Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1922-09-13
STRIKES PROVING A
SERIOUS HANDICAP
TO ROAD Budding
STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES Elk.
PLANTATION FOR DELAYS IN
GETTING HIGHWAY WORK CON-
PLETED IN ILLINOIS.

and all other states has been seriously
hampered by the rail and coal strikes
and ear shortages. and IL Is felt thai
the public IL entitled to an explana
ton OF the present industrial condi
lions In their relationship to this pro
gram, says Il statement issued today
by the state department of highways
continuing the statement says:
Governor Smalls road program fol
this year called for the construction
of one thousand miles of standard IS
foot pavements. Illinois entered the
year with $50 miles OF unfinished con
tracts which were let late in the tall
of 1927 In order to insure prompt work
I'm the spring OF 1922. During this
year additional contracts have been
let for Sal miles, bringing the total
of paving contracts under way up To
1921 miles. Had conditions been at all
favorable, this would have assured
the carrying out of the Governor
plans.
The construction Of thousand
miles of pavements Is a proposition.
the magnitude Of which Is little realiz-
ed by the general public. To trans
port the materials required for this
construction In one continuous train
would require q train of cars one
thousand miles long. At the average
freight rate speed, this train would
require one hundred days to pass a
given point. When IL Is realized that
the construction season in Illinois GOV.
ers a period OF only few months and
provides only 100 working DAYS, it can
be seen that it would take the entire
construction season for the train to
pass given point.
This paving program was supple.
mented by large program of heavy
grading and bridge work.
'At the peak of construction opera.
lions this year ,93 large paving mix.
ers were operating at full blast.
During the week ending August 31st
SO of these mixers were entirely shut
down and 80 more were running on
about half time due to the shortage of
materials brought about by the recent
industrial situation. During the week
of July 9th, the Department Of Pub
lie Work and Buildings, Division of
Highways, constructed II miles OF IS
foot pavement, this being the high.
est weeks record in history. Some
contractors laid as high as $500 feet
of pavement in one week and the larg-
est days run for one mixer as 1906
feet or practically one.quarter Of a
mile. It was felt that the weeks
production of roads would run as high
as so miles, and at that rate, one
thousand miles of completed pave
ments was assured.
"Then the industrial crisis began
to make itself felt in road work. The
cement manufacturers felt the pinch of
coal shortage and many of the mills
were shut down entirely while others
operated on a hand to mouth basis.
In view of the fact that it takes
about 200 pounds of coal to manufac-
ture $50 pounds of cement. the rela-
ton of the Of the coal shortage to the
cement shortage becomes apparent.
Some of the largest producers have
been shipping cement entirely from
stock and even these shipments have
been seriously impaired by the short
age OF box cars caused by the recent
heavy movement of grain. Therefore,
on account of curtained production
and difficulties in securing ears, to-
gether with the general drop in rail
road transportation efficiency due to
the rail strike, many contractors have
been unable to obtain cement and
have necessarily been forced to shut
down.
AT the. peak Of operations, approx
fmately Zoo men and 400 teams were
employed on State road work alone
not counting the employees engaged
in the production of cement. sand
and stone and other road materials.
The shutting down Of road work has
forced large numbers out of employ.
ment.
Coal, for the production of CO.
ment was placed at the bottom of the
list in the classification of the Fed
eral Fuel Administrator and a similar
classification occurred in priority or.
der, No. 23 of the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
AT the present time. the resump.
ton of coal shipments is seriously af-
fecting the movement of sand and
stone for road purposes. Under the
priority orders of the Interstate Com
MERGE Commission, open top cars have
all been placed in the coal service and
except in few cases the only oppor
tunity of using these cars for stone
or sand shipments is in the case of
back haul to the mines. Many con-
tractors are at the present time shut
down on account of lack of sand and
stone rather than on account of CO.
ment. AS coal shipments increase, it
can only be expected that this situa-
ton will become more acute, and it
becomes necessary for the general
public to take cognizance of the con-
ditions which were beyond the control
of the State Government, and to re-
alize that the Department of Public
Works and Buildings, Division of
Highways of the State. is powerless
in this industrial crisis and its effect
upon road construction.
mo attempt is made to create an
alibi for the cement manufacturer. 1t
is felt that the cement situation is
on the mend and that increased pro-
duction is assured with the resump-
ton of coal mining operations. Thru.
out the entire season, the Division of
Highways has had inspectors at each
cement mill to check the quality of
the cement produced and shipped to
the staet work. These men further
report the number of cars shipped
from these mills to all points as we'll
as to the state, and the department
has made every possible effort to see
TO IL that the states share of the
cement available was secured and that