAL Prospects For Improvement Not Promising. Telegraph and Telephone Companies are Striving Against Tremendous odd. to Hold Their Own in
 the struggle.
 

Louisville, ky.s FeD. o.--Wlth ram and sleet falling over nearly every mile of country from the Ohio River to New Orleans. the usual avenues of wire communication which have been demoraIized since Sunday, today went from bad to worse. Nearly every branch of commercial life felt the in- terruption and the prospects for bet ter conditions are not promising. Cloudy weather with rain. sleet or snow prevails from the Dakotas to the Gulf of Mexico, where with warmer weather, a heavy rain has been falling for. forty eight hours. A storm area is moving over the central gulf region. The in- dications are for warm rains over the entire district south of the Ohio during the next thirty-six hours. which is ex- pected will raise all streams, and rivers and start the ice which has held many of them in a tight clasp for several weeks.
 The telegraph and telephone com panies are fighting against tremendous odds. Enormous quantities of new ma terlal are required in widely seat tered area and difficulty is experienced in finding men. Business Is accepted only subject to indefinite delay. The loss in revenues to the telegraph conn panies and to the brokerage houses con- trolling leased wires is enormous. The small armies of linemen sent out in every direction to repair the damage are handicapped by the continued sleet and rain. Wires are no sooner strung on long line of hastily erected poles than the accumulated ice snaps them. This shows an added weight on the poles and they break in both directions and fall to the ground. It will prob ably be a month before communication is resumed over regular routes.
 WIre Conditions.
 It is estimated also that with the present large force of men 1t will be ten days before the wires are restored 5 between ChattanoQRa and Atlanta Y nleas4 t5 say nothing of retairfnni niles of broken wires and poles throughout Mississippi. Arkansas, Tex as, Louisiana, Florida, - Georgia and Kentucky. Reports from Arkansas and Texas are that the temperature Is rising. The demoralization to tele- graph and telephone wires continues. and communication with many points in that section of the South is uncer- tain.
 Natchez Miss. has been shut out from the world since Saturday last, Vicksburg, Miss, was cut off for two days and nothing has been heard from Shreveport, La, since yesterday.
 A dispatch from Mobile reports gen. eral rain in Alabama and all rivers booming.
 Chattanooga reports a slow, cola rain and telegraphic and telephone lines in a demoralized condition. All trains are delayed and street car ser vice badly interfered with. The Ten nessee river is rising rapidly.
 Knoxville says the streets there are impossible for pedestrians and teams on account of the sleet.
 Tn Louisville, the cold rain fell stead fly on an inch layer of ice which has for two weeks made streets and side walks an uncertain means of travel. Street car traffic was interfered with seriously. Railway trains were late on all lines entering the city. The Chicago train on one road was four hours late and on another about one and a half hours; all trains from the south were marked up on the boards at the stations at from one and one half to three hours late, and the St. Louis trains were one hour behind schedule.
 New Orleans reports delay in the ar- rival of railway trains and unseason- ably warm weather. ..N
 Damage by Elements.
 The management or the IelepnOue company in New Orleans has received reports from points in Mississippi and Louisiana showing that fin physical property alone the telephone company has suffered a loss of $130,00O as a re- suit of the storm. Rain, snow and sleet have not only leveled poles and wires, but in some instances complete ly detroyed country routes. There had been large loss suffered through tho Interruption of the service. Several hundred men are building emergency lines.
 Although conditions showed a bet torment in spots the general situation showed no material improvement to- night. In Mississippi, Arkansas West Louisiana and North Texas the tenn perature has risen perceptibly and where hard rains had not handicapped the hnemen many wires were restored. Communication with Atlanta, which had been kept up intermittently du- ring the day was interrupted tonight. The telephone people in several cities within radius of IS0 miles reported that their wires had been down since last Saturday and the telegraph com panies hold out no hope of reaching Atlanta before tomorrow,