Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-04-23
AND DAMAGE
IN FREIGHT YEARLY
IS S104,000,0OO

Seventy-fve freight claim agents
and operating officials of railways in
| the southeast, concluding two
days meeting in Atlanta, were of
the firm conviction that in talking
about reduction in freight rates over
the country one important factor
should be considered that the public
has heard little about-'loss and
damage to freight" is the technical
term; and recently 1t has run up into
figures Of staggering size.
Loss and damage to freight cost
the railroads of the United States
just $104,000,000 in 1920, it was
shown at the meeting of the South
eastern Claim conference here, whose
purpose was to look into the reasons
for this prodigious wastage of reve-
nue., and, if possible, to devise ways
and means for checking it.
Said one official:
Some years ago, the railways
figured that out of every dollar
earned, little less than l cent went
for loss and damage to freight; that
is, less than 1 per cent of the rail-
ways earnings.
Last year it was more than 8
cents instead of less than. L. You
do not have to be a railway fnancier
to appreciate what that increase,
from less than 1 per cent to more
than 8 per cent, means as a cut in
the revenues of railroads already
struggling with wage problems and
the general industrial stringency." 4
Enormous Robber1es
1t seems the Atlanta conference
had pretty serious session, consid-
ering this vast loss ratio, which has
increased by more than 500 per cent
in the last few years.
Quoting from a circular submitted
by the American Railway associa-
ton:
Eighty per cent of this enormous
drain on carriers revenue is due to
five main causes, namely CD rob-
berries, (2) rough handling, CD loss
of entire packages, ca defective
equipment and 80 delay"
And of these causes the greatest
is robbery. Says the circular:
"Robberies amount to nearly ST.
10000 per month, confined mainly
to commodities such as clothing,
dry goods and notions; boots and
shoes; tobacco, cigars and ciga-
rettes."
This phase of the loss and damage
ei+
fourth to one-third Of the entire
drain on the American railways, has
been and is now receiving the most
serious attention at the meetings OF
claim conferences, which are being
held quietly all over the country
the Atlanta meeting was simply one
of the territorial conferences. s-.fa
At the Atlanta meeting it was
brought out by a representative of
small railroad, operating over less
than 800 miles of line, that in one
month of the present year the loss
and damage to freight amounted to
upwards of 100000, of which more
than half was due to theft.
Other Causes of Loss
The other causes of loss appear
about as follows:
Rough handling, mainly improper
switching in yards, $1,O0O,0O0 month
ly.
Loss of entire packages, principal
ly by reason of delivery without
proof of ownership, $1,25O,0O0 month
ly.
Defective equipment, the damage
confined mainly TO grain, flour and
mill products, nearly $1,000,000
month.
Delay, in handling perishable COM
modities, about 100000 monthly
In this section there is also type
of loss peculiar to itself, as a syrup
producing section 1t seems that the
shippers of syrup all too frequently
pack it improperly. perhaps in a cask
that has contained something else,
which ferments the syrup and causes
it to blow out the head of the bar
rel, running much other freight as
we'll as losing itself. Warm weather,
too, will cause barrel of syrup, too
closely filled, to break and flood a
freight car. Thousands of dollars of
loss to the railroads, and also in food
products and other freight, results
in the syrup-shipping season in this
part of the country.