The Connecticut labor press., 1920-08-07
FREIGHT TIE-UP.
 PARTLY CHARGED
 TO BURLESON NOW
Claimed That Postal Delays Are Largely Responsible for
 Congestion Existing
LOW WAGES ARE BLAMED
They, Together With Poor Con- ditions, Are Basic Cause of
 Inefficiency, Is Charge.

Chicago, AugA 6-It would appear from a news article in the Chicago Fri bune of July 27th that Postmaster Gen. era1 <Burleson Is responsible III large measure for the tie-up of the freight car service of the country. 1t appears that there is a strong possibility of an embargo against all shipments to Chi cago being issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The trouble upon which this order would be passed, if issued, seems to lie at the door of Postmaster General Bur1eson. The rail road men say that 1t is a general prac- tice in the making of shipments to issue at the point of shipment a bill of 1ading which must of necessity go through the mails. Running true to form, the pos tai service delays the transmission of the bill of 1ading As a result the de- livery of the carload shipment or par cells in carload lots are delayed. The explanation of the matter as given by a railroad freight official operates as fol- lows:
 Jones, in some Georgia town, is shipping to Chicago. He establishes a bank connection in Chicago. He then ships a car of his product to Smith in Chicago, but consigns it to himself
 Jones, Chicago To his bank he mails a bill of lading with instructions to notify Smith that the car of produce will arrive at certain switch track, that Smith may get it by producing the bid of 1ading at the railway offices, and that Smith will be given the bill of lading when he pays the bank the cost of the produce.
 Mine out of ten shipments which come to Chicago, it is declared, espe- cial1y foodstuffs, are so shipped.
 "On its face there should be no trou- ble with such an order. The bills of lading-if promptly mailed and handled expeditiously through the. postofflce- should arrive before the shipment they cover. Frequently, either because of delays in the mails Or I'll the offices of the shippers, they do not. The car is held pending their arrival"
 Representatives of large businesses Ill Chicago declare that If an embargo is placed upon shipments to Chicago that the manufacturing interests i'll par ticu1ar would be crippled to such an ex- tent that many of them would be forced to shut down and that fact would natu- rally have its effect upon other business interests all over the country with which the Chicago houses have dealings.
 While the delay of ruafis is largely responsible for the tying up of cars in@ the terminal yards here, there Is an-' other factor which has much to do with that condition, to wit the purchase of bills of 1ading by spectators, who, after securing title to the shipment, go out into the open market and sell from one to another these bills of lading which carry with them the title to the goods. Railroad agents of the terminal yards say that in many instances after the delivery and unloading of the cars has been delayed for unreasonable periods by failure of the mails to deliver the bills of 1ading to the banks the dealings of the spectators in the bills of lading sometimes tie up cars as long as 60 to 90 days.
 The basic cause of the inefficiency of the postal service under the administra- ton of Postmaster General Burleson is admitted by all who have studied the situation to~be due i'll very large part to Burleson's attitude in opposing a living wage for the men of the depart ment as well as blocking every move that has been made by the postal em- p1oyes for bettering working conditions. Thousands of the older, trained and ex- perienced men of the department have left fhe service for these reasons. They 1 have gone into other vacations, where l the compensation is at least a living | wage and where the working conditions l and the future are more promising.