Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1916 — TRAFFIC HAS BEEN WORST IN HISTORY [ARTICLE]

TRAFFIC HAS BEEN WORST IN HISTORY

Trains On Ail Roads Have Been Running Hours Behind Schedule; No Relief at Present.

Train service in this country is the worst at the present time that it has ever been in the history of the country, according to reports that come in from all points, and indications show no immediate relief from the situation. Not in years has so much difficulty been experienced in getting the trains over the roads as has been the case during the past week. Trains from the south are always expected to be delayed by winter storms, but seldom have trains from Chicago been as late as they are now. In many instances trains into this city have been from one to five hours late. The freight situation also continues serious. An embargo on eastbound freight has been placed by some of the railroads, and one or two of the lines west and northwest of Chicago have also listed embargos. Perishable shipments are rushed by all the roads. The Pere Marquette accepts no carloads from connecting lines, from Detroit. The Detroit dongestion has become such that the Ford factory decided to lay off for ten days in order to give the roads time to clean up their yards. It is evident that in one sense the present trouble goes back several months. The roads are contending with a congestion of freight that has steadily grown worse. Thousands of cars of freight are sidetracked in the east and in the vicinity of traffic centers. The congestion is so great in the east that a whole train is sometimes sidetracked for many hours or several days and there is no room for them in yards for which they art destined. All of this goes back to the European war, which is the cause of upsets in so many lines of business. Months ago yards in New York and other eastern points 'became so congested with freight that was routed for shipment to Europe, but which was never taken out because there were no ships to carry it. The German submarine activities which have increased in the past few weeks, have not helped the situation any and some trans-contin-ental lines have taken their ships off the sea. From all these facts, gleaned from those in a position to know, it is evident that the roads have been under a strain for some time and that the cold weather and increased traffic at this season constituted the straw that ■broke the camel's back.