The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-06-23
PILING UP AGAIN.
j. j. Hill of the Great Northern
Tells Millers
That Another Serious Freight
Blockade Is in Prospect.
FEELING THE PINCH.
Already There Is a Partial EN-
barge on Traffic.
He Makes Few Suggestions as
to Remedies.
FEELING THE PINCH.

Minneapolis, Mimi, June %
Wheat" was the subject of discussion
at today's meeting of the National
| Association of Millers. The subject
was treated in a paper prepared by J.
]. Hill, chairman of the board of di-
rectors of the Great Northern railway
and read by Charles B. Jenkins of
NoblesviIle, Ind. Mr.. Hill was unable
to attend the meeting.
In part it was as follows:
'One fact. it seems to me, should
give you more concern than almost
any other, because you have already
felt it's effects and because it looms
large and dangerous. This is the
pressure upon existing terminal facil-
tiles. 1t is future menace and a
present handicap. You have felt, and
will continue to feel, the partial en-
barge that traffic conditions have
placed upon all the business of the
country; upon yours perhaps as Sc
terest of the entire county, except
where it serves purely local de-
| mand is feeling the pinch of the
| transportation situation and will in
| the future feel it more severely. The
| growth of the country in population,
| in production, in transportation BUSH
ness, has been marked. There has
not been a corresponding growth in
the facilities for transportation.
| For months past it has been i'm
| possible to get freight shipments de-
| liVered promptly if these have to be
transferred at any of the central mar
| kets or principal terminal points. The
| flood of business that rose to such
| dangerous height in 1907 is piling up
again, with the additions made by ma
| tional growth since them. The future
will add in increasing ratio to these
| difficulties as well as to the losses they
| involve. The only probable relief from
| the pressure upon our transportation
| agencies, and especially upon termin-
| ais where the greatest difficulty exists,
| is the decline of our export trade. The
| demand of the home consumer is les
| sening the volume of our export of
foodstuffs, and will affect similarly
some other items on the list. But this
| change will bring relief to the carrier
| onl yin so far as export terminals are
concerned.
New Traffic.
can enormous volume of new traffic
| is being developed by the industrial adj
vance of the country between the Mis-
sissippi river and the Pacific coast. All
Of this must seek it's market; and much
OF 1t will be added to the total that al
| ready overburdens our terminals.
In the great markets Of the eastern
half of the country, in New York,
Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, the crisis
terminal congestion are applying the
brakes to business progress. This means
trouble for the whole country. 1t is
no more disastrous to have the banks
close their doors than to have the rail-
roads chOked. The interest which you
represent must suffer with the others,
and therefore, it should be taking
thoughts with others for the future.
For the same cause will work out the
same effects in the west.
"Wbaf is tine reno6U9 Of aO1rca
there is rome cut and dried, complete
) and effective, for an evil that has been
growing for so long a time, and which
, publication thus far has tended to in
, tens1fy rather than to diminish. The
, best that can be done is to offer sug-
gestions for tentative and partial re-
LIEF, and then to engage the best
thought and effort for the whole coun-
, try, especially of business men and as
sociatiols such as yours, in an effort
to lessen the tension that now stran-
giles trade. Where terminals can be en-
larged without mourning prohibitive in
debtedness, that, of course, is the nat
, ural remedy. Existing facilities also
may be made more effective.
A Partial Cure
Decentralization of traffic termi-
, nails offers partial cure, partial only,
however, because it is applicable only
} to a portion of the business to be done.
Some of the through business of the
country call ne diverted OLn0r points
than those where it now collects, but
the great central markets can not be
destroyed nor the bulk of their business
| affected.
There is, however, a considerable
element in our traffic aggregate, which
is capable of decentralization. Take
your own industry for example, be-
cause both your raw material and your
product are bulky and heavy articles,
you are, perhaps, more interested than
others, since you are most likely to
suffer from terminal congestion. 1t is
worth while to consider whether a con-
siderable share of your distributing
business could not be readjusted If
orders went direct to the mills from
the smaller cities and towns, and
shipments were made direct to them,
instead of being consigned to central
| agencies, and thence transferred TO
buyers, it would make less business
for terminals. By such a process of
decentralization, adopted by business
generally. much relief might be OBJ
tanned.
1.-The problem of terminals is the
greatest problem of the country, the
problem of transportation agencies, Of
| financiers, of the communities directly
affected and of all the industries that
depend directly or indirectly upon
cheap and speedy carriage for the COM
modities which they buy and sell. 1t IS
| a problem for everybody, since prob
| ably not one business man in the whole
country would fail to feel the dis
astrous effects if it were to be neglect
ed for the next five years as it has