Ripley County democrat., 1917-11-16
HELP RAILROADS |
| IN war SERVICE
Cooperation Of Shippers and|
Travelling Public Contributes
/ to Efficiency. !
PASSENGER TRAFFIC IS CUT
Thousands Of Train Crews and Loco
I motives Thereby Released for
! Hauling Freight Needed by
T, & Nh tho Government.

Chicago. Reports just compiled for
the railroads war board indicate that
the travelling public In general and the
shippers In particular are giving the
finest kind Of cooperation to the rail-
roads in handling the increased traffic
that the war has produced. What
this cooperation means may be
cleaned from these facts:
(, Since May l the rnilroads, aided by
the loyalty and understanding Of the
public. have been able 10 reduce their
passenger service by approximately
25.O00000 miles. This has released
thousands Of train crews and locomo-
tives for use in the freight service and
cleared thousands Of miles of track,
thereby facilitating the movement of
coal, food products and supplies need
ed by the government.
In addition to the foregoing saving
Of equipment and trackage, the ship
pers, big and small, have rallied 10
splendidly to the slogan. make one
car do the work Of two" that saving
Of close to half o million freight cars
has been accomplished. This saving
Of freight cars has enabled the rail-
roads to move approximately 20 per
cent more freight since war was de-
clared than during the same period
last year.
intensive Loading Helps.
Intensive loading and general In
crease In the size Of the "trade units
used by the various industries has rem
dered possible the saving Of cur space.
Cotton, for instance. which was for
merly moved In units Of fifty bales. now
moves only In units Of 85 and 70. Az
there are 100000 bales to be moved
by rail each season. the increase IN
the trade unit In this one commodity
alone has produced saving Of any.
where from $1,000 to 125.000 cars.
Sugar, on which the carload minimum
from the South was formerly only "a
600 pounds per car, now moves only on
q 80,0O0-pohnd carload minimum. The
producers of manufactured food prod
ucts, especially the Gamers, have also
come to realization Of the value Of
intensive loading and are now loading
virtually all OF their cars to capacity. |
Coal, which has been loaded beyond
capacity on most lines since the be-
ginning Of the war, Is also moving free |
ly now, although labor troubles In some
parts of the country is tending to coun- |
teract the efforts Of the railroads to |
meet the abnormal demand for fuel. |
During the past month the supply Of
cars on the Take coal" lines has been
increased % per cent and there has
been some increase In the movement
Of bituminous coal to the lake ports,
but 1t has not been proportionate to |
the increased supply Of cars. a. labor
trouble has tended to decrease the
mine production.
Renewed Efforts Necessary.
Although excellent results have baenI
achieved to date through the co-opera-
tion Of the shippers, the travelling pub
lie and the railroads, II will be neces-
lsary for all concerned to cxcrt re-
inewed efforts. as the abnormal de-
mands upon the railroads In the move
fment Of both troops and supplies II
constantly increasing, while the secur-
Ing Of new equipment IL virtually Inn