Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-29
RAIL T|E-UP HURTS
CREDIT SITUATION
Present Congestion on Roads
Believed Responsible for Low
Price Of Securities

Transportation and credit reduction
are so closely related, said banker,
that progress In the latter Is seriously
hampered by the failure Of the latter.
and the shopmen's ultimatum, delivered
to Pennsylvania Railroad officials, to
take effect at IL a. IN. today, Is not cal
culated to help matters.
As an instance OF the broken down
condition OF our transportation, he said
and which is now aggravated by strikes.
we hear Of public service corporations
Of our leading cities appealing to the
government to assist them In procuring
coal to run their plants. otherwise they
will be obliged to shut down.
Now as a matter of fact, he con
tinued, there is plenty Of coal In the
country, not in the ground alone but
on the ground, and these public utii /.
ties companies are told they can get 1t
II they pay the exhorbitant prices de-
manded for it. which amounts to twice
or three times the normal. The trouble
lies with transportation and distribu' =
ton and not with production.
It Is true, he added. that there are
no reserve supplies on hand comparable
with previous years. but IL the trans
portation facilities were anywhere near
what they should be that would not
figure to any considerable extent, as
there Is plenty of labor ready to take
the coal out of the ground II only the
necessary cars could be supplied.
Some people, he remarked, have been
saying that the fault Of our coal short =
age Is due to our export trade and
claim that IL this source were embar :
coed till we had supplied our own pub
lie utility plants We could soon over
come our present shortage. But this is
not borne out by the facts, which are
that only about one half the amount Of
last years coal export has been sent
through our Atlantic ports up to the
present.
To get right down to where the blame
lies, he said, we must 20 back to the
years when the Interstate Commerce
Commission was obsessed with the ides
that the country was more interested
in cheap rates than efficient service, ant
as a consequence the railroads toda,
have not got the equipment which viii
enable them to move coal for winter
supplies and move crops at the sam'
time.
The commission in the past seemed t,
have lost sight Of the big fact whicl
was patent to every one else, that tn
country was being developed by leap
and bounds. ne sara, ana tne most ltn
portant agency Of that Development
the railroads--were not progressing Il
proportion. In fact, one could almos
say they were not progressing at all.
] The present congestion on the rail
roads, he continued, is the direct caus
Of overstrained credit, and affects to
! greater or less degree the whole eco
nolnic system and Is responsible for tn
3 low prices for all classes Of railroa
, securities and has its influence on ever
. other security.
The transportation problem seemed I
/ be the dominant subject in the fnancit
district yesterday. The principal mem
$ ber Of well-known brokerage hous
: said he had been speaking recently
:. a high official OF leading railroad com
/ pany and he said that the labor trou