The Washington times., 1923-10-19
FREIGHT
FOLLY. SAYS
BR|STER
New. York Central chieftain
Decries Proposed Remedy
for Farm Ills.
By j. e. CROWN.
Cosmopolitan NewA Service.

by d. n. CtCOWNe
Cosmopolitan News Service.
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 1--we
were told that prohibition ruined
California's gigantic grape indus
try" smiled j. c.. Brister, vice
president, in charge of traffic OF
the New York Central lines, who
today was inspecting the company's
properties and agents in New
Orleans. "I'd like to be ruined the
way the California grape growers
have been ruined. In one day re.
Gently we handled 900 carloads Of
California grapes"
He paused and smiled more
broadly. -
Juicy grapes" he added, "and
now we're building a large number
of refrigerator cars to handle that
wine-grape traffic. The New York
Central lines are spending $54,-
OO0, 900 for new equipment getting
ready for the rush in railroad bust
ness that's in sight. And we're
moving freight and carrying pas
sengers better and faster despite
the fact that the demands upon us
are growing by, leaps and bounds.
Scores AShipstead.
blood today-and, /, know what the
to give the swift, efficient service
for which the nation is crying.
This is no time to talk Of reducing
freight rates. And above all it is
no time to shout reduced freight
rate propaganda that is based on
misinfofmati Senators Brook
hart and Shipstead are doing.
''Shipstead recently said in public
that 10000 carloads of Northwestern
apples had been dumped into. the
rivers because excessive, freight
rates forbade shipment. We went
after the facts. We found that ten
carloads Of culls had been dumped
in rivers to keep them from rotting
on the ground. The good apples
had all been shipped. We forced
Shipstead to back down on that
statement.
1.-THE more railroads spend for
improvements the more the people
save. This is no time to try to
save by starving the railroads by
lower rates. The people will pay
out Of their own pockets the cost
of bringing starved railroad back
to life. in the end-and they won't
have the service they need while
it's starving.
Want to Give Service.
Railroads want to give service.
Wages for railroad men viii never
be lowered-but we want men. men
from track-walker to president, men
who live railroading and know rail-
reading and give America the rail-
roads that are the best in the
world. Well pay them whenever
we get them. Most Of the railroad
executives Of real power today
came up from overalls. The ranks
are always open. Every track
walker carries a railroad presidents
fountain pen in the breast pocket
of his overalls. It's up to him to
use it for the signature that goes
above the typewriter line, ''Presi-
dent
THE same cry we heard about
apples-and disproved-we've heard
about wheat. Don't you know that
the real truth of the wheat situa-
ton is that a tremendous acreage
that should never have been planted
in wheat has been planted in
wheat-and now it is producing q
wheat crop. Farmers along our
lines who never grew wheat before
planted it in hope of fancy prices.
Today they're up against the in
evitable law of supply and demand.
Canada this year has a wheat
crop one-third greater than before.
Argentine has wheat to sell. Even
Russia has wheat. You could fill
our American shipside elevators to
the brim with wheat, but you'd find
1t hard to sell in Europe. They
h L. T..
land will buy Canada's wheat be-
fore she buys ours. But, until the
Ruhr question is solved I do not
look to Europe as any great mar
ket for America.
Keeping Lines Clear.
"Our traffic is being handled
more efficiently than ever before.
We have an illustration of this in
our use of coal. Our purchasing
agent reports he has no difficulty
In keeping forty-five days supply of
coal ahead. He was puzzled some
what because we were doing more
business than before and he had
anticipated 1t would be hard to
keep us in coal. The EXPLANATION
is in improved efficiency and the
speed1er handling Of freight we are
keeping our lines clear.
Cutting down the time of trans.
portation means not only a great
saving to the railroads but even
more to the shippers. It is to this
end that every railroad in the
country is working and my observa-
ton is they are making progress.
We are spending 5000 ,O00, 900 in
establishing a cutoff near Albany.
All OF our trains now cross the
Hudson river over a drawbridee
which often opens to permit of the
passage of river traffic. With the
cutoff we will build bridge from
the hills which will not have a
draw. 1t is figured that the money
saved in transportation will be $50
per cent more than the interest on
the money required to construct
the cutoff.
Demand for Efficiency.
1.-THE entire country Is CRYING for
efficiency in transportation. Some
of the railroads have not recovered
from the stress of the war period
and reduction in freight rates would
serve to paralyze them and hamper
shippers.
"The railroads are not seeking
high freight rates, The railroads
are after business IN fro pSpor+