Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-23
RELIEF FROM SANTA CLAUS
Next Four Days Expected to AnsliOrats
Freight Gar Congestion.
RAILROADS COUNT ON MUCH AID
Farmers VIII Ease Up on Ship
ments of Grain and Roads
VIII Work the Same
as Ever.

Santa Claus present to the railroads will
be relief In the car congestion.
THE next four days will be a godsend
to the railroads." said a prominent traffic
official Of one of the western roads Satur-
day. The farmers will ease up a little on
the hauling of grain and the railroads will
be working all the time and should clean
out considerable grain between now and
Wednesday.
EVERY year there is a shortage Of cars
for the handling Of grain at this season of
the year, for the corn gets In condition TO
be moved and the farmers all have some
they want to take to the market at about
the same time. A short time ago there was
a complaint that the farmers were not
bringing their grain to the market and the
complaint is now the other way
mo corn is yet being moved for export
The corn is not yet hard enough to ex-
port. The south and southeast demands a
large supply Of corn and oats and that Is
where the corn is now going Scarcely any
is moving to Chicago at the present time,
all being sent south"
Unable to Get Cars.
Manager Meyer Of the Willow Springs
Distillery has orders out on every railroad
running into Omaha for corn and still can
not get It I'm as fast as he could use 1t up.
The railroads claim, however, they are not
letting the country elevators become con-
! gested, but are furnishing relief in every
case Some claim the congestion is at
Omaha in the terminal elevators, but none
will admit their elevators are filled. The
| railroad officials claim all the elevators In
the state are kept working and that the
| next four days will relieve the situation
considerably.
/ a state
ment that a freight car does not work
more than one hour out of twenty-four.
The Burlington claims all the cars on that
road, including those out of repair and in
| the shops, average about thirty-fve miles
a day The average, It is contended, has
been as high as sixty-five miles day and
| during the heavy storm in October, which
| shut OFF traffic on the northwest line, the
average for that period is said to have
been twenty-five miles per day. In his
testimony before the Interstate Commerce
| commission in Chicago. d. Willard, wee
president Of the Burlington, testified his
road showed business increase Of 20 per
cent and that 20 per cent more cars had
been ordered, but most Of these could not
be had.
No Coal Scarcity Here.
Although there is complaint of coal short
age in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Kansas and
other western states. railroads converging
in Omaha claim they have yet to have a
complaint from a station for want OF coal
At times the bins have been nearly empty
but there has been no time this year when
the roads have not been able to supply the
demands before there was any suffering.
Not only have the railroads of Ne
braska supplied this territory, but have
sent hundreds of cars to foreign lines
many of which have been kept for the
use Of those lines and not returned to Ne
braska" said the ofhcial
1t is now claimed that the coal condition
in Nebraska is better than it generally Il
at this time of the year.
The Burlington has announced II will
, after January /, absorb switching charges
on local freight as well as on competitive
freight. where the revenue is SIS or more
on carload lots. This means that II vii
! hereafter treat local and competitive freigh
the same and smaller local stations will b
put on the same footing as stations which
! are competitive points