Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-22

not been unloaded to date The con-
tractor is paying sJ day demurrage
on each of them. II they are for con-
tracts he holds on a cost plus basis.
the government. of course, will pay the
bill. and meanwhile in the face of a
national shortage of freight cars, and
a Washington congestion of freight
consignments, these cars lie useless.
cluttering up the overcrowded track
age here.
Yards damned With Cars.
In the Pennsylvania yards tutilized
also ny the chesapeake and Ohio, the
Washington Southern and the Southern
railway linesl there are today 5S5
cars ready for unloading, and 2S5 more
ears waiting outside the city TO he
tracked in here for unloading. Yet. ac-
cordlng to past performances of Wash
ington consignees. only so per cent OF
these SIS cars will be unloaded today.
On the average demurrage is paid
40 per cent of the freight shipped into
Washington. This means that 30 per
cent OF the freight remains in cars or
warehouses after the third day, on
which the demurrage payments be-
gin.
In the Baltimore and Chic yards yester-
day afternoon 450 cars were in position
to be unloaded, and $50 were waiting at
points outside the city to come in. But the
situation out there is much better than it
has been and 1t is likely that these $50
cars will be brought in today
Red Cross Supplies Suffer.
These are some OF the high lights of the
freight jam in Washington which is in
terfering with consignn1ents of food, fuel,
and shipments sorely needed by Washing
ton business houses. Even the American
Red Cross, conducting this week CAM
paign for 100000 new members work
which President Wilson characterized as
an essential factor in carrying on the war
mas been handicapped despite preference
orders gwen to shipments of its supplies
because the railroads have been unable TO
push the cars carrying their membership
campaign material through the tremendous
Ire1ght Jam in cities all over the country
among these 265 cars waiting to come
IN here to be unloaded are 24O cars of
lumber. consigned to contractors for
government building work, and the
railroads themselves have taken the ini-
uatITe in helping TO get this lumber
unloadea by seeking vacant ground on
which il can be deposited
Complaints about the holding I'D of
cars in the freight yards of big cities
are not solely from Washington They
have been pouring into various gov
ernment departments. and today in
duced the Council of National Defense
TO release statement urging that
consignees seek to remove shipments
more promptly. and also recommending
that cities have snow cleaned from their
streets to facilitate hauling, for the re-
cent snowfall has been an added handi-
cap in freight distribution
A railroad official in Washington today
stated that the only way to help the rail-
roads reach their highest efficiency is for
consignees to cooperate with the railroads
by getting their shipments away from the
yards There has been much blame upon
the railroads, and very little attention
paid to this enforced idleness of cars on
account of delays of consignees.''
One suggestion made to the car service
commission OF the railroads, war board
was that in each city lists Of consic1ees
who had cars nnioaded be printed daily
because 1t was believed that this publicity
would do even more than the demurrage
charges to compel acceptance of Shipments
But railroad men state that such action
cannot be taken by them without direct
Commission.
They hold that to give out such lists
would be violation of the section of the
act creating the commission, which for
bids disclosure of information which
might be of value to competitors
LESS ss-Than-Carloadp Lots.
Another acute problem in Washing
ton is that of the "less-than-carIoad"
lots. The warehouses at the PennsyI-
vania yards have been filled since Sep
tember. and almost daily cars must
wait until consisnees take away
freight they should have received DAYS
earlier, before these less-than-carlpad
lots can be unloaded.
Railroad men recognize the difficult
ty that drayage men in Washington
are having in getting teamsters. One
today characterized the situation as
"frightfui." He said all the drayage
here are working to capacity.
using all the men they can hire at
100 per cent higher pay than they were
giving a year ago.
posed to comment on the fact the
show that delays of the gov
itself. and of contractors
working for the government. are one of
the handicaps in the Washington
freight tie-up.
There are frequent incidents like that
of few weeks ago when shipment
came through with the blue tag
and when ii arrived two gov
ernment bureaus had to unwind red
tape for ten days to determine who
should remove the consignment.
Even the contractors are not always
to be blamed. freight official stated,
because in some cases they have sought
to relieve the situation by arranging
10 send lumber on to other points when
It was not needed Immediately here.
In other cases they had difficulty in
finding storage places for material, and
material in the cars and pay demurrage
than to remove it. In this calculation
they did not take into account the press
ng needs for the cars and the trackage
they were wasting.
Both the Pennsylvania and Baltimore
and Ohio railroads have sent special
agents into the Washington field to urge
,onsignees to unload cars. and to advise
.hem about quick ways of getting ship
nents away from the yards. Recent bad
weather complicated the Washington sit
lation, as 1t did the congestion In yards
If other cities. But the effects Of the
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