The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-08
CAR SHORTAGE DUE
 T0 ACTIVE SOUTH CHARLES ASSERTS
Unprecedented Production and Delivery Mark Record Prosperity Says Dis
 trict Is Cared For

Unprecedented production and de- livery of product, marking the rec ord prosperity of the southeast, is more responsible for the car shortage than all other couses combined" said S. II. Charles. district manager of the car service division of the Amer fcan Railway association.
 "The southeast is being furnished per cent greater car supply than there arecars owned by the south eastern lines, which goes to show that 1t Is not discrimipated against
 Tt behooves us all to do our level best under the weight of this won derful activity. The shipper can do much. I would point out to them the rules laid down by the Alabama public service commission Tuesday as their chief means of helping out the situation and thereby helping themselves. These rules are:
 T. Have commodities ready for loading when request for the car Is placed with the railroad.
 "2. Begin loading the car tho mo- ment notice is received that it has been placed at the point designated.
 "3. Themoment thee ar Is loaded notify the railroad in order that it may be moved to It's destination with the minimum of delay"
 Box Cars Scarce.
 MT. Charles said the sarcity of box cars was not pronounced, because there is 8 record movement of fer tilizers, of cement and of dressed lumber. He said the present extreme effort wos to move fertilizers.
 "The railroads themselves are do- ing their utmost to move fertilizers" said MT. Charles, because they know the loss that would be entailed if they are not on hand in time for use in crop production. In the prompt movement of fertilizers they sense a heavy movement of farm products next fall and that spells revenue for the railroads.
 You haven idea how large the demand for lumber for building rail- road cars is. This also calls for many box cars in handling the dressed lumber to be used in their construction. The movement of road building material Is at a high point. An immense amount of sand and slag is being moved.
 While the south enjoys unpre- Ceuenleu dCllNlty IL iuuSI po DoIA Ac in mind that the situation Is a na- ticnal one. Car loadings during the week ending February 10 were 853,- GOO. compared with 777000 In the same week in 1922 and 6S7.000 in the same week in 19211. That gives you an idea of the general transporta- tion activity throughout the nation. Thousands of cars have been re- paired and thousands of new cars and many engines have been put in service, but all manner of freight is offering at the same time and it necessarily follows that all cannot be accommodated with all the cars they wish at the moment they are needed.
 T believe that we will be able to care for the fertilizer situation and if the public adopts the rules laid down by the public service commis sion that will help a lott Steel Is Affected.
 Steel mills arc being affected by the scarcity of box cars. One mill producing finished products which must go in box cars has 5000 tons in warehouses waitig for shipment.
 Pig iron has felt the scarcity of cars only slightly, but there is be- ginning to be complaint in that quarter owing to the maximum de- mand for cars by very nearly every kind of induStry