The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-13
WALKER ). HINES
 ISSUES FORMAL 1. STATEMENT ABOUT THE CAR SITUATION
Tells of Special Efforts Now Being Made to Handle Coal and Wheat.
 Traffic Heaviest
 in History

l Walker D. Hines, director general of ! railroads, issued formal statement on the car situation, in which he tells what is being done to handle the tremendous INamount of business now required in the l United States.
 , A copy of MT Hines statement was re- cei1ed by telegraph last night by J. H. i stanfire, general superintendent of the 1 Southern railway here. It was sent by Horace Baker, who had in turn received it from B. L. WincheIl, regional railroad director Of this territory.
 1 Mir. Hines pays special attention in his statement to coal and wheat shipments, which are especially acute now, His statement reads:
 ''The railroads of the country are now doing a heavier business for the present season of the year than was ever done in the history of the railroads In normal wears. and practically as heavy business as was done at this season in 1918, which exceeded all previous records.
 1 .'Thev have more cars in actual serVlce, Iafter excluding cars held out of service for repairs than in 1917 or 1918. While the bad order car situation was greatly embarrassed by the extensive strikes among shopmen in August the percen- l taee of bad order cars is now rapidly inn proving. There was an increase of 52,4o6 cars in serviceable condition between Au- gust 16 and October 4: 12.ll0 of this in crease were added in the one week ending IOctober ..>
 "While the freight business is practi- cally as heavy as at this time last year the railroad administration III pertorrl 2 lthat business is unavoldably deprlNeu oi
 many exceedingly important aids Whicn if was able to utilize last year One or these is the zoning of coal which last year compelled consumers to take their coat from nearby mines, and thereby greatly Increased the efficiency of coal transpor- tation. This advantage has necessarily been lost because the coal zoning was terminated last winter.
 "Another is that last year. there was much heavier loading of many important commodities than it has been possible to secure this year. and the result IS that under existing conditions more cars nave 1 to be used for the same amount or trai- fife than were used last year. There are various other important respects III
 which traffic was controlled in the inter
 est of the war last year. so as to get the
 maximum results out of rail transporta-
 tion and with the return of peace condi-
 lions and the resulting insistence of pub lie sentiment upon release from wartime I restrictions, these advantages have been lost.
 "The fact that there Is still shortage
 in rail transportation is due to the condl-
 tion that the amount of business offering is far in excess of the transportation Ia IciIities of the country. This has always heen true in this country in times of
 heavy business in the autumn months l exeept last year. when the matter could
 be and was controlled with an iron hand
 with a view solely to war necessities. ssAt the same time, railroad facilities have not expanded to the extent required in the public interest Even prior to the
 war the addition of new facilities was 1 greatly restricted by scarcity of material and labor; since the war 1t has been inn l possible to enter upon or carry out any 1 extensive programme for enlargement ot
 railroad capacity because Of the uncer- 1 tainty as to the status Of the railroads | The railroad administration was not pro-
 vided with the money, and therefore could not originate or carry out any such 1 programme The railroad companies, ir view of the uncertainty were unwilling tc
 nrovide the money The result is that the
 railroad facilities of the country are de
 cidedly below what the traffic demands.
 Nevertheless, the maximum traffic is
 being handled and this is being done witt
 less shortage of Transportation than man
 ifested itself at times in the pre- wal
 period Particular attention is being pait by the railroad administration to the fur | nishing of necessary equipment Tor th'
 transportation of coal and of grain. was decided early in September that 1T 1 order to meet the coal requirements O 1.-the country it would be necessary for the
 railroads to move minimum of 11,ooo 70 l t.:+
 week ended September 13 11.o46.0oo ton were transported For the week endt
 Sptmbr 20. H. 24S 900 tons were transported
 and for the week ended September Z7 thu railroad administration estimates that ap
 proximately 11.575,0O0 tons were trans ported.
 ssConditions have developed which hav , made it necessary to handle thes whea situation in an emergency way. This sit : uation has been complicated by the fac that many of the elevators are full ant 1 it has been impracticable to move addi , tional wheat to points where the eleva | tors are full, because to do so woul 2 cause large numbers of railroad cars t be filled with grain which could not b ) disposed of at destination and this woul' result in practically taking such cars ou } of the transportation service and usin. them for storage and deprivng the pub } lie generally of cars which are badl , needed for business of every sort. s "The railroad administration is follow , ing this matter very vigorously in consul l tation with the grain corporation and tn [ tdirector general will consider the matte |. personallv at meeting of interested rail road officers. representative of the graf
 corporation and others, to be held at Chi | cago th's week. As to the situation i l Texas where the wheat conditions ar | particularly acute. because the crop is ap I proximately 25.oap000 bushels larger tha
 last year. andsvlere there is scarcity Q local SAorage facilities. arrangements ar
 being made through the grain corpora ! ton for the sending of additional carg
 vessels to Galveston. and arrangement
 have already been made for increasing tn
 number of permits for carloads of whea into Galveston from 50 to 100 per da,
 Particular efforts are being made to nov
 wheat which is on the ground and is thu
 exposed to the weather"
 ITALIAN SOCIETY
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