The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-19
ROADS UNPREPARED
Dfb NOT COUNT ON TREMENDOUS
 BUSINESS.
AaiIroad Men Testify That they Un- dcrestimated Prosperity of the Country and Lack of Car
 Supplies ls Result.

I l4 ! St. Louis, Dec ls.--The Interstat, 1 Commerce Commission convened to liday and began an investigation int 1 the shortage of freight cars.
 Commissioner c. A Prouty presided | and witnesses were examined by P,
 J. Farrell, attorney for the commits | sion,
 Prior to the opening of the session | Commissioner Prouty said:
 "The Interstate Commerce Commis-
 sion is here to ascertain If possible Il the shortage of freight cars Is due tc
 scarcity of engines or improper man 1 agement on the part of the railroads. I We expect to fix the responsibility and | then try to remedy it."
 Martin L. Clardy, general attorney | for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. ap-
 peared in behalf of the -ailroads. J. | c. Lincoln, commissioner. of the Mer-
 chants Exchange Traffic Bureau, waa ] the first witness. He declared that the | delay in the movement of freight was | due, not so much to an insufiiciency of l cars, as to lack of motive power and facilities for handling the cars. He emphasized the need of better joint trafic facilities to eliminate delays al Junction points.
 | c. D. Johnson. who is connected with companies that operate lumber mills hin Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, tes- 1 tified that there had been a very great shortage of cars during the Last three
 months. 'This is the worst shortage IShave ever known" he said. The embargo. which roads employ to keep
 cars from leaving their own lines. ia \ as bad as 6 car famine"
 l ]. H. Allen, cotton commission mer-
 chant, brother of Private John" Allen
 of Tupelo. Miss, testified that his com l pany had very great difficulty in pro- 1 curing cars to remove cotton from the
 Southern fields to the market. He said, | ''The railroads do not pull together
 and they have not prepared for the
 great prosperity of the country"
 President Mcbride of the American
 Car and Foundry Company. testified that khe manufacture of cars had in~
 creased 15 per cent in quantity and 50 per cent in quality in the past few years.
 Mir. Mcbride said that his company
 was about six weeks behind in the de- livery of its orders, but that the ca pacity of the plant was mortgaged l for future delivery about nine months. Suppose you had an order for 10000
 cars given you today, when could you
 make delivery" W asasked.
 T should say, about October i, 1907" "The railroads get after us very i su&Eply NHSn we Adil lO QokiN6E VfdCE5 promptly" he said. 'Hthink the roads
 would place a great many more orders
 if they could get prompt delivery. We could manufacture IS per cent more
 cars in oRr thirteen plants if we, could | get the material and labor. We have
 as much difficulty in getting labor as
 material The material we find it
 most difficult to get is lumber What Is the price of cars now as Fcompared with five years ago". l About 20 to 25 per cent higher A committee representing the Mem | phis Lumbermen's Club was present | and asked to be heard. The committee was composed of c. H. Henricson, chair
 man; W. s. Crenshaw, F. E. Garpy, F. B.
 Robertson and E. E. Farnszer. Mir. Henricson explained the difficulty in | getting cars to handle the lumber traf- 1 fic. and said he thought the greatest ] obstacle in the way was lack of ter~ minal facilities in Memphis. He said
 that a recent record showed that it | had taken thirty days to get cars from
 Toronto, Ark, to Memphis, a distance of thirty miles Henricson filed 9
 long statement with the Commission.