The daily sentinel., 1909-10-26

that since the ID. & r. G.. Co then
mad $50 Armour refrigerator cars on
their lines available for loading, Mr..
Ellis did not see his way clear to in
crease the number. He added that
ne had instructed the Burlington to
deliver to the Denver road 100 Ar
mour cars as fast as possible, and that
similar Instructions had been issued
to the Rock Island and the Missouri
Pacific roads. Mr.. Applegate i'm
mediately went after these roads He
found that the cars Mr. Ellis had or
dered turned over were working.
were carrying loads in all the four
quarters of the country The most
that could be delivered from the three
systems, in face of the Denver roads
urgent requirement was % cars per
day. Further dickering with Mr..
Ellis did no good. His final word
was that since he had delivered ESQ
cars and had ordered 300 additional,
he was not in position to do any
more. Then the ID. q II. G. threw up
the sponge, so far as the Armour Car
Lines were concerned. They got after
the Santa Fe, the Rock Island and
other local roads, and saw Mr.. Sc
crist. OF the Pacific Fruit Express.
The railroads could do nothing, as the
recent cold weather had called in
requisition all the available cars they
had Mr.. Secrist alone was in posi-
tion to help out, California deciduous
fruit shipments having fallen off to
small proportions and oranges not
having started. Mr. Secrist lent 100
cars for immediate delivery, 100 more
IN a week, and promised others as
available. The Colorado Midland had
available 100 5. F. r. d. cars, which
were ordered to the field. The DEN
yer q Rlo Grande itself had about
zoo new cars which the road was
striving to keep within its own terri
tory but has put these in commits
sion. They are now arriving or in
transit All told. the~present short
age of cars for ultimate use is reck-
oned at about 500 cars.
The Denver & Rio Grande say Ar
mour's headquarters were well ac-
quainted with the situation. They
allege that the Armour Car Lines
Denver manager wired Mr.. Ellis Oct.
that the ID. & X. G.. would need rs
refrigerator cars for the next ten
days, on account of cold weather on
he West slope. The Armour contract
was made by Mr.. Ellis, with Vice
President Schlacks, of the ID. IL r. G.
at Denver. so the roads people here
say. Like all Armour contracts. it
provided for the exclusive use of Ar
mour cars. The Denver roads people
mere say that to date they have had
1000 OF the 1000 contracted cars.
oct. l6, John f. Moore, of the Grand
Junction district. estimated that B.
900 carloads of apples were left to
snip, and the ID. & X. G.. say that the
1000 cars the Armour Car Lines
owed them then would have been
ample to take care of this amount.
The Armour Car Line deny they
violated their contract with the ID.
IL X. G. They say the car shortage
is greatly exaggerated. The peach
crop. according to them. was estimat-
ed at $500 cars. but only 500 were
shipped and the Armour people had
surplus of 500 In that territory.
The hitch seems to be a difference
between refrigerator and ventilator
cars. On the refrigerators the Ar
mours get big price for refrigera-
tion. Very few apples are moved in
refrigerator cars. except during hot
weather. Receivers here look to the
railroads for damages and do no,
recognize private car line This will
put II up to the ID. a r. G. Undoub-
tedly many suits will be started. Re-
ceiVers here get wires from their Col
orado agents wanting details We'd
nesday there was joint wire to the
dealers asking If shipments should be
made in box cars. An answer went
back that such permission was given
only in case the railroad took the
responsibility for any damage by
freezing en- route and would put this
in their bill of lading otherwise they
were instructed to ship as heretofore.