Show Transportation Greatest Need rp ri-i T HERE sins seems to be bc a II great tl deal of merit in the C coi cO coiL l. l 1 L that the real c evil il of the tho day is not so 50 mud muda a n ia lack of production in the country as ItS a lack of transPortation trans facilities According to statistics to be reliable the farms of the country today day have o greater productive capacity than they ever had before though hampered of J course by a lack o of farm labor Jabor The Tho bituminous coal mines are capable of producing producing- at least tons toils annually or or 20 per cent more than they ever ever h have hr prod produced ced in the tho past The estimated esti esti estimated mated steel ingot producing capacity up y of the st l mills of the country is more than an tons tons a 3 year an and This indicates an perhaps as much as tons increase in capacity over oer the actual production of ot 1917 from 11 li to 20 per cent One of the industries which ha has hm enormously increased its capacity within recent yea years s sis is the automobile industry In 1934 1914 the number of p passenger pus pas s. s 5 In lOin 1910 this cars and trucks built was vas had increased to and nd in 1919 to The Tho estimated capacity of all the automobile plants in the country is at nt present 25 Reliable statistics ns as to the present pro productive Capacity capacity ca- ca of other oilier large largo industries are not available wJ but in ill almost all cases where information is attainable it shows large increases have taken place since prewar days and that such increases are Me continuing On the he other hand yer very little lithe has bas been done even since 1916 to increase tho the capacity of or the railways The number of miles of railways abandoned during the tho last Jast three thre years has been greater great r than tho the number built The number of locomotives cs and freight cars ordered during the more than two years of government control would barely larely replace the number ordinarily ly retired in a n year The rhe result is that the already great disparity between the productive e capacity of tho the country and its railroad capacity is continuing to increase It has been estimated by the statistician of the Chicago Chicago Chi Chi- cago eago board of or trade that there are arc bushels of wheat wheat in the hands of the tho farmers and in the country elevators of the west a 3 largo arge part of which is there because it has been impo impossible sible tl to get it transported to market markeL The shortage of materials for manufacture I about which so o much complaint has been m made me e is al alleged al- al I ai-I to be due also to 10 inability to furn furnish Bh transportation tion for materials of m ny kinds If these conditions are arc accurately de described the tho remedy lies with the railroads railroads railroads rail rail- roads by and with the tho operation co-operation and assistance ot ol the interstate commerce commission c to rehabilitate and improve and and expand tho the transportation system of tho th country with all reasonable dispatch |