The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-09-22
EXPLAINS REASON
FOR STEAM ROADS
REVENUE LOSSES
Professor Grover G.. Hueb-
ner Tells How to Remedy
Conditions.

AC1 CLIO x1OW W 1eC1IlCuy
Conditions.
Causes which are responsible for
most of the, undertaking of freight
cars and losses in revenue on Ameri-
cam railroads. remedy for which is
of the utmost importance-are analy-
zed in a statement by Grover G. Hueb-
ners Professor of Transportation and
Commerce, at the University Of Penn
syIvania, Philadelphia, who recently
was called to testify before the Uni
to6 States Senate Committee on Food
Regulation. Professor Huebner is an
expert on food distribution and mar
keting as wal as on railroad matters.
He lays stress on the need for proper.
packing, strong containers, and using
freight cars more nearly to their ca
pacity Hhe shows where more than
5000, 100000 is wasted yearly because
of the S1nSsaloaang 81 freight cars.
al attribute the inability of the rail-
roads to pneet the present freight de-
mands in no small measure to the
needlessly large amount of unused car
capacity" says Professor Huebner,
: land this in turn is due to the follow
ing causes: ',.+e
"(D The nature of the commodities
carried. ~.
"(2) Low minimune carload weights.
"(s) The running Of package
f f,,s, eR,ssiss EfHE meet com
/. 40 Poor loading Oft. C. L. Oess
than carload lots) freight at freight
houses and transfer stations by rail-
road agents.
"(5) Short hauls.
"(6) Poor packing cases.
(. NWAe nature of the commodity af-
Tocts the loading greatly. For instance,
! it does not require an experienced rail-
/, road man to understand that coal or
steel may be loaded to the capcity of
i the cars without difficulty, while mel
ons. would be crushed by their own
weight under similar conditions. At the
same time there are being shipped to-
/ day many commodities which. with
proper packing cases and careful
! packing, could be taken in much lar
ger carload lots, thus saving space.
4 money and. time for the railroads. The
steel companies. have been loading
much more efficiently for year or
more.
sThe matter of minimum carload
weights for loads is one over which.
! the railroads have little control. This
is settled finally by, the Interstate
/ Commerce commission. 1t is very i'm
! portant when it comes to attempting
. to~eecure more efficient car loading to
/. see that this minimum is fixed sotthat
it will discourage undertaking and
still not handicap shippers unduly.
my third cause for present condi-
lions on the railroads is the running
J OF package freight trains. This Gus
+. tom prevails in the West much more
than in the East and is a direct result
\ OF the sharp competitions, for the
trains, are run whether there is
1 enough freight. to warrant every trip
!, or not. Sometimes these package
freighttrains handle very small total
amounts on their trips and they serve
to tie up valuable cars which could be
much. better employed in other ser
vice. Likewise. they entail extra and
needless expense on the railroads.
They should be operated only when
there is sufficient business.
Poor loading of less than carload
lots of freight at freight houses and
transfer points is also responsible, in
Z a large degree, for half-filled cars. It
: is one Of those human element diff
ficultieT so hard to overcome. Freight
handlers will be careless and often
times will load cars in the easiest
way. VI,
sTf they find fragile boxes and
crates they are likely to place them SO
that only a part of the space will be
filled, rather than pack carefully. with
the strong cases on the bottom, SO as
to fill the. car to capacity or nearly
full. If the cases were strong-say of
steei--the packing for these men
\ would ,beszsinpN1ted and danger of
losses would be greatly reduced.
Short hauis with the time for load
fng and unloading about as long as
for long hauls tie up railroad equip
ment considerably. Short hauls are
necessary, however, so long as goods
must be carried by rail between near
by points.
Poor packing cases are, of them
selves one of the worst drawbacks to
efficiency In freight transportation and
handling ON AIlarailroad DIS in this coun-
try and, indirectly they bear upon
most of the 6tHef causes OF underload-
. ing freight cars and on congestion al
terminals With a steel case that
could be locked securely, which could
be plainly marked, so that the destina-
.tion always could be seen by the han
.dler, and which would stand piling
one on the other to the top of the car
millions Of dollars paid annually in
claims for thefts and for lost and dam
aged articles, as well as a part of the
losses resulting from waste space
would be eliminated.
81 have made an analysis of some
of the losses to the American railroads
from poor loading OF box cars. Or
June 80. 1916, there were at least g.
$4,000 freight cars in the United
States and forty-five per cent of theil
capacity-equivalent to 1.152,000 cars
was not used. Reckoning the aver.
age haul at 276 miles for each car, this
would mean that for the year Ameri.
can railroads hauled the equivalent Of
l317,952.000 empty car miles each time
this unused car space was hauled
Each car, however. averaged twenty
two trips year, so that the car mile:
tchargeable to unloading totalled ap
proximateix 6,s94,944,o 900!
TT costs on the average not les.
than .0225 to haul an empty freigh
cal. one mile. Thus the railroads was
ted over $157,00o,000 in hauling thi.
empty space over their hnes-a ire
mendous loss.
I'm this connection it also is worth,
of consideration that there is invested
81