The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-10-19
Mp. OFFICIALS s. :: .....
ARE OUT ON TOUR |

D.. VI. IA pelJe, vice president OF = the
Northern Pacific Railway in charge Of
operation, H. E.. Stevens, chief engin-
Ger, and other st. Paul officials visit
ed here today. They are on1a tour ov-
CT the. coh1pany's lines, Inspecting the
roadoed, equipment, construction ac-
tivities and proposed improvement
projects: Conferences on railroad pro-
ble.ns, operations and development
plans are being held with local offici
ials and representatives. 5%S't3i& j'I
'fHandicaps appearing in the earlier
days of the shopcrafts' strike have
largely been overcome,"@ the officials
reDort. .,3.,n ~ ,''r'sft '::!.>.. :.
''Yhe Northern Pacific has, from
the first, made: every effort to prop
erly' serve the public, to operate it's
trains, and, at the same time, to safe
guard: insofar as possible, the inter-
ests and welfare of Our old men," said
Mr.. Rapelje: ,'"We placed over the
system large number Of loyal offic-
ials and office men to help keep the
trains moving. and, virtually, to hold
many Of. the mems Jobs iopen for our
old employees, who had been mislead
into leaving their positions. We held
these jobs, through these means and
others, as long as could reasonably be
done. 4! = it1t!!tt!?,~l'" ",' ''N'I:
'tWe have, from the first, tried to
make our old s'employees understand
that we wanted them back, and we ex-
erted every means that#could bezde-
vised to induce them to return. For
tunately these methods met with sue
cess dsthe Northern Pacific has to-
day large number of its old men on
duty and more are returning to work
every day. The situation has so i'm
proved that we are discontinuing all
advertisements for men wanted over
the ientire system. N4
"Since July 1st, when the shopmen's
strike began, the railroads have han
died the heaviest traffic, excepting
coal, recorded at any period in their
history, except in October, 1920. Thru
out July car loadings increased rapid
ly, Notwithstanding difficulties atten:
dant upon the coal strike. Even when
miners returned to work and an ex-
ceptionally large volume of business
was turned. over to the railroads, the
carriers continued to operate at bet
ter than normal capacity. Indeed, in
the week ending Sept. 2, the second
week after the coal strike was called
off, }the roads moved about 9,500,0O0
tons of coal. Throughout the. strike
of shopmcn, the number Of cars of
freight has Increased at the rate of
$4,000 to S35, 900 cars per week, In
the week. ending August 1914 total of
952,5SO cars were loaded and handled
compared with SO2,269 in 1921. In
the week ending Sept. End, the freight
car ]cadings amounted to 931;593 cars,
an increase over the corresponding
week of last year Of 1O0;310 cars. In
the week ending Sept. 2, therefore,
freight loadings We're equal to 91.5
percent of the highest3week's7l loadings
ever recorded, which was; for the week
of October Is, 1920. r. sst55. :s,:G5 /.
"With the rapid return Of shopmen
to their places, the ability Of the; rail
roads to properly and quickly handle
the record-breaking freight business
is improving daily. .'sss's''55f !.
II am proud Of the record made by
the Northern Pacific in this elnergen-
cy." :=At:s s#f