The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-11-12

Julius H. Barnes. President Of the
Chamber Of Commerce Of the United
States, in an address at Omaha. on
September 2S, said
| Between Buffalo and New York the
four great trunk lines serving that port
| have, since the first OF September, not
| contracted for a single bushel of grain
for export movement. This obstruction
of the free flow has resulted in an ad-
vance in the wheat price in Liverpool
exceeding the advance in Chicago and
American markets by five to seven cents
per bushel Moreover, within ten days
the lake freight on grain for the Lake
| Superior port of Duluth and the Eastern
| lake port of Buffalo has advanced from
! two cents per bushel to five cents. This
increase is the measure Of vessel own
ers' apprehension that the grain-filled
elevators of Buffaol cannot discharge the
lake carriers arrival and that car
rier will lose its earnings by lying in
the port of Buffalo with undischarged
grain because the railroads east of Buff
falo do not relieve the elevators Of their
accumulation there. The sum
| total Of all these facts with relation to
the wheat, corn and oats marketed by
your farmers today may be fairly rated
as five to ten cents less than the pres
ent market would justify if supplied with
liquid and adequate transportation. If
Nebraska raised 500,000000 bushels of
grain, and if this condition should main
tain itself throughout the crop year, it
seems your farmers are deprived of %
to 80 million dollars of possible earnings
on their grain crop, and I do not need
to point out to You what Is to so mill
lion dollars enlarged spending power Of
the farmers would mean to other indus
tries as Well"
The Secretary Of the Omaha Grain
Exchange is quoted as declaring that
never in the history Of Nebraska and
western Iowa has there been such a
serious condition in the grain trade.
Country elevators are completely filled
and unable to take more grain from
the farmers For the last few weeks |
the receipts at the Omaha market have
been less than $50 cars per day when
they should have been at least 500 cars
per day.
A Government transportation specialist |
recently talked with the e-presidents |
in charge of traffic Of several Of the |
important tfanscontinental lines. He |
asked if the railroads would be able to |
handle the grain crops properly this |
year. One of the vice presidents replied |
frankly that there would be enormous |
losses to farmers, due to inability to |
move the crops. He admitted that his !
alone needs 5000 cars. 1t |
was freely predicted that many millions |
of dollars would be lost on account of |
crops rotting on the ground. That pre-
diction was made in the middle of Au-
gust, and it has been verified.
We do not see how any advantage is |
to be gained by conceaing the truth. 1t
may be said that the coal priorties
have interferred with the normal car
rying capacity Of the railroads. and
that but for the coal situation they
Would have been able to handle the
grain crop expeditiously. But condi-
tons are never normal. An adequate
system would make per-
allowance for abnormal events. |
There has hardly been period in the
last ten Years when something out or
the ordinary was not being offered as
an excuse for the incapacity OF the
roads Early i'm 1920 they We're crying
nized and he was made lieutenant.
When he entered the race for county