The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1933-08-12

prosperity for the railroads is at
last genuine possibility, in the
view of George Creel, who has just
completed a study of the plans of
the federal coordinator's office. Mr.
Creel, who has been very close to
the Roosevelt administrations pro-
gram since the early days Of the
Roosevelt candidacy, reports on the
railroad situation in today's issue
of Golfers Weekly.
The outlook for the railroads
was never brighter" he declares.
"And this despite lack Of money,
lack of traffic and lack of credit.
For the first time in years, they
have the whole-hearted support of
the government, and with hamper
ing restrictions removed, they are
able to go as far as their initiative
will carry them. 1t is the oppor-
tunity for which they have been
clamoring.'
Some of the enormous economies
which are being planned by the
federal coordinator are outlined
briefly by. Mr. Creel. For instance,
the merging of expensive terminal
facilities. Two-thirds of box cars
life is spent in the yards, and
switching makes up so per cent of
its movement. Terminal costs are
frequently three times as much as
the cost of the road haul, and are
q main reason for high freight
rates. The possibilities of savings
in yard operation are practically
limitless," according to Mr. Creel,
who explains.
1.-The only reason for separate
terminals in metropolitan areas is
a roads desire for competitive and
often monopolistic advantage. 1t is
not a condition which will be al
lowed to persist. Either the rail-
roads themselves will make ar
rangements for unification of ter
minals or their joint use, or else
the federal coordfnator will step
in"
Similar economies are to be en-
forced in the matter of passenger
terminals. Joint ticket offices are
to be made compulsory, and a
great deal of many will be saved
by cutting down the horde of solic-
itors employed by railroads to
take business away from each
other. Mr. Creel points out: Not
q road made money on it's pas
senger business last year, yet close
to $40,000,000 was spent in the
competitive struggle for such bust
ness as there was"
The war of produce terminals"
is another matter in which the
federal coordinator is preparing to
act. Mr. Creel gives several in
stances of waste which is to be
stopped: Buffalo possesses two
produce terminals costing around
nine millions, with equally large
maintenance charges, and each is
being used at ess than half capac-
ity. A similar condition exists in
Detroit, New York and other large
cities. The Erie and Pennsylvania
pay an annual rental of $4,000
for their separate terminals in
New York, although the combined
traffic could easily be handled by
one"
Standardization of locomotives
and rolling stock is also contemp-
lated. Says Mr. Creel: "There are
now about 200 different types OF
locomotives, and 1000 different
styles of freight cars. Standardized
ton will cheaper production costs
and facilitate exchange of equip
ment, making possible also the
joint use of repair shops"
There are also large possibilities
of cooperation in purchase of ma
terials and supplies, as we'll as in
experimentation and research.
Considerable reduction in track
age is contemplated by the coordi-
nators office. Mr. Creel shows that
half of the total ton-mileage is car
ried on $4,000 miles of line, or ten
percent-of the total railroad track
age. Less than two per cent of the
total ton mileage is carried on
$4,000 miles of line. 1t is estimated
that there are 10000 miles of un-
questionably redundant trackage.
costing $75,000,000 a year to oper-
ate and maintain.
The movement for reduction of
executive salaries has already been
wiedly emphaized by the coordi-
nator's office, and Mr. Creel gives
some statistics to show how i'm
portant this item is likely to be in
the sum total of railroad economies.
He shows that 81 class one rail-
roads pay $S,00O,000 year for
the salaries of president, vice.
presidents and chairmen of their
boards alone. BY contrast, he cites
the fact that during wartime feder-
al control, the total salaries paid
executives for running all the rail-
roads was about $480,000 annually.
On the side of Indebtedness, Mr.