Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-12-29
THE CAR SHORTAGE.

army of angry citizens to meet at Eu- |
gene, centre of the famed Willamette |
valley, rich province in the kingdom |
of e. Fl. Hartman. There were men |
of labor's stamp, men of miners garb, |
men of well-groomed mien from Port |
land, men of every shade of political
belief.
Hotels were filled; citizens opened
their homes. The little city on the
banks of the Willamette was for the
time the centre of propaganda which
bodies discomfort for the railroad
usurpers of industrial power.
I'VE want cars in which to haul our
products to market" cried the first
speaker in the mass meeting.
The applause was deafining; that
was the keynote of the gathering. A
legislative program was outlined, and
all newspapers of the state printed II
with commentator. That program is
the expression of an outraged peop,e
1t will be carried through in January
when the assembly meets at the state
capital. These are the numbers billed
for the assembly performance:
Act One-A reciprocal demurrage
bill. Act Two-A maximum rate bill
Act Three-A railroad commission.
Railroad commissions are well known
and often tried eXpedient in many
states; rate bills have become familiar
in commonwealth and national legisla
ton. But the reciprocal demurrage
law-that is what meets the eXigencies
of the situation and may end the car
shortage and accelerate railroad kings
What is reprocal demurrage? 1t is
the peoples big stick" with which in
hot tot thr live dc No
PEELED to supply cars when needed or
pay given sum as a penalty each
day during which they delay in doing
so.
For many years it has been the uni
versal custom for railroads to charge
demurrage to shippers-when a car Is
asked for and switched to certain
mill, and the shipper fails to load II
in the following twenty-four hours
there is charge of say, SO for each
dav in which the car stands on the
sidetrack unloaded. 1t is rule
against which shippers have not re-
belled; for it is manifestly just and
protects the busy railroad from the
occasional negligence of careless ship
pers.
To Make the Rule Work Both Ways
Immense sums have ben thus col
lected from the manufacturers and
grain dealers and others who ship in
car lots 1t is proposed now in Ore
gon to make this excellent rule work
both ways Apply it to both shipper
and transportation company. In Jan
uary law will be passed-and the bill
thereafter will not rest long in the
desk of any committee chairman, either
for reciprocal demurrage; the car
shortage will then be at an end. The
request of the shipper for a car will
be command for a car; for every
day in which the car is not supplied
after the first twenty-four hours the
railroad company must pay the ship
nc" go
On the other hand, the bringing of 2
car 20 tho siding of the factory and the
notification of the shipper that it is
ready for his uses, will be the means
of extracting from that shippers peck
ct $40 for every day in which he fails
TO load it. after the first twenty-four
hours.
Why have not the roads supplied
cars for the goods of the factories and
the farms? The answers might be
various The business men of the
west-for OREGON is not alone in its
revolution: other reciprocal demurr
pa hills will ha Docad this winter