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The Steel Car Campaign on Again 



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Editor's Note 



As notod in the text of lliis article it consists of a resume of various articles which l.ave appeared In previous 

 issues of Hardwood Record, the photographs all having been used with those articles. 



The matter is here reproduced because of two tacts. The first is that the steel car agitation is approaching a 

 stage where it threatens to become a political issue at Washington, as there is even now a bill before Congress to 

 prohibit the manufacture of wooden passenger, baggage and mail cars. 



The second reason is that the matter has commanded the earnest attention of a small percentage of the more 

 progressive element of the trade, and it is hoped that the repetition of previous stories appearing in Hardwood 

 Record will have the effect of stirring up the trade to the realization of the dire consequences to the lumber busi- 

 ness that would result from the passage of the legislation referred to. • 



It is stated on good authority that a determined effort will be 

 made to have bills passed by Congress to compel all railroads in this 

 country to employ steel passenger and mail cars in interstate business, 

 and to abolish the use of those made of wood. It is quite generally 

 believed that the movement is baclied and engineered by steel mami- 

 facturers, whose purpose is to sell more steel. Nearly li.500,000 cars 

 of all kinds are in use on the railroads of this country and the quan- 

 tity of wood demanded yearly for the construction of new cars and 

 the repair of old ones does not fall much below two billion feet. 



This will not be the first time the measure has been before Congress. 

 Bills having the same object in view have been introduced before, 

 and these will serve as entering wedges for legislation which, it is 

 said, will soon be undertaken at the national capital. 



Former mea.sures were taken as follows: Congressman Esch, April 

 15, 1911, introduced house bill 5291, which was referred to the com- 

 mittee on interstate and foreign commerce, and was ordered printed. 

 The purpose of this bill was to 

 prohibit the "putting in use for 

 the first time" of any wooden 

 passenger cars after January 1, 

 1912. That bill proposed to give 

 the railroads less than nine 

 months to quit making wooden 

 cars ; but cars already in use 

 might be continued. Nine months 

 was very short notice to give car- 

 shops to change their equipments 

 from wood working to steel 

 working. 



Two months and two days 

 later Congressman Talcott of 

 New York introduced house bill 

 11,822, which was referred to 

 the same committee as the former 

 bill. This measure was substan- 

 tially the same as the first, but 

 it extended the time in which 



A LUMBERMAN'S OPINION 



acftatJoD C. COilliams anD «^on0 



New York. July 12th, 1913. 

 Henry H. Gibson. 



HARDWOOD RECORD, Chicago, III. 

 Dear Mr. Gibson: 



Your article on the steel car craze, in the July 10th 

 Issue of the HARDWOOD RECORD, is a very important 

 contribution to the question of passenger car construc- 

 tion. We hope that it will call the attention of the 

 lumber trade to this subject and that possibly through 

 the various associations action will be taken that will 

 result in the presentation of the matter to congressmen, 

 as we quite agree with you that at the next regular ses- 

 sion of Congress a great effort will be made to force the 

 railroads to equip their lines with steel cars. We are 

 quite sure that the practical operating officers of the 

 railroads are not in favor of the steel car. 

 Very trLily yours, 



I. T. WILLIAMS & SONS. 



of adverse criticism. The people of this country, irrespective of what 

 business they may be engaged in, want the best railroad service that 

 can be had. They want the safest, most comfortable and most eco- 

 nomical; but safety and comfort must not be subordinated to 

 economy. If wooden cars fill these requirements best, let the cars be 

 wood. If steel is better, let the cars be steel. If a combination of 

 wood and steel is found to be superior, let the ears be of the com- 

 bination pattern. Lumbermen with products to sell will not oppose 

 a steel car merely to sell their lumber. 



The wooden car has been in service a long time. Its good points 

 and its bad are pretty well understood. It is not claimed that all 

 of the good points are known, for improvements in construction are 

 still being made; but enough is known to warrant a pretty strong 

 stand for the wooden car. Its enemies on one occasion sneered at 

 wooden cars in a train wreck because they -were ' ' twenty-five years 

 old. " ' That was one of the strongest points ever put forth in favor 



of the wooden car — and it was 

 put forth by an hostile critic. 

 Cars that had stood the wear, 

 tear, weather, abuse, accidents 

 and hard usage of railroad trafiBe 

 for a quarter of a century must 

 have been made of pretty good 

 stuff. The fact that they ended 

 their long career of usefulness 

 in a wreck at last is no more an 

 argument against their sterling 

 qualities than it would be good 

 argument to say that Napoleon 

 was a poor general because he 

 finally lost at Waterloo. 



In the opinion of some pretty 

 good judges, it will be a long 

 time before a train of steel cars 

 twenty-five years old will figure 

 in a wreck; because, long before 

 they reach that age (unless they 



change from wood to steel must 



be made to January 1, 1915, an addition of one year. 



Three weeks later the same congressman introduced house bill 

 12,416. The bill, if passed, was to take effect the first of the fol- 

 lowing January — six months in the future. The bill prohibited the 

 running of any wooden passenger or mail cars in a train between 

 steel cars or between the engine and steel cars. That practically 

 meant that wooden cars must be run only in all-wooden trains, or not 

 at all. The bill was ordered printed. 



Two weeks later Congressman Talcott introduced his third bill on 

 the subject. It was No. 13,038, and followed the same route as the 

 others — went through the committee and was ordered printed. It 

 was a combination of former bills, with new features added. One was 

 that after January 1, 1916, steel cars only should be used for carry- 

 ing mails; and after January 1, 1918, all express, baggage and 

 passenger cars should be of steel construction. 



The import of bills introduced in Congress in the past indicates 

 the lines of probable future legislation on the subject. The indi- 

 cations are that attempts will be made to legislate wooden cars out 

 of existence on the railroads of this country, and there is danger 

 that the attempt may be successful. 



This brings up a broad question of policy. It involves the question 

 of the comparative merits of wood and steel cars. If the question 

 is to be decided on its merits, no progressive man will have a word 



do better in the future than in 

 the past) they will have jumped so many curves, bounced from the 

 rails at so many crossings, and rattled so many bolts out and plates 

 loose that they will have found their way to the scrap pile. 



The relative efficiency of the two types of cars should be the 

 deciding factor. That point cannot be decided dogmatically. Time 

 and tests must tell. The steel car has not been in- use long enough for 

 thorough tests. Thus far some of the tests have been unfavorable, 

 and the car has not yet won its way into the favor of a majority of 

 experienced travelers. 



The wooden car is more comfortable in warm weather because it 

 is cooler and in cold weather because it is warmer. The temperature 

 within is more equitable, because wood is a poor and steel a good 

 conductor of heat. In moderate weather the difference in temperature 

 between the two types of cars is not material, but it is during periods 

 of extreme cold and extreme heat that the ear's reputation must be 

 made, and it is then that wood wins out. Some of the officials of 

 railroads traversing the hot regions of the Southwest are decidedly 

 opposed to the steel car, because of its oven-like temperature. Kvery 

 traveler in the northern states in winter has experienced the discomfort 

 of the metal sleeping car, and colds, neuralgia, toothache and 

 rheumatism often follow a night spent behind the thin steel plates. 

 In numerous instances travelers about to make a night journey apply 



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