Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1913-09-11
FEW COMPLAINTS
OF CAR SHORTAGE
Utilities Commission Received
Only Five During August.
SHIPPERS HEED A WARNING
co-operated With the Railroads in
Handling Grain and Livestock
During Harvest and Every
thing Ran Smoothly.

Topeka.-Very little complaint of
car shortage in Kansas is coming in
to the Kansas public utilities commits
sion. Since August l but five COM
plants have been filed from persons
that they couldn't get cars readily
enough to move their grain. There
were only fifteen during July.
There has really been little car
shortage in Kansas this summer"
said w. P. FEEDER, secretary of the
Kansas public utilities commission.
$50 far in August we have only re-
ceived five complaints. The warning
issued by the carriers recently, d.
rected especially to their agents, has
had decided effect for the better
in the handling of cars for grain ship
ments. This combined with the ef-
forts put forth by the carriers dur
ing the spring and early summer to
have every available car in condition
for grain shipments, has relieved this
department of great deal of cor
respondence which usually follows
the harvest season.
1T is only by the strongest kind of
cooperation between the shippers and
the carriers that good service can be
had. Many farmers are not provided
with granaries or storage room for
their grain and consequently when the
threshing season is on they depend
upon the railroad companies and the
elevator companies to handle their
crops direct from the machine and
this is what causes car shortages.
There are a few simple rules.
which, if all those who are engaged
in shipping will follow, will relieve
much of the trouble occasioned by
car shortages, and in fact the trouble
will be reduced to a minimum. Among
them we might suggest the follow
ing:
DO not order any more cars than
you can use.
Make your order for delivery of
cars stating when you want them.
and make it in writing, and after the
cars have been set for loading do not
use any more of the free time al
lowed by law and the regulations of
the carrier than is necessary. This
will also hold good in the unloading
of carload shipments. Order the cars
placed as soon as possible and I'M
load without waiting to take up your
entire free time.
Promptly advise the railroad COM
pany when cars are ready for ship
ment.
Load all cars to as near their ca
pacity as possible.
BE sure that you have sufficient
grain or other products that you wish
to load, on hand or in sight, to load
car when it is placed for loading.
Railroad companies should see
that all bad order cars are promptly
repaired and that the number of bad
order cars be kept at the minimum"
Governor Hodges has granted pa
role to Fred Keehn, convicted of the
murder of William Bleisner at Corn
ing, in Nemaha county three years
ago. The Keehn and Bleisner fami-
lies got into neighborhood row over
the election of road overseer and
the clash came at a school district
meeting.
Governor Hodges has started his
pond day proposition and expects to
have big reservoir building "bee"
early next month or as soon as the
farmers can get to the work. The
governor has notified the heads of
the engineering departments at the
state agricultural college and the
state university and the state drain
age and highway engineers, asking
how many men will be available for
work. He wants the heads of the
engineering departments to collab-
oorate on making a set of general
plans and specifications for pond
building. and proposes that then the
department collect all the men avail
able and the experts give these a
series of lectures on pond building.
The governor hopes to have from
forty to fifty men ready for active
pond supervision work within the
next month, and when, the proclama-
ton is issued these men will be sent
to every part of the state that asks
for assistance. The men will be able
to pick out the best locations for
ponds. make the detailed plans for
the work to be done and show the
farmers how to make water-tight res
ervoirs to save the water
%
The extreme drought and heat has
probably been felt less, and caused
less damage in Northwestern Kan.
sas than any other part Entire West
ern Kansas is supplied with water
from wells except in a few places
along the streams. Probably less than
s per cent of the farmers rely upon
the streams for water, and those
farmers have wells to fall back upon.
MI a..