Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-23
The HQSkin Letter 81 .s1 %:s.
CAR SHORTAGE THREATENED

| car congestion frequently come to-
gether. This means that at the same
time an acute demand exists for more
ears than are available, thousands of
ears are tied up in railroad yards, lying
idle. Some are empty and some loaded.
Such Il congestion progressively ag-
gravates the shortage and heroic meas
ures are required to bring order out
of the tangle.
During the crop moving season. the
grain trains from the great producing
primary markets. The traffic over
broad sections is all moving one way.
If there is any delay in unloading and
| starting the empty cars back or if
the shipments come in faster thar the
terminal facilities can unload them. the
cars have to wait in the yards of the
i great cities. Train after train is
switched in and waits. The tighter
| the congestion, the slower the unload
ing because each car gets in the way
of every other car and shunting and
/ switching are made extremely difficult.
1t will be seen how even a few days
of this will begin to create a car
! shortage at the shipping points. The
| same is true of coal and general
freight, as well as of the grain cars.
Increase Oemurrage Charges
One of the measures which the In
terstate Commerce commission puts
into effect is the increasing of de-
murrage charges. Demurrage is a sort
of storage charge which the owner of
freight must pay for keeping his prop
erty in the car. When a car of freight
arrives at destination there are W
or three days free time in which the
consignee of the freight is expected
to get it unloaded. After the expira-
ton of the free time. demurrage be-
gins. BY increasing this demurrage
! rate. the Interstate Commerce com
mission gives the owners of the freight
a strong inducement to get their goods
| unloaded and release the car.
Congestion sometimes gets so bad
| that the owners cannot get access to
their ears to unload them. Cases have
| oeen known in which an entire freight
car has been literally lifted bodily off
| one track by a huge derrick and swung
onto another track where there was
a clear way to the warehouse. Such
an expedient would save in some cases
the switching of miles of ears.
Another measure which is relied on
TO regulate car congestion and subse-
quent shortage is the permit system.
At some junction, many miles distant.
, from a city or point where freight
concentrates, a sort OF gateway VIII
be established. No trains will be per-
mitted TO pass this junction until the
terminal is ready to receive and I'M
load the freight. ~ this way, the
! trains are scattered On switches over
many miles of line rather than in the
railroad yards of the terminal. inns
! prevents congestion but only slightly
mitigates delay.
Railroad companies lay absolute en-
bargoes on freight as u measure TO
prevent congestion. When Il terminal
becomes so congested, perhaps as a
result of failure to put a permit sys-
tenn of forwarding into effect in time,
( a railroad. with the permission of the
Interstate Commerce commission. Will
lay an embargo on freight to a given
! point. The embargo may stop all
freight or merely one or two classes
of freight. For instance. the generaf
| freight Yards may be able to handle
| miscellaneous package freight while
rhe flour elevators are congeSted. Such
a situation would result in the laying
of an embargo on flour. Under IT..
NOT a ear of flour could be forwarded
heyond a certain point until the en-
barge should be raised.
During the tremendous congestion
of the winter of 191I-1S there was an
almost absolute embargo on freight on
| all railroads east of Pittsburgh. ms
meant that the millions OF tons or
freight moving from the west 10 the
/ north Atlantic ports was held AT rus
hurgh until the embargo was lifted.
ONLY war material and absolute essen
tials such as coal were permitted to
pass through and these only IN limited
quantities.
The railroad managers and the In
tcrstate Commerce commission nave
had much experience with car SHORTAGES
| and COMPOSITIONS and are laying careful
plans to handle the situation when
| may develop late this nmmer so as 10
avoid the worst results OF TOO hea's
n freight movement.