New-York tribune., 1918-08-05


effort to absolutely rearrange condi-
tions. There has been almost utter
disregard Of business requirements in
the efforts to change the methods Of
railroading heretofore In effect, and
the effort Of the administration in the
hands of those who are administering
1t has been to abolish or cancel ar
rangements upon which business has
been developed through long period
of years, and then after the abolish
ment and dsarrangement it is back
to the point of comforting with the
public and putting back the arrange
ments which had been so summarily
abolished.
Reducing Trains
"For instance, immediate orders were
issued to abolish the through bill of
lading. The reasons given were that
this arrangement served to block GER
tain ports with exports which ship
pers had forwarded without ocean ton
mage to take care of it. Now the ad-
ministration is meeting with various
public bodies and others on the basis
of favoring them by reinstating an
arrangement which is absolutely essen
tial to the development Of our for
eign business. The through bill of
lading could have been very we'll con-
tinued by adding an arrangement which
would have made it applicable only
where ocean tonnage was available,
but instead Of that they have cancelled
the whole arrangement and destroyed
the methods of banking and account
ing, with the little foreign trade which
this country has left since the short.
age Of shipping.
Immediately upon the taking over
Of the railroads orders were issued
to carriers to pull full tonnage trains
regardless of whether the trains con-
tanned perishable or dead freight, put
ting upon the shippers Of perishable
freight tremendous losses. The feel
ing seemed to be that, regardless Of
the nature Of che stuff, all freight was
alike-pig iron, coal, sand and perish
able food. Those in charge seemed to
feel that the great weight Of responsi-
blity placed on them was such that
they must move slowly, and that as the
government railroads comprised all the
railroads and there was no competitive
feature involved the few more hundred
concerns seriously damaged could not
complain, because it would not be pa
triotic to complain against the govern
ment. In these times any one who
complains about the service Of the rail-
roads is not 'patriotic.' A complaint
on service mediately brings this pa
triotic suggestion to the front.
EARLY in the year it was fact that
to secure cars in many instances it was
| necessary to get a Congressman or q
United States Senator to call upon the
railroad Offices at Washington to get
action. At the present moment the
statement is made generally that
throughout the country there are suffi-
clent cars, but during the month Of
July there never was car shortage in
the United States.
"All rates have been increased five
times as much as the railroads had
asked for. State rates have been can
cellcd and all authority has been taken
away from the states:
"A great deal has been said in the
public pri about economies effected
through discharging few soliciting
men-those who looked after the in
terests Of the shipping public. The
solicitors who have been dismissed
have been replaced by large amount
Of other help, absolutely necessary to
l n 90
sportation.
Shipper Feels Ignored
"Now, with the few solicitors gone
who took an interest In the handling
of the traffic, and agencies consolidated
and abolished, no interest is being
taken in the shipper in any way. He
has had his rates increased, and all
interest in his business cancelled. At
the present moment no one knows to
whom to appeal for consideration of
struction of sidetrack into q plant
or the issuance of commodity rates
necessary to enable an industry to live
in its particular locality. 1t must be
understood that, while they have a
basis of class rates that operate gen
orally throughout the country on all
comm odities, each industry in its par
tlSuldI IOCdllLy IHuSC nave WnaC are
known as commodity rates to take care
of it's particular needs. At the pres
ent moment no railroad can give any
information in regard to who has
charge Of these commodity rates, ex-
cept that some one in Washington has
the matter in charge and full authority,
and any one who has been to Washing
ton knows about how much considera-
tion the average citizen shipper gets
there.
Tho government has now announced d
that all credit arrangements will be
cancelled. Heretofore firms who were
responsible were enabled on the
presentation of their bills from the
railroad, like any other business con-
Germ, to check their correctness and
then in week or ten days, to which
ever length of time the credit was ex-
tended, the bill was paid a, in anv
other line Of business. But the Adj
ministration has now found that this
must be cancelled and that the govern
ment mus: have its bills paid on presen-
tatlon. There is no penalty for incor-
rectness in rendering bills, and the
shipper is told to file a claim. which
may be adjusted in the distant future
for any difference which may exist be-
tween what is correct and the amount
called for by the railroad administra-
tion bill-and about half the bills rem.
dercd by railroads are incorrect.
"Such thing as tracing a shipment
through in these days Of poor railroad
transportation has also been practi-
cally abolished. Now, when a SHINE,
! Sepda forth car of fro;~LI