The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-07-22

cars are tied up in railroad yars,
lying idle. Some are empty A.
some loaded. Such a consestion
progressively aggravates the shrf.
age and heroic measures are -.
quired to bring order out Of fhs
tanglc.
During the, crop moving seaso,
the great trains from the rrest
producing plains of the middle west
move to the primary markets. Tbs
traffic over broad sections is an
moving one way. If there is .any
delay in unloading and starting ths
empty cars back, or il the shin. Z
ments come in faster than the ter.
minal facilities can unload them
the cars have to wait in the ward,
OF the great cities. Train after
train is switched in and waits The
tighter the congestion, the slower
the unloading, 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 4 faw
days of this will begin to create 4
car shortage at the shipping points
The same is true of coal and gem
eral freight, as well as of the grain
cars.
Increase Demurrage Charges.
One of the measures which the
interstate commerce commission
puts into effect is the increasing Of
demurrage charges. Demurrage Is
sort Of storage charge which the
owner of freight must pay for keep.
ing his property in the car. When
a car of freight arrives at destina.
ton there are two or three days'
free time in which the consignee CT
the freight is expected to get 1t nm
loaded. After the expiration Of the
fres time, demprrage begins. BY
increasing this demurrage rate, the
interstate commerce commission
gives the owners of the freight 4
strong inducement to get their
goods unloaded and release the car.
Congestion sometimes gets so bad
that the owners cannot get acceA
to their cars to- unload them.
Cases have been. known in which
an entire freight car has been it,
trally lifted bodily off one track BY
a huge derrick and swung onto an
other track where there was a
clear way to a warehouse. Such an
expedient would save in some cases
the switching of miles of cars.
Another measure which is relied
on to regulate car congestion and
subsequent shortage is the permit
system. At some junction, many
miles distant, from a city or point
where freight concentrates, SORT
of gateway will be established. No
trains will be permitted to pass this
junction until the terminal is ready
to receive and unload the freight.
In this way the trains are scattered
on switches over many miles of lins
rather than in the railroad yards d
the terminal. This prevents con.
gestion but only slightly mitigates
delay. s'
Railroad companies lay absolute
lembargoes on freight as a measure
to prevent congestion. When a ter
minal becomes SO congested, per.
; haps as q result of failure to pul
a permit system of forwarding int
effect in time, a railroad, with thu
permission of the interstate com
; merce commission, will lay an EN-
barge on freight to given point
The embargo may stop all freigh
or merely one or two classes
: freight. For instance, the genera
: freight yards may be able to han
. die miscellaneous package freigh
( while the -four elevators are con
/ gested. Such situation would re
, suit in the laying Of an embargo OF
: -four. Under it, not a car of fiou
could be forwarded beyond q Ger
: tain point until the embargo Shout
1 be raised.
During the tremendous conyes
ton Of the winter of 1917-1S= ther
was an almost absolute embarg
on freight on all railroads east 9
: Pittsburgh. This meant that To
s millions OF tons of freight movin
D from the west to the north Atlantl
e ports was held at Pittsburgh unit
: the embargo was lifted. Only wa
: material and absolute essential
3 such as coal were permitted !
j. pass through and these only in lin
s tied quantities.
|. The railroad managers and tn
interstate commerce commissio
: have had much experience in ca
a shortages and COMPOSITIONS and al
S laying careful plans to handle 10
q situation which may develop la
S this summer so as to AVOID u
q worst results of too heavy frelgl
s movement.