The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-31
Railroads Benefited
 By Government Control
COAL STRIKE AND WAR CONDITIONS HINDEREDl
 DIRECTOR

which is needed. Such equipment is
 chargeabIe to capital account and of
 couroa therefore must be paid for by
 the railroad companies.
 To make this inadequate amount of
 equipment go as far as possible the
 Railroad Administration has pooled
 equipment in order to equalize the
 supply as far as possible and give all
 shippers as equalStreatment as possi-
 ble under the circumstances; has
 made use of the permit system in
 order to~-avoid accumuIations; has
 appointed special terminal committees
 to speed up the movement or freight
 through terminals where a great de-
 lay has occurred in the past; during
 the prevalence of difficult situations
 in the Wheat-growing territory has
 given preference to the loading of
 wheat on the ground; has, placed the
 refrigerator car supply or the coun-
 try under one agency to get the max
 imum utility out of all such cars
 available; has. carried on constant
 campaign to bring about heavier
 loading of equipment during the pre-
 valence of the greatest need for the
 movement of coal and at the present
 time has given coal preference for loading in open-top equipment; has eliminated circuitouS- routes as far as practicable; has transferred locomo- tives at different times ro urrIe-enr portions of the country where they were neetsl the most; and has given
 special atEntion through centralized , agencies to take care of seasonal re- qui >5 nents and meet peculiar condi- tions which have resulted from bad weather and certain drought condi- tfons, and in every way has tried to the very utmost to make the equip ment ands locomotives available do the greatest possible amount of ser vice.
 By reason of these expedients of unihcation the railroads were enabled in the fall of 1919 to handle an eX- { ceptiona1ly large business under ex- ceptiona1Iy difficult conditions. The post tponement of buying in the spring concentrated an extraordinary de- mand for comm oddities in the fall. For example there was an exceptionally small output of coal in the first six months of the year and consequent intense demand for coal in the fall. Beginning with a movement of Ill., i 100000 tons of coal per week early in September, the railroads built up this movement to over 13,000,00O tons in the week ending October 25, Sti1 dESIdSS WcChiy IilosCi1ASiis . largely excess of any prewar move ment At the very time when the de- mands of business of all sorts were 1 becoming most pressing, the neces- l sity arose for moving the wheat crop. From July 6 to December 26, T6 per ! cent of @he wheat crop was moved 1 from the farms; the volume moved was 645, ,31S,000 bushels-7, $40, ,00C more than had been moved during l the same period of 1918.
 i The problem has been intensified i by the falling off in loading per car l from 1918, when under pressure of war very heavy loading was secured 1 The loading per loaded freight car 1 fell from an average of 29.2 tons in i the first eleven months of 1918 to l 27.8 tons for the same period of 1919 ] or decrease of 4.S9 per cent, this 1 representing a loss of more thar t1O5,o00 cars available for loading This falling off has occurred in spite of continued efforts of the Railroad Administra tion, assisted by the coop eration of many shippers.
 1 Nevertheless the Railroad Admin istration proposes to continue to uti1 i1e to the end of Federal operation
 all the advantages given by unified control; it wishes to give shipper
 1 this assurance and to ask their con
 l tinued cooperation.