Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1917-11-23

Washington, Nov 81 TIL" trans
portatiun problem Is becoming tn"
sulj"ct OF growing un"asin"ss an@
nuitrtiun on .hc part Of tn" rail-
roads and III" public. Thos" re- poni
sihl" for the operation Of N" rail
ways r"ai,k that transportation con
di,iune unlos' NOR" vigorously dealt
with by all concerned. will grow
more acute Therefore. tn" Rail
roads War Board believes that II
should make to the public frank
statement and explanation of the
facts and indicate" SON" OF III" means
which IL believes should he used in
dealing with the situation. Both
the public and the management Cf
tho railways mus courag"Ou face
III" fact that under tn" trying con
.i;,ions Which will d"y"lop thiS win
ter II rruhahly will bccom" ilnpOSsi-
HI" for II" carrier. to handle all the
traffic. which III" shipping public
can offer Th" number Of untitled
r.uuisitions for freight ear. after
having largely declined between May
| and September |, in spite of IA vast
augmentation of traffic. showed an
increase on October |, and further
increase ON November
The main reason, Of course. why
tn" railways are having such great
difficulty in handling all the traffic
4, that thrr" has been an enormous
incrcas. In It's volume and that this
still continues. Statistics which have
lust become available show that in
the months Of April-August. 1917.
inclusive, thcs" being the first five
l... Af | n
tied States in the great war. our
railway handled lG per cent more
freight traffic in the sam" months
of 1915. which year broke all rec
ords up to that time. The traffic
handled in these five months OF the
year 1917 was 80 per cent greater
than that moved in the sam" months
OF 1915. and In fact exceeded the to-
tai traffic moved in any entire year
prior to 1904 When the statistics
for September ar" availabl" they
will show that in tn" six months
lending with that month III" railways
handled more freight traffic than IN
any entire year prior To l""' Fer-
hans tn" most rcmarkabl" Figures
are thos" regarding tn" movement
of coal In IN" six months, May to
October inclusive. there Wcr" NOV
ed lao. 900 carloads OF anthracite"
more than in the sam" months OF
1916. an increase of lN per cent,
and ISL .0UU NOR" carloads of hitu
miuouS and ignite coal NOR" than in
the same months of l?lG also an in
crcas, of Is per cent.
A total of 10000 carloads of
freight have had to be- hauled To tn"
: National Army and National Guard
camps, and up To tn" time of tn"
latest report over l7.ono carloads
, of freight had been handled for tn"
shipping board Tn" railways arc
: Still moving Il total freight traffic
:, SURPRISING any ever known before
=, and il should be borne in mind that
:. they are doing this with almost n
greater facilities than they had two
, years ago and under conditions that
!, prevent them from materially in
+, croasing their facilities. Another
impnrtant phase of the situation e.
which attention should be called l.
: that the railways this year hav" had
to handle the largest passenger bus
mess ever known This has been Il
serious obstacl. to needed reductions
in train service In addition. he
tween Aug and Nov. -. the!
transported 100000 soldiers t'
training camps, cantonmontS and
~ points of cmbarkation. This trOui
q movement involved tn" us" %! ap
:; proXimately 2.75o special trains. O
y course. this large passenger traffi'
. and troop movement have compli
~ Gated matters and increased the diff
Is ficulty Of moving the freight traffic
X l.arg" troop movements are still
l. being made. and the railroads ar
moving to the training camps an'
environments about 15.o00 carload
of supplies per month. Thes" fact
are sufficient to cXpalin the Situa
tion. The railroads have secured
much more service from every track
- every car. and every locomotive
~ than ever before. and tn" fact tina
, the untitled acquisitions for freigh
'' ears amounted on November to on
ly l+o.0oo. in spite of the tremcn
~ dous increase in traffic. reflect
''i great credit upon their performance
- Upon this record of actual achieve
u ment, the railroads rely upon th'
!" support of public opinion. despit'
'p much of what Commissioner Clarl
III Of the Interstate Commerce Commits
VI sion has characterized as "unfai
=. criticism from people who are tryini
a. to direct attention to alleged fault
y Of others in order to avoid havint
their own shortcomings and evil-do
ings brought into the limelight.
Hut the public naturally is not inter
,g ested 50 much in what the railroad
10 have done as II in what they prob
y" ably will be- able to do during tn
~. coming months. 1t d"volves upo
" those responsible for their operatio
- to anticipate that probably they vii
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