The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-07-22
Frederick Haskin' S Letter
CAR SHORTAGE THREATENED

Warrington, D. C., July IL
American industry is SO attuned
that events which disturb its order
" activity leave a long train Of
ills. A notable example is furnish
ed in the prospect. now facing the
country, Of q railroad car shortage
as result OF the settlement OF the
great coal strike. Here is a case
where. the settlement Of one grave
disturbance will produce another
because the first disturbance has
thrown the machinery 30 badly out
OF gear.
The coal strige has been In effect
The coal strike has been In eject
the coal which normally occupies
thousands of cars upon the rail-
roads IL out Of the equation tenn
porarily. In the latter part OF June
there were more than $50 900 idle
coal cars. When the strike ends.
these cars suddenly will be called
back into use.
Since April /, the date Of the be-
ginning Of the coal strike, general
business has increased materially !.
Despite the fetarding effect Of the
strike, American industry has turn
ed upward and for the last two
months has been forging ahead
9th rapidly. This has meant that
there has been . steadily increas-
ing demand for more cars for gem
eral freight.
Therefore, when the strike ends
and brings a sudden demand for
coal cars, there will be . wide
spread crowding for railroad
freight service OF all kinds The
increase in the general freight
traffic with the rush Of coal traffic
piled on top of it will produce q
situation which, it is feared, will
develop a car shortage.
= We're there but these two factors,
the danger OF q car shortage would
not be so great, but q third vital
factor is injected into the situation
if the coal strike ends, as anticipa-
ted, between now and early fall
Beginning early in July the crops
begin to move. The harvests OF
wheat and corn, Rnd, q little later.
Of cotton, in addition to the wide
variety of other crops pressing for
transportation to market or to
storage, in the normal course Of
events produce . season OF sharp
demand on freight facilities. Should
the strike end in the midst of this
season, the three factors Of an in
] creased demand for general freight
service, the seasonal increase il
the demand for cars to move the
crops, and the sudden, sharp de-
mand for coal cars would all JoiE
to lay upon the railroads a task Of
colossal proportions.
Cars May be Allocated.
! The interstate commerce com.
mission is not unmindful OF this
and already has set on foot an in.
vestigation OF the situation. 1t il
gathering exhaustive data on the
supply and the location Of railroad
equipment Of various types and will
be prepared, II necessary, to puI
into effect q sort of rationing sys
TEN for cars, especially coal cars
, Under this system certain mum
Der Of cars would be assigned t.
certain coal mines. On q large
scale certain sections OF the coun
try would be allotted a given mum
Der of cars to serve their needs.
The loading OF freight cars TO
a typical week about the middle o
June totaled S46,0Oz compared wit
750,645 during the previous weeh
This increase in one week Of IS,
357 cars shows how increased in
dustrial activity is calling TO
: greater railroad service. The wee
, previous to that one had show
.. loadings Of 24,871 fewer cars. TIL
loadings have been steadily increas
ing throughout the spring an
|, have reached the high point for tn
year. Loadings are $4,000 cars i
excess of comparative period las
, year.
3 The non-union mines are prOdu(
: ing coal and loading many cars
For the week ending June 10 the
8 loaded 94,S24 cars. The figure
s show over 10000 coal cars idle,
it will be seen that the end of tn
Y strike would bring sudden DE-
mand for more than twice the nun
q Der of coal cars that are bein
4 loaded now by the non-union mine
!, The movement Of freight cal
e constitutes a tremendous problem
t Currents Of traffic are seasonal an
o result in tangles Of the most PEI
: picking sort. 1t is q phenomena
S OF railroad operation that periot
S Of car shortage and car congestio
frequently come together. Tn
s means that at the same time q
= acute demand exists for more ca