New-York tribune., 1922-10-30
Freight Congestion
Delays Buildin
Material Shipments
Dealers Forced to Resort
to WarsTine Measures
by Using Trucks to Bring
Supplies to Local Market

Railroad freight congestion has
reached a point where it has become
necessary to put a ban upon "rail light
erage shipments" OF basic building ma
teriais destined for this market. ac-
cordlng TO the current Dow Service
Daily Building Reports.
Masons' material dealers have been
advised that builders supplies cannot
be accepted as freight where delivery
by iightecage is specified by the New
York Central Railroad. The intimation
mas been made that similar restriction
is to be announced by otker railroads.
Dealers who have materiais en- route
or ordered have therefore been forced
to resort to the wartime expedient of
having their trucks meet freight cars
on sidings far out in the country and
truck their contents to their yards
here.
With building construction retarded
already to an increasing extent by rea-
son of delayed shipments from mills
thousands of tons Of structural steel,
'front.' brlck, lime, cement, plaster and
finishing products, such as electrical
goods, plumbing supplies, etc, will
have to be hauled to the Job site or to
warehouse by truck il the building
operation is to proceed to inclosure or
completion before cold weather arrives.
Delays Big Operations
Mean time an increasing number of
building operations are standing idle
at most critical time in their progress.
by way OF illustration there are 100
harges of Hudson hard brick living
about Che city awaiting discharge TO
building operations. For this time of
the year between 90 and so barge loads
would be normal. As each one Of these
barges carries from 350,0o0 to half a
million brick as 81 cargo, there is a
hack-lash Of between 100000 and 2O,-
100000 Hudson hard brick awaiting con.
sumption and, incidentally, tying up
the use Of barges that should be In
process OF loading at manufacturing
plants so that they could come down
here loaded for winter reserve before
Hudson River navigation closes.
Brick is only symbol of the acute
ness of the present situation develop-
Ing In the building trades. There are
about 5000 different items that NAV
be used in the assembly Of a modern
commercial or institutional structure
which are the dominant types of East
ern building construction at this time.
AS nearly all of these litems aro manu-
factured at varying distances from
New York, they are affected by the
rail- and harbor congestion in degree
relative to that of brick. In conse-
auence the slowing down process in
existing building work Is increasing
rather than diminishing. If there is
relief in sight the mason material
dealers have NOT been nble to learn
anything about it from the trans
portation companies, although the Le-
high Valley Railroad reported some
easement of restrictions covering Ger
tain kinds of freight within tho last
few days.
Motor trucks are filing the emer-
gency with the same efficiency they
developed during similar crises in war
times. Some Of the building material
manufacturers themselves arc attempt
ing so relieve the situation.
a few weeks ago, for example, ce-
n1ent manufacturers got into a pinch
for empty cotton bags and called upon
the hundreds of thousands Of empty
bags they had on hand back to the
mills. The dealers found the railroads
would not accept them, and as the sit
uation grew worse, especially in the
Hudson River cement making district,
the companies there arranged to send
to q given point on the East River an
empty barge to which dealers all over
the city could send their bag shipments
for plants along the river. About TO-
600 empty sacks, worth 10 cents each
if returned in good order, went back TO
the factory on the first trip.
The seriousness of the present build
ing situation is beginning to ba real
lied by building material manufac-
turers themselves. Their reserve bins
are limited in capacity and unless rail-
road relief and building construction
resumption occur before long slow
ing up of mill operation may be ex-
pected. Even now brick manufactur-
ers, alive to the backlog rolling up in
New York City, and hopeful that coal
costs will. be lower next spring, are
planning to defer burning their 1929
brick until after the winter.
Building material prices ore normal
fy lowest when mill production .s at
or near maximum. When production
is curtailed overhsads multiply and
even now there are many building ma
terials that are edging for higher
prices. Finishing lime is one of these.
Glass is another. Wood lath prices are
expected to keep on going up and
hard woods are in the same relative
position.