Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-13
Freight Congestion in
 Railroad Terminals
Unless Jam is Broken Indus try Must Slow Down = 235, GOO Cars Tied Up or Delayed in Transit.

Congestion of freight in the principal railroad terminals. probably the worst since the hard winter of 1917; is begin- ming to be felt in business and commerce all over the country.
 Appeals for reliel pouring into Wash 1ngton to the interstate commerce com mission, the railroad administration and 10 congress picture the big railroad gate ways choked with thousands of loaded freight cars unable to move because of shortage of men and motive power. AL though the situation has been showing local effects for the last two weeks, it now is being shown in it's nation wide aspects, and the appeals for relief coming 10 Washington contain predictions that unless the jam is broken it will be re- hected more than ever in decreased pro- auction, slowing down industry and probably a tremendous l.'Jor turnover.
 Latest reports compiled here by the committee on car service American Rail- road association, whose principal duty is 'osee that cars are supplied to sections in greatest need of them. and to keen them moving, show 235, ,000 cars tied up or delayed in transit
 Pressing Need for 8e.411 Cars.
 There is pressing need today for s2.411 cars to take care of the most urgent de- mands, railroad men declare, although they say this shows reduction of ap- proXimately 10000 over April reports The most serious conditions prevail at l the gateways, blocked as seldom before With thousands of cars, mostly loaded wi. coal and foodstuffs
 ". c. Kendall; head of the car service ceianlNtee, announced tonight that while | tae situation was bad, it was not nearly ] so acute as ten days ago
 l There is more noise, more of a con. I cent ated kick" he said but the actua ties is. less. But there is an improve i nh nt. Last weeks figures indicated ( coal production of nine million tons" l he big clamor, MT. Kendall said. is fo, coal. Commercial stocks have been de | pleted. and with the railroad surplus ex
 harsted the roads had to confscate it Now they are trying to fill the gaps. 1 All reports show that the tieun wa, force to head by the recent railroa, 1 strike. not yet ended. according to rail i wa:7 officials At the time of the 'unau
 thorized" walkout of trainmen an,
 switchmen, the roads were Iiteralr
 swamped with business. Trying to mee
 this with depleted equipment and wifi
 industries running at full tilt the strike
 railroad men asserted. was like the stray that broke the camels back.
 No figures are available at Federa+io of Labor headquarters as to the aetna
 number of employees still on strike. Rer
 resentatives of the trainmen's brothe, hood said they had no estimates. al tfcpgl' they stated that 24,OOO unio
 members who went on strike were dis l missed. Many of these have gone bacl but the number is said to be far belo
 normal Railroad men say the force
 were inadequate at the time of the wall , out c'd that higher wages offered by il r dust Il plants took away thousands. l; 20,oo0 Cars Tied Up in New England. 2 Representatives of the trainmen sa
 there was a freight congestion before u
 strike. Reports from New England alor
 showed more than 10000 freight cars tic s up, they said, with the utmost confusic } prevailing, although their latest advic - iro1cated that eleven hundred cars we :. moved yesterday over the Boston ar t Albany railroad to the Albany gatewa U Brotherhood reports showed mar :. r sw tchmen out at Chicago. Youngstov
 and other cities, but it was said Pitt , - burgh would be back to normal in fe :. Eours''
 ,Y Many shippers declared in appealil i- for help that they were at the point if being forced to close their plants f I lack of coal, raw material and cars n mo Fe the finished product. Appeals f ,e aid came rincipally from the big indu n trial centers.
 The congestion already has interfer n seriously with production, needed to ke y flown the cost of living, and governme l. officials declared the stage had almc k been reached where it was necessary f
 tho public to adopt the patriotic attitu
 that prevailed during the war.
 Newspaper publishers have declar IS that they were unable to obtain pri
 paper and might be forced to suspend. l. In this connection the railroad age d cies took up reports that Canadian "a al roads were refusing to load white I st per for American publishers until Car as dian freight cars had been shipr 1- back. While Canadian officials clain pc there were more than 50,000 Canadi s cars in the United States, it was sa
 almost that many American cars W,
 in Canada and the. shift back and fol
 about the normal time mark
 IS Officials said most of the big plants
 the country were working full blast, " ht an ever-increasing output, and that i'd roads, through failure to replen m equipment, were hard pressed when en strike simply damned up the stream ry freight flowing in every direction IT, It will require time to get rid of he accumulation. But how long this V
 take, brotherhood men shipping expe
 and railroad officials declined tonight
 predict.