The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-07-05

in 1919 by the association OF security
owners but failed OF inclusion In the
Transportation Act. While h e
President makes an analogy of the
proposed pooling plan to the Pull
man company, they are not quite
parallel. The agency would not be
operated by the government, nor for
private profit, but would be directed
by the railroads themselves In the
interests of transportation as a
whole. Neither Is It proposed to
create any kind of super-corporation
controlling the rolling stock Of the
railroads. Only certain classes of
freight cars, most indispensable to
the shippers, are included in the
plan.
The Presidents suggestion has
brought about a new study of the
car pooling proposal. which will be
taken up afresh before the Senate
Interstate Commerce Committee when
Senator Cummins begins hearings on
amendments to the Transportation
Act month or two hence.
Two great advantages to the pub
lie are claimed for the pooling plan
by those who favor it, who also point
out that much Of the supposed bene-
fits of Observation-Disclosures as advo-
Gated by the President, can be OBJ
tanned by application of the plan
without the ten or fifteen years de-
lay involved in effecting any whole
sale merger Of carriers.
The greatest gain to shippers, it
is asserted, would be that under the
proposed pool an adequate supply of
cars would always be assured The
chief difficulty at present is that
whenever business is good, there are
never sufficient freight cars, owing
to the inability of many weaker roads
to finance the purchase of reserve
equipment. The proposed agency
would purchase cars for the various
carriers, based on a study of the
needs of the country as a whole,
allocating cars from one railroad to
another, or one section to another,
as demand arose. This would cor
rect condition which frequently
prevails today when with an acute
shortage of cars in the South or the
West, there is a surplus of equip
ment in the East.
Recent testimony before the In
SOi OSoIC OOhhClCO OOm hAoolOh ltl
it's inquiry into the inadequacy of
equipment to move fall crops dis /
closed the fact that between Jan
uary 1 and May l., 1928, after max
ing allowance for the replacement /
Of old equipment, the railroads had 1
added only 4045 new cars, or less
than per cent. Transportation ex-
perts declare that this is not suffi-
cient for present needs, and makes
no provision whatever for future
traffic volume, which doubles every
ten years.
The second great advantage pool
ing would provide for the public as
we'll as railroads is in cutting down
the hauling of great numbers OF
empty cars, which, under the present
system clog the railroads in times
If heavy traffic This movement,
from a revenue stand
Joint, is necessitated by the fact that
he present rules of the railroads
provide that whenever a car is I'M
oaded. it must be returned to the
'wning line, irrespective of whether
here may be need for it at the un-
oading point.
Statistics of the Interstate Com
nerce Commission show that in
921 the empty car mileage, much
f which would have been prevented
nder the pooling plan, reached a
otal of 1879, 100000 miles, and
ost the railroads in actual outlay
93,950,000. This amounted to
81 per cent. of the total freight
ar mileage for that year.
A senator who has given much
me to the study of the transpor-
ltion problem has figured out that
lie empty freight car mileage dur
e the past fifteen years, with it's
'nsequent economic waste, is equiv
ent to 302,461 round trips to the
Don, or TIT round trips to the sun. =
BY eliminating this loss, and by 10
fecting other railroad economies, it NJ
estimated that a saving running @,
to hundreds of millions of dollars =,
lnually can be affected. ~