The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-25

| Usually these terminal charges are absorbed in the line haul rate, which is apparently so adjusted as to make the entire operation profitable to the trailroads, the earnings on the line haul | being more than sufficient to cover losses incurred in operating the water | terminals owned by the railroads.
 PUBLIC PREFERRED But these railroad tariffs also ap- ply to privately owned terminals which, when handling through business, there l fore receive for wharfage and storage | only one-fourth to one-half the fair | cost of the services involved. Ob- viously, private terminals cannot af- ford to do business at a loss. and they therefore either are driven out of busi- l ness altogether or are forced to seek and limit themselves to business of more remunerative character, such as l the handling and storage of local | traffic.
 "Such limited use of terminals is det- rimental to the best interests of the public. This condition is vicious and should be remeded. and therefore to ameliorate the terminal situation the first step should be the compulsory re- vision of terminal tariffs so that they ] will represent the actual out-of-pocket cost plus a fair allowance for the use of the facilities and for a profit on the transactions. Even though nothing else is feasible in the way of remedy l this change of tariffs would. be a great step in advance; but 1t would not be one as generally beneficial as would be widespread public ownership and oper- aton of terminal facilities, a state of affairs that prevails abroad at practi- cally every port of consideration.
 My own observation is that rail- road ownership of port terminalS is hurtful."
 RITTER'S REPORT
 A H. Ritter, chief statistician of the corps of engineers, in reporting to the chief of engineers on the effect of in-t adequate or unsatisfactory port condi- tions on transportation, writes:
 "The practice which railroads have followed of buying business with their terminals has been instrumental in ] causing serious congestion at our sea- ports, because it rendered financially impossible the construction of new terminals or the modernization of old wharves. During the recent transpor- tation shortage, when shippers throughout the entire land were call- ing for cars, the classification yards and the tracks for many miles from the sea were filled with cars which | could not be unloaded because of the lack of terminal facilities
 There is great shortage of term | nal facilities, and this shortage has resulted in the use of cars for storage which should have been used for transportation Because of iuadeuuate facilities vessels are unable to obtain their cargoes promptly, and their stay | Tn port is thereby greatly increased unlike cars which obtain some revenue for demurrage, vessels held in port are accommodating heavy charges from which there are no returns. Vessels are earning only when in motion, and vessels held in port suffers total loss in charges and lack of business of from $2,000 to s4.000 per day"
 COMMERCIAL EFFECT
 RegardIng the effect on commerce, which caused Secretary Weeks to refer to the danger facing the merchant ma rine, MT. Ritter reports:
 Not only does the lack of terminal facilities increase the expense and di- minish the revenue of ships. but it causes enormous losses to commerce There is, of course, the direct loss due to the higher ship rates that are nec- essary because of the inability to secure the most efficient operation of the ves- sel, but in addition there are also the charges for demurrage, carriage storage and rehandling which inevitably arises when goods cannot be promptly loaded into or unloaded from vessels.
 More serious than these charges. how ever are the heavy losses sustained be- cause of inability of shippers to mee. contracts for delivery, and the losses due 10 changes in market prices occurring while freight is tied up in terminals Where the cost and time of delivering goods to certain market are known, oIao with assurance of a reasonable profit; but where expense and delay arise which cannot be anticipated, he is frequently obliged to take a loss instead of profit In the recent past such losses have been so heavy as to discourage production, and in. many lines have been the cause of an increase in price to cover the un- 1 known hazards of transportation
 Hardly less direct in it's application to the general public Is the effect of inadequate terminal facilities on the mer- chants and manufacturers of the dis trict. These merchants and manufac- turers employ heads of families by the hundreds of thousands.
 AND THE RESULT I If their costs of receiving and deliver ing goods are excessive, or if repeatedly they suffer heavy damages through in- ability of terminal facilities to handle their goods properly and promptly, their ability to pay adequately their employees is lessened. Shrinking margins of profit may force employers out of business, or more favorable opportunities for doing business elsewhere may impel them to lleave the port district. In either event, the local employees suffer-"
 T As result of all the foregoing, the SecretAry of War and the ship ping board are determined to remedy the situation if possible. Their appeal to the interstate commerce commission is expected to bear fruit, and within req sonable time, it is anticipated that the railroads, through the operation of new tariff rates, will be compelled to relin- -quish their points of advantage. Tn consequenee, it is regarded by authorities as certain that fair play will obtain. and that the merchant marine, the ports, the private owners of terminal facilities. : the manufacturers, the employees and the consuming public will more abundantiy kprosper
 In the meanwhile. this opinion ex- pressed to the corps of engineers by Col. lC. Keller, resident board member, will act as spur for nasty results; .The interest of the war department in this situation is quite obvious. Even dis regarding the requirements of the pro-