El Nuevo mexicano., 1920-02-26
CONDITIONS NOW IN
TRANSFORMATION ARE
EXTREMITY BAD


Statistics regarding ear sfi8fta6e Ina
information reeardinf condsffona oz.a.si,
fn the *, I. AA3291X a,Zf
a y" shas WIZ sns fss1tn
y sne FAAtWays 20 private operation less
than 10 days away the transportation sitna,
Ntion Ii the Un;f18 gfatau " tha ,vowst ~.
fst a.a4 NJ. $1,000 aa.z,s,@
x I Z 1900 R9ssaDiy q snS WINTER u
ashtsie, r. tne Time When government oper'
1hl11 oh faltRoaas was adopted says the
RalMay AIS.
WAS 1878. This compares with d shortage
pf 80, zoe on January i. 1918, ana $1,000 Oh
Fehfuafy \ 1918. THE Accommodations 0l
ears under loRd at various points 81 coli.
Agestion on February 8, 1920. aniodnt8d 10
Il11,Nbes as comnafed with 100000 when gov.
leru1nent operation was adopted.
~ III wen hi tbl& coMa6otibn. IL ,Fdeasl taS
conditions which EXISTED h fhe Wlnlef 81
Hf9f7afR rlia weather Nsaa fjs1 sJs@14 A. III
.Eefseet uuon frananoFtaflnn epa, i,nnsS,, M
Eohly was il extreInelv coId. b6t tha snowfall
was enormous. and heavy anovga 6xfandad
farther sonfh ana fhsrsfora affaffed mare
railway lines chan f6f MANY Wears. ThA
traffic Being handled VIZ the heaVissf ever
known. This dfficuities 81 handlinq IL had
been greatly increased bv fie CONCENTRATION
Hby ne government 81 enormous orders for
war muI0H1QIN in ~ HRTIR4#HH1WAIW "y14ITN MT.H
iii the eastern states and III orders for pref.
erenca fo ba efV9n b. eoveranlanf fralaht
bainp aki14ed r. sach Al axfaaf that I'd bar
cert n ma fraishf a. ann1a ~ fha eastern
lines was heinn handIad uader pfeferonee
ordara Govern aenf onoTafIon wac adopfed
upon the ground thai ii was necessary III
order Ia remedy these conditions. but the
car shortaKe continued 10 grow until on
March 4 1918. II Amounted tn 10000 cars.
iTha ,aslivava racenflv have been sfrllq.
alinr With very had weather conditions
INA fen1nerature has been low and the
EASTERN states Recently have been visited IN
= hli1oard ana s~norfajI only lass severe
4han tha storms r. 1917.lS. III cannot be
aaia however fhat the weather conditions
generally have been as bad as they were
fWo years ago. The coal strike il NosemA
Der and December demoraIized traffic and
the effects Of it are stilI being felt but even
the coal strike has been hardly as demon
aIizing as were the government priority and
preference orders Of two years ago. In the
winter Of 1917, before government operation
adopted. the railways had been forced
to put out many emhaTgoes, but they aia
not and could not, use the permit and emsl
barge systems to anything like the extent
the railroad administration recently nas
been using them. The extensive use Of
permits and embargoes has helped the TAIL
administration in two way First
It has enabled It 70 refuse to try TO load
which railway officers knew could
not be taken without increasing the congee-
Second, 1t has tended to keep down
.ha car shortage figures. because when con-
making a particular class Of commo'
titles know that their commodities have
arabargoed they USUALLY cease to place
for cars until the embargoes have
seen lifted. II, therefore, the railroad ad
uinistrafi0n had not been able 70 nse the
Kermit and embargo systems as Il has, the
shortages and the accommodations Of cars
.eported undoubtedly would be larger than
hey are. In one important respect the
atlation probably ID much worse now than
/ was two years ago. Tho amount Of
reight seeking transportation which he
are tinakla no accent for movement