New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-22

s'Seeth, thdt freight may no"
be sent sver rounda bout, but open
routes and that it might take a little
longer than otherwise. put that 1t
would be delivered perhaps in a
shorter time than If it had to be taken
over congested lines.
Passenger Service Not Curt1iled
Plans for relieving the congestion, it
was said, do not contemplate any cur
ia lment Of passenger service and prob
ably viii not interfere with the regu.
lar freight traflc, inasmuch as they
provide for a pooling of all the rail
lines and freer use of the less
crowded roads.
The main difficulty in the New York
terminals, it was declared. is obtain
ing sufficient labor to unload cars and
getting them across the river on floats.
Despite repeated efforts on the part of
the railroad managers to get men to
replace striking rail men and harbor
workers, they still lack sufficient men
TO take care of the switching in the
yards and the transportation of floats
across the river
1t was said a vigorous drive will be
made to get new employees and that.
II 1t Is possible to get the cars across
the river, the contents of those that
/,
ing materials and similar products. will
be dumped out into fields and sidings,
as was done during the war. and later
removed by trucks across the ferries,
There re some objections offered to
the proposition that empties be made
I'D IN trains at the terminals. 1t is
contended by some railroad men that
this will entail an unnecessary amount
of switching and that the empty cars
can best be taken along with loaded
cars to classifca ton yards, as was
the usQa custom, and then made up
into solid trains for the West. The
Pennsylva Railroad has two such
yards at Waverly and West Morris
Vile, n. J. Many shippers hold too,
that it is wasteful to send the cars
out empty. when so many merchants
are clamoring for freight space, but
the railroad executives point out that
under the present circumstances it is
impossible for the shippers to get
their goods across the river to the
cars and that the cars in any event
cannot be held for loading.
Shippers Invited to Conferences
7 hat every agency and suggestion be
made available to aid in solving the
traffic problem, W C. Kendall, man
ager of the Car Service Committee of
the American Railway Association, an
nounced that meetings are being ar
ranged for Monday, at all big railroad
terminals, to which shippers and others
interested in the freight situation have
been invited for conferences. 1t is
proposed to appoint committee at
each of these meetings, the committees
TO be composed Of three men, one rep
resenting the railroads, another the
National Industrial Traffic League and
the third the Interstate CONNIE re
Commission In the East the meet
ings will be held in New York, Buff
falo, Pittsburgh. Chicago, Detroit
Cleveland. Toledo, Boston, Washington
and Philadelphia.
In q detailed report of the tangle in
the car situation, the car service com
mlttee indicated that most of the open
boXcars now in demand were mainly
distributed throughout the New Eng
land and Middle Atlantic railroad sys-
TENS, and that on Nav the New Eng
land lines IN particular had A per
cent more cars on their lines than they
owned, In the same bulletin it was
shown that the Western lines had an
average of about % per cent more coal
cars than they we're entitled to or
owned. 1t is the plan of the Interstate
Commerce Commission TO remedy this
condition.
In summing up the situation. J. J,