Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 243, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1917 — HELP RAILROADS IN WAR SERVICE [ARTICLE]

HELP RAILROADS IN WAR SERVICE

Co-operation ot Shippers and Traveling Public Contributes to Efficiency. PASSENGER TRAFFIC IS CUT Thousands of Train Crews and Locomotives Thereby Released for Hauling Freight Needed by the Government Chicago.—Reports just compiled for the railroads’ war board indicate that the traveling public in general and the shippers in particular are giving the finest kind of co-operation to the railroads in handling the increased traffic that the war has produced; What this co-operation means . may be gleaned from these facts: Since May 1 the railroads, aided by. the loyalty and understanding of the public, have been able to reduce their passenger service by approximately 25,000,000 miles. This has released thousands of train crews and locomotives for use in the freight service and cleared thousands of miles of track, thereby facilitating the movement of coal, food products and supplies needed by the government. In addition to the foregoing saving of equipment and trackage, the shippers, big and small, have rallied so splendidly to the slogan. “Make one car do the work of two” that a saving of close to half a million freight cars has been accomplished. This saving of freight cars has enabled the railroads to move approximately 25 per cent more freight since war was declared than during the same period , last year. Intensive Loading Helps. Intensive loading and a general increase in the size of the “trade units” used by the various industries has rendered possible the saving of car space. Cotton, for instance, which was formerly moved in units of fifty bales, now moves only in units of 65 and 75. As there are 18,000,000 bales to be moved by rail each season, the increase in the trade unit in this one commodity alone has produced a saving of anywhere from 83,000 to 125,000 cars. Sugar, on which the carload minimum from the South wak formerly only 24/ 000 pounds per car, now moves only on a 60,000-pound carload minimum. The producers of manufactured food products, especially the canners, have also come to a realization of the value of intensive loading and are now loading virtually all of their cars to capacity. Coal, which has been loaded beyond capacity on most fines since the beginning of the war, is also moving freely now, although labor troubles in some parts of the country is tending to counteract the efforts of the railrbads to meet the abnormal demand for fuel. During the past month the supply of cars on the “lake coal” lines has been increased 25 per cent and there has

been some increase in the movement of bituminous coal to the lake ports, but it has not been proportionate to the increased supply of cars, as labor trouble has tended to decrease the mine production. Renewed Efforts Necessary. Although excellent results have been achieved to date through the co-opera-tion of the shippers, the traveling public and the railroads, it will be necessary for all concerned to exert renewed efforts, as the abnormal demands upon the railroads In the movement of both troops and supplies is constantly Increasing, while the securing of new equipment Is virtually impossible. From now on 2,500 cars a day will be required by the government to move food and supplies to the. men in training at the National army, National Guard and other encampments, while the demand of the allies for cars to carry export goods to the seaports will be practically doubled. All of this additional traffic must be moved by the railroads, although they have only 3 per cent more equipment than they had at this time last year.