Evening star., 1947-02-27
Canadian Rail Chief
Believes Paper Ciisii,
|WiII Last q Month


age OF box cars common to Canada
and the United States.
The car shortage was accentuated
sharply on February II by q Canad-
ian government order commander
ing 1,176 box cars daily for shipment
of wheat en- route to Great Britain.
The wheat had been piled up for
several weeks because of blizzards In
the West which held hundreds of
cars snowbound.
Shipping Backlog.
The car situation has improved
considerably in the past 10 days with
better weather, Mr.. Liberty said.
and some OF the backlog OF shipping
has been cut down.
with continued good weather,
and with quicker turn arounds the
situation should improve gradually"
he said, 'but we are still far short
of the. cars we require and will re-
main short for at least q year.
with the opening of Great Lakes
navigation in April there should
be a substantial improvement in
the shipment of newsprint as we'll
as other commodities. But the car
shortage itself Is going to stay right
with u.s."
Several newsprint mills were
forced to close last week by the
priority for wheat shipments. As q
result Mr.. Liberty ordered that the
railways assign cars to any mills
shut down or threatened with clos
ing.
More Steel Promised.
The car shortage also was receiv-
ing increasing attention in this
country. While industrial and rail-
road spokesmen agreed the short
age was long7term problem that
would not be solved Immediately, a
cheering note was the promise of
steel producers to allocate more
steel for new cars.
Senator Reed, Republican, of
Kansas said that major steel COM
panies had agreed to furnish enough
steel to build 10000 cars monthly.
Previously steel men had promised
enough for 1000 cars a month.
The promise of steel came at a
meeting Reed had called of officers
Of 20 railroads, II steel companies
and Is car building firms However,
the new goal. Senator Reed said,
would not be reached until about
next June.
A spokesman for the Western As
sociation Of Railway Executives said
carloadings for the first six weeks
Of 1947 were higher than any COM
parable period In five years and "the
only answer to the shortage Is more
cars"
Railroads have 5000 cars on
order, but need thousands more.
Last year the railroads, which nor
mally take II per cent of the Ma
,tion's output, got only 70 per cent
Production of consumer goods cut.
the amount available. 1r;sss salss
On Capitol Hiil, the Hplise took.
cognizance of the newsprint sittlaAss
ton and voted, 769 to 100, to set up
a special committee to inquire into
the shortage.
Creation of this special commit
tee and another to 60 into small
business problems drew . protest
from Representative Monroney,
Democrat, of Oklahoma, who said
they violated the spirit of the Re-,
organization Act of which he was
co-author. Regular committees
should conduct the inquiries, he
said.
Three newspaper publishers are
in line for appointment to the
Newsprint Committee. They are
Representatives Brown, Republican,
of Ohio, who will be chairman of
the seven-member committee; Skies,
Democrat, of Florida, and Shafer,
Republican, of Michigan.
Their appointment by Speaker
Martin is expected in time for the
committee to hold its initial session
early next week in keeping with Mr..
Browns promise to tackle this
critical problem quickly and do
something about it"
Small Papers Threatened.
The House set up the committee
after Mr.. Brown told members the
newsprint shortage may force some
smaller newspapers to suspend pub
lication.
The groups first objective, the
Ohioan said, will be to bring about
a fair distribution of available sup
plies and then inquire into the pos
sibility Of expanding production.
The House ordered the committee
to concentrate on:
/. The short-range and long
range possibilities of increased pro-
duction in the United States and
Alaska.
2. The prospects for obtaining in
creased supplies from Canada and
other outside sources.
8. The extent to which agencies
or officers Of the Government may
be able to help obtain increased
production.
In Cleveland, Rail Executive Rob-
ert r. Young blamed the Interstate
Commerce Commission and the
| Federal Courts for the boxcar
| shortage.
THE ICC is at fault in its DEGREES
that the country had more railroad
facilities than could be supported
and kept down the acquisition Of,
new rolling stock" the board chair >
man Of Allegheny Corp, railroad
holding company, told a press con-
ference.
'The Federal courts, by their in
depreciation of the Railroad Re-
organization Act of 1888, Cancelled
out the industry's honest dollars.
You can't blame management for
not buying more equipment If Wash
ington can confiscate investments.
Congress must rectify this situa-
ton or there will be no more in
vestments."
WI Reported Fired
From Submarine Deck