Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-29

the cars are not ICED at al
Mr.. Mortesen then told OF how cars
are diverted, and said that last year
there were 1929 diversions of northern
california shipments and S646 diver
sions of Southern California shipments.
Some cars are diverted several times.
Sonic are diverted as many as fve OF
six times, others once; small per
cent not at all.
once last year a car shipped from
Porterville was diverted sixteen times.
It was more than sixty days making
the trip. No charge Is made Tor extra
ice. inspection of telegraph service
required for such diversions, or for
holding cars at diversion points. The
Porteryille concern whose shipment
was sixty days on the road to Boston
did not have to pay extra for the SIX
teen diversions, or for the extra time.
This testimony was introduced to show
the privileges given to shippers ana
the service given by the refrigerator
companies.
while the Pacific Fruit Express pays
no telegraph tolls, the railroad COM
pany pays the Western Union for
portion of its service Testimony would
Indicate, however that as the railroads
own their own telegraph systems and
are capable of doing n large amount
Of business. they do not have TO pay
the Western Union much for special
service. The railroads admit, however,
that all this service Is assessed against
the shippers as having a certain COM
mercial value and rates are fixed ac-
cordingly
Tells Methods of Preceding
Mr.. Mortesen then described the Col
ton preceding plant. This plant uses
the air circulating system to take the
decay germs out of fruit. The air is
started into the car at n temperature
of 8 or 70 degrees above zero, and Is
gradually raised to % degrees. The
car is shipped at As defrees. The ca
pacity of the plant. he said. is about
$50 tons Of Ice day, and twenty cars
can be pre-cooled at time. The plant
is now doubling this capacity. He said
this plant can pre-cool a car and start
II eastward in twelve hours after load
ing. The shippers plants require
forty eight hours to pre-cool a car after
loading The temperature is reduced to
45 degrees by the Cotton plant. 1t is
reduced to 80 degrees by the shippers
plants and sent eastward at that tenn
perature. He said temperature lower
than As degrees could not be maintained
with ice, and there was no use in de-
ducing It below 45 degrees.
Tt Is on this point, also, that the ship
admit that pre-icing will not maintain
n preceded temperature of 33 degrees.
but say that If the car is preceded
to SO degrees one icing will carry it 10
its destination. where the fruit will ar
rive at as or 46 degrees, or sufficiently
cold to have kept the fruit fresh and
intact. Preceded only to As degrees,
they admit frequently re-icing is neces-
sary, and the fruit arrives at its desti
=.
while the average temperature of 45 or
46 degrees is not low enough to keep
the fruit fresh and healthy.
Mr.. Mortesen read a list of cars
which he claimed had been preceded
at the Pomona plant. which belongs
to the shippers and which had re-
quired re-icing. although preceded to
a temperature of 80 or So degrees:
These cars he said, had been re-iced
eastward and had required from $4,000
to $4,000 pounds of ice. He admitted
under pressure. that "some of the cars
had been re-iced by mistake"
Prouty Trips Lawyer
Here Attorney Durbrow of the
Southern Pacific tried to score an in
ming by stating so much extra work
is required to keep track of the pre-
cooled cars that such mistakes" are
natural.
Commissioner Prouty, however.
tripped him.
You have stated" said Commission
er Prouty. that instructions go with
every preceded car l don't see what
extra work can be involved in simply
leaving the cars alone"
Whereupon Mr.. Durbrow said moth
ing.
Mr.. Mortesen, however explained
that at Yuma, for instance, all cars
carrying ice are placed at the ice plant
as soon as they arrive and workmen
begin filling the bunkers needing ice.
Meanwhile the accompanying bills go
to the station, and before they can get
back to the workmen the cars have
been re-iced whether the instructions
call for it or not, as the workmen have
no way of knowing, 1t would seem,
what is contained in the instructions.
In the afternoon session Attorney
Call took up the cross examination of
Mr.. Mortesen and went into the de-
tails OF statistics submitted by the
witness during the morning session.
He said the estimated weights of the
cars were taken from the stenciled
| figures given on the cars, and varied
| from 500 to 700 pounds. In the season
ending October 81. 1908, said Mr.. Nor
tesen, the company moved east "a, 643
cars containing citrus fruit, and in the
were 1874 carloads. The cars were
| loaded as follows: Imperial valley
melons, 1911 cars; Moapa, New, melons,
| 56 cars; northern California fruits
1876 cars; oregon, 2410; Phoenix, 239;
Mexico, 3G1; Southern California Eek
elusive of Imperial Valley, 17.417;
Utah, 1124; Yuma melons ony), As.
Why Empties Return
The company, said Mr. Mortesen
| has total Of 5000 cars in actual serv-
| ice. He said they were not short of
cars last year, but had to rush them
| back empty by special train to keep
| up with the demand.
THAT was the reason the cars came
back empty, thon?" he was asked.
yes"
IF you had had more cars you could
have had more business westbound-
! filled many of the returning cars?"
Probably"
1.-THE westbound traffic was there for
you, but you did not have time to load
| the cars?"
That's about right-yes."
The witness then said that while cit
rus fruits move all the year, deciduous
fruits move only during portion OF
the year. Mr.. Mortesen said it was
| impossible to forecast the size of a
crop, or to tell beforehand how many
cars will be needed, although when the
forecasts of the California Fruit ex-
change for a period of eight or ten
years last past was read to him he
had to admit that only in one instance
had the forecast missed the mark by
any considerable figure. The number
estimated had equaled the number OF
cars used with but one exception, and
| generally had nrOVed reliable