22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 10, 1916 



their cars being returned within a reasonable length of time, and 

 would break up the practice of using $1,500 freight cars for storage 

 purposes. 



Revision op Eules Needed 



Every carrier examined stated that a general revision of the car 

 service regulations and demurrage regulations was necessary, and 

 favored these matters being regulated by the Commerce Commission, 

 the carriers having proven conclusively that they . 'ere unable to 

 handle them for themselves. 



In addition to Mr. Park the other witnesses examined were W. L. 

 Barnes, superintendent of transportation for the C, B. & Q., and 

 C. B. Phelps, superintendent of transportation for the Louisville & 

 Nashville. 



A series ot seventeen questions as to equipment, causes for the 

 present shortage, and suggestion for remedying the evil, were put to 

 the carriers, the questions having been drafted and placed in the 

 carriers' hands a few days in advance in order to facilitate matters. 

 Those carriers examined, especially the L. & N. and I. C, showed 

 that a goodly percentage of their equipment was on foreign roads, 

 a far smaller percentage of foreign equipment on their own lines, 

 and that it was absolutely necessary to place embargoes on certain 

 classes of cars, principally coal ears, in order to protect industries on 

 their own lines. Every railroad represented claimed that if it had 

 all of its own equipment on its own lines it would have no trouble in 

 keeping down the car shortage, although freights are a little above 

 the fall average due to the general prosperity of the country. 



It was shown that a better car mileage a day was being obtained 

 than ever before in the history of the lines, this being made possible 

 through the use of improved rolling stock, block systems, better 

 grades and fewer curves. It is claimed that the shippers have not 

 improved their facilities for loading and unloading to the point 

 where they should be, but that general conditions are far better than 

 they have been. 



Some of the carriers apparently are grabbing cars wherever they 

 gain possession of them, regardless of who owns them, and are mak- 



ing no effort to return them to the rightful owners. In fact, it 

 appears as though the general tendency is to grab some other carrier 's 

 cars because their own cars are being held, and present regulations are 

 not equal to the situation. 



The lumbermen and coal men who were represented by J. V. Norman 

 of Louisville, announced that they would not insist on special hearings 

 for their industries, but would aid in the general and broader hear- 

 ing which included the whole question of car shortage in all indus- 

 tries. It is believed that the resumed hearing at Louisville, which 

 began November 8, will continue several days. 



It has developed that there is very little congestion at any ter- 

 minal points, with the exception of Detroit, and that conditions are 

 due to eastern lines holding ears for export, northern lines holding 

 southern cars, and the South being without rolling stock to handle 

 its trafSc. Conditions are far worse than had been even contemplated. 

 Car Situation on Many Lines 



Many railroads insist that they could take care of all business on 

 their lines if they could get possession of their own cars. This is 

 hard to do, as the cars are in service on other lines and the process 

 of getting them back is a tedious one. A table was filed containing 

 data of fifty-two railroads, showing the number of freight cars owned 

 by each and the number on it's lines. It appeared that some roads 

 had on their lines many more cars than they owned, while others had 

 many fewer. Some of the items follow: 



Cars Cars on 



Road. Owned. Line. Road. 



B. & M 24,132 37,160 'B. & O 



New Haven 33,933 42,817 Pa 



C. & N. B 1,109 3,551 C. C. & O. 



Erie 54,677 65,451 C. & O. 



Cars Cars on 

 Owned. Line. 



89,127 85,594 



255,136 250,387 



5,474 2.850 



.... 44,127 37,832 



Long Island 1,327 5,270 N. N. W 47,131 33,667 



N. T. C 122,967 153,011 C. & O. & T. P.... 9,418 3.177 



C. H & D 5,783 10,114 Ga. S. & F 2,408 1,411 



Mich. Central 28,165 35,456 I. C 62,803 52.330 



Pere Marquette 15.435 20,797 L. & N 46,134 30,007 



C. M. & .St. r 65,945 72.957 St. L. S. W 14,419 6,513 



The other roads show similar conditions, and it is apparent that 

 freight cars must do a large amount of traveling before they get 

 home. 



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Experience Talks on W^oodworking 



After a day's work in the dusty shop or mill a good, long walk 

 in the open air, preferably in the country, will put one in better 

 Bhape for a night's sleep and for the next day's work. It will 

 be tiresome the first night, less so the next, and by the end of a 

 week will be found restful. 



It is said to be much easier to reject a new idea than it is to 

 comprehend it, and many a man who has offered a new suggestion 

 to his boss will mentally certify to this point; but sometimes the 

 boss may have a better comprehension of -the idea than you think, 

 and for that reason rejects it. 



When a man becomes thorough master of the calling of operating 

 wood-machinery, he generally has much less fault to find with ma- 

 chines than when he is simply learning. This is partly because 

 he is more competent to handle any shortcomings of the machine, 

 but mainlj' because of his having learned in the course of time that 

 lots of the fault found with machines is really seventj'-five per- 

 cent imaginary. 



The right idea is to leave j'our work behind when you go homp 

 in the evening, and, when you find yourself able to do that part 

 well, the next thing to do is to see that you keep it with you while 

 you are on duty as faithfully as you have left it behind. 



In making window bead out of edgings at the planing mill, why 

 not do a nice job in molding it and have something attractive as 

 well as useful? Many contractors prefer these window strips 

 molded on one edge, in harmony with the base, and it might as 

 well be made this way at first. 



That "No Admittance" sign is a back number and ought to be 

 abolished, for in refusing admittance to those who might want to 

 cg^ie in you shut off the incoming chance for information that 

 bt come in handv. 



cofeie 



(Aht 



If all manufacturing companies had as much knowledge of the 

 oil-filtering apparatuses as thej' should have, there would be more 

 of them in use. Even if the oil saved is not so good as it was in 

 its lubricating power, it will do finely for slower bearings, such 

 as lineshafting, etc. The cost of the oil filter is very small in 

 comparison to the value. 



The man that makes figures and estimates on millwork has to 

 know the capacity of his mill crew mighty well, or else use a 

 large factor of safety, if he would always come out on the right 

 side of the wind-up. 



The man that reads the trade papers doesn 't know it all, but 

 he has a mighty good chance to know more than the fellow that 

 doesn 't read them — and he generally does, too. 



Some men^never find out that a machine is defective and unneces- 

 sarily dangerous till after they get hurt and some lawyer points 

 out the fact to them and advises a suit against the company for 

 damages. 



If purchasers would take greater care in setting new machines, 

 and observe more carefully the directions of the machine-build- 

 ers, there would he fewer kicks to the builders, and fewer sore 

 spots amongst purchasers. 



