The Washington herald., 1921-05-17
FINDS ROADS MORE
EFFICIENT UNDER
PRIVATE CONTROL
. Rates Should Not Retard
Traffic, Says Daniel
willard.
FIGURES PRESENTED
B. & o. President Says Ton.
mage Handled in 1920 Was
Record-Breaker.
FIGURES PRESENTED


railroads success II is unnecessary
TO raise rates to levels which retard
trafie. stated Daniel willard, pres
ident of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. yesterday. while testify
ing before the Interstate Commerce
Commission. It was not necessary
before the war and II is not now,
he declared
Mr.. willard presented figures to
prove that the cost of transporting
wheat from Argentina to New York.
and then Transforming II into
ussble -four. was not less but
greater than the freight cost from
Kansas City to New York. under the
same circumstances.
AS soon as the revenues and op-
Grating costs of the railroads can
be brought to a proper relationship,
Itself today will have been largely,
IL not entirely solved" said Mr..
willard
Discusses Freight Rates
The freight rate on 100 pounds OF
wheat from Kansas City to New
York, according to the witness. Is
5s cents or, on a bushel or so pounds
of wheat, 33.5 cents That rate.
however, includes milling and
transit charges" which means that
while in transit the wheat would
ultimately reach its destination as
hour.
The average haul in Argentina Is
from so to 800 miles," said Mr.. Will
lard, which would mean that the
average rail rate on a bushel of
wheat is 10.1 cents before it actually
got to a port for shipment to New
York. The ocean rate Is 1875 cents
a bushel. while Insurance would be
four-tenths of a cent per bushel.
That would mean that by the time
the wheat reached New York the
costs of transportation would be
approximately 24.1 cents a bGshel-
Must Add Milling Cost.
There are no flour mills" he
continued. ito be found in New
York. so that by the time the wheat
could be transported to some city
where mills are located there would
be an additional cost of 12.4 cents
and to transport the -four back to
New York another I2.i cents. As a
result. while wheat could be deIiv-
cred as -four in New York for 80 S
"
the total cost of bringing wheat
from Argentina and delivering it in
New York in the shape of -four
would be 4s.9 cents"
Continuing his statement before
the committee, Mr.. Willard said in
part:
1T has been claimed by some
that the railroads under private
management cannot be operated SO
effectively as a whole, and conse-
quently cannot perform as large a
measure of service for the public as
could be done with the same facil-
tiles under Federal ownership or
control. The fallacy of that argu-
ment is clearly demonstrated by the
fate that during the year ended De-
cember 81. 1920. the more than 1900
independent railroad companies in
this country. reporting to the In
terstate Commerce Commission,
were able to so coordinate their
efforts that they handled during the
year 5000. 900 net ton miles
more than they ever handled before
in the same length of time. This
effective coordination on the part
of the carriers was made possible
by the Esch-Cummins act"
Gains 13.55 Per Cent.
Mr.. willard told the committee
that the net ton miles, that is the
number of tons of freight multi
piled by the number of miles car
ried. in 1920 totaled 1929, ,355 900
or an increase of 53.613,303. .271, or
1885 per cent, compared with the
total for 1919 Passenger miles to-
tailed 46.724. $500 or 366.576,26O or
79-1O0 per cent more than in 1919,
while passenger train miles in
creased 4.66 per cent.
The tonnage handled in 1920"
Mr.. willard said. was the largest
in the history of the railroads, being
5000, 900. 900 ton miles in excess of
that handled in the year 1918, when
owing to the nature of the business
and the extraordinary measures
taken, the greatest tonnage moved
up to that time was transported.
Shows Expense Increase.
The expense Increases for 1920
are roundly accounted for as fol-
lows:
1919. s72.400.000 or 1888 per cent;
Increased service performed over
1919. s4ss, 100000 or 11.29 per cent;
total, s1.3ss,oo0,ooo or 31.12 per
cent"
Blame for the large number of
bad order cars, now estimated at
about IL per cent Of the cars ON line.
was placed by Mr.. willard princf-
pally on neglect of maintenance
during the period of Federal con-