Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-08-22
PROTEST AGAINST
 ARBITRARY RULE
 ON COTTON CARS
Chamber of Commerce Says It Would Create Heavy
 Congestion.

E. B. Bloom. secretary of the Pine Bluff chamber of commerce. yester day in a communication to the com mission on car service, special com mittee on national defense, Washing ton, directing attention to the arbitra. ry order of the New York, New Ha ven & Hartford railway, limiting minimum cotton cars to 75 bales, and points out that the majority of cars on the Missouri Pacific and Cotton Belt operating through Fine Bluff will not carry this number of bales.
 Pine Bluff handles more than 150, 900 bales of cotton a Year. which is shipped from this city.
 As result the arbitrary rule would produce a congestion in this territory and, as similar conditions exist in other places, there would b- a tremendous congestion in all cot ton centers. For this reason, the chamber of commerce authorized Secretary Bloom to file proper pro test against the 75-bale rule.
 The protest follows in full:
 "Gentlemen:
 "We have been advised by certain railroad officials and our cotton com press interests that the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad com pany have served notice that they would not during the coming cotton season receive any cars which con- tained less than seventy-five bales of cotton. ts
 "This organization desires to, enter it's protest against such rule, and to urge upon your honorable body that it's services and influence be used, to the fullest extent possible, to have such rule modified. "It is impossible of compliance by our compress interests and cotton small percentage of cars owned by the railroads in this section with a capacity for seventy five bales.
 "We are reliably advised that less than fifty per cent of the cars own ed by the Missouri Pacific and not more than ten per cent of those owned ed by the Cotton Belt roads have this capacity.
 During the season when the har- vesting and marketing of cotton is at it's highest stages all kinds of cars must of necessity be used in bringing the cotton to the market and to the presses, and in many instan- ces the same cars that bring the cot 1 ton in must be used for outbound 1 shipments.
 "Cotton shippers have in every case and especially sisce the beginning of the war, co-operated with the rail roads in using the rolling stock to their maximum capacity. The rule which was loading in fifty bales lots which has been in existence for many, many years, was changed at the request of the railroad compan- ies, by our shippers in every case where it was possible to do so ano the trading increased to seventy-five bales and the multiple thereof
 "We have with the view of coop erating to our fullest extent had oul railroad officials, through their ex perts, in this department give, illus trations and lectures to our .cottor shippers low acventy-five bales ant even one hundred bales could be load
 ed in certain cars, but said cars
 were of special design and dimen
 sions, and do not conform to th' standards employed on Arkansas ant other southern states railroads.
 of the New Haven railroad is de
 termined to enforce this rule ther
 will be a congestion in the cottol
 centers so enormous and dangerous
 from an incendiary standpoint, an' disastrous to the interests of the gov
 ernment, as well as the private COT sumer, that the state of affairs tna