Evening star., 1932-10-06
TRUCKS CUT DOWN
RAILROAD REVENUE
State Laws Designed to Cor.
rect Alleged Inequalities
in Tax Levies.
BY CHARLES F. SPEARE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, October 6-After every
depression in the past 40 years there
has been steady recovery in the vol
ume of railroad freight and passenger
traffic until a new high record in gross
earnings has been realized. The pres
ent anxiety over railroad securities re-
fleets the fear that new and perplexing
problems have entered into the trans
portation question, chief of which is
that of competition with motor-driven
vehicles. ana that the existing low traf-
fic of the carriers will not this time be
subject to the same degree Of improve
ment as in the past
From the year 1911 to 1920 there was
an expansion in the revenue ton miles
Of American roads of 33 1-3 per cent
After the panic of 1921 revenue tons
increased 40 per cent. from which there
was decrease of so per cent to the
end of 1881. This retrograde movement
has continued into 1882, with ton miles
Of freight in the past seven months of
the year % per cent lower than in the
same period of last year.
Passenger Business.
The decline in passenger business of
the railroads has been even more strik-
ing than that in freight. From 1911 to
1920 the number of passengers carried
increased 80 per cent. After 1920 there
was falling of in the passenger move
ment each year until. in 1881, it had
shrunken so per cent from the early
postwar level. However cheerful one
may feel concerning the prospects of
the railroads for recovering fair
amount Of the freight tonnage lost
through competition with motor trucks
and as consequence of the depression.
being convinced that the profitable pas
senger trade of the carriers has been
permanently lost
Recently one of the large transconti-
mental roads made study of the rela-
tive volume of its long-haul business
this year, compared with that in the
panic year of 1921, and discovered that
this had decreased nearly IS per cent
The day Of the building of huge rail-
road passenger stations and terminals
is over. In the past 10 years the num-
ber of passenger automobiles registered
in the United States has increased from
9,346,195 to over 22,000,000. In the
same decade the number Of railway
passenger cars in service had dropped
from 81, ,331 to 51,750.
and half that railroad executives have
been willing to admit that motor truck
competition was vital factor in their
desperate traffic situation. They I'VE
long maintained the motor transp, a.
ton simply absorbed the excess frc ut
that the railroads could not hal le
This idea has been shattered by the
fleets of trucks today moving over
American highways and carrying all
sorts of low grade tonnage and poten-
TALLY upsetting many rigid rate struc-
lures. In one small area Of New Jersey
anthracite of the equivalent of 1000
freight cars Of an average Of 40 tons
capacity has been delivered by motor
truck this year.
There are today nearly three times
as many motor trucks in service in this
country as there were 10 years ago.
They number approximately 100000
as against 100000 freight cars. the
latter, of course, having an average ca
pacity from five to eight times greater
than the former.
It Is obvious that transport bg motor