| Show I RAILROADS LAG BEHIND Cause of Car Famine Shown by Corn Com par paison son With Ith Growth of Tra Traffic c Pittsburg Dispatch No one who has studied the business of the country says say th the New NewYork NewYork York Commercial will wUl be surprised at the situation which now the railroad Interests of the United States The country has outgrown Its railroads and a this tius time the most favorable season of the year for expeditious handling of freight practically the whole railroad systEm o the country is so over overwhelmed whelmed with business that there Is a great shortage of cars and utter ma Ina to freight On many the r or of trains on schedule time seems to have become a thing Jf f the pa part t Serious as this is It does not come as a surprise to Those thos who have been watching the tho relative growth of the country and its rail railroads railroads roads Comparison of the mileage the num ber of cars locomotives and ton mileage of American railroads for tor 1895 1395 1900 and 1904 shows an Increase between 1395 and 1904 or of mIles or 17 tier per cent while there was an Increase In the num her ber ot of cars of or nearly 40 p per percent r cent and In locomotives or about 33 per cent The total ton mileage of freight traffic Increased by tons or just a little more than per percent percent cent anti and the passenger mU mileage ue by 9 or 75 per cent These fl fig ures give some IndIcation or of a great len Im Improvement provement In Iii the traffic for cath car ar and each locomotive With the gain of only 33 per cent in the number of loco locomotives motives the freight traffic has mer ens nearly per tent cent while the mileage of railroads increased during the 17 per cent Since 1901 this growth In tr traffic mc has hs gone on still sUll more rapidly and th the poInt has been reached now wh where re th railroads with their present equipment nt are taxed to the utmost limit cf f th their Ir fa facilities and further of traffic traffie would he be practically l ble unless there should be a steady expansion in the facilities for It n It Is true that th the railroads nr are or em dering new nev rolling stock and improving their roadbeds and many of them are arc and some of them In places putting down three and four tracks but It Is worth while to con consider consider sider whether the point has not been rea reached hed where there must be either a l breakdown in the handling or of traffic a erious curtailment of business or a broad expansIon or of the me railroads than there has been in the tho past Stupendous as has been the growth in ten years it is Id believed by 1 that it must of necessity be far Exceed Exceeded ed by that of the next ten years cars There may mav be h ups ina and downs nr nf C hut i I an occasional train the present high pressure is to be ex each new burst of activity car carlies cariles lies iles the country far ahead of the point at it started To a population f about will be added it Is est esti estimated m mated ted In the next ten years about 20 giving a total in 1916 of GOO people and by 1926 or twenty years Pence and in 1931 twenty five years yearn from now nOWr the population t this ratio of Increase would be GOO The gain in the next twenty years be only a little less than the total of the country iri in However it may be to grasp these figures it must be borne In mint mind that business expansion makes a a gr greater ter rate of increase than the growth of population In the latter the in increase increase crease probably will average a little less lese than 25 per cent every ten years rears whUa hil the volume of freight as jUdged by the tho past is IncreasIng per cent ill the same period The value of tural and manufactured products be t 1895 and 1904 gained more mere than twice as rapidly as population If a breakdown of f he railroad system from inability to handl traffic is to be avoid avoided ed ad it is necessary to look ahead anI se see something of what the next ten tenear years ear may be to tc bring forth in the creation of business and prepare for railroad expansion to tc meet the necessities ot of the time If the raIlroads of the country are tt t measure up to the demands ot of the times there must be a gain In ot of 50 per cent cant In hi the total railroad facilities ot of the Unite St States tes ten years ears hence as l wIth tOday ThIs would be below the th indicated volume of business at that thai L time as compared with the present It II L Is true that this situation to some fome ex cx tent can be met by a great Increase In ii Inthe I Ithe the number of cars and locomotives or on I present railroads provided that in con connection therewith there shall be a rapid I development in and jr in k Improved handling facUlties facilities that the moving of freight and passengers may be expedited But even with the best that can be hoped for tor in the expansion or of railroads there must of nt necessity be a great Increase in railroad con either by the building of on en new systems or the ext extension of oj those hose now in operation The estimate of the late Edward AtkInson that in 1 1 the next ten or fifteen years this court coun try must average miles of new nev track a y yea a seems not unreasonable In j vIew of these figures Such con construction however including the in increased Increased creased equipment b by prese t lines and the enlargement of stations and terminal to meet the x of busIness would IndIcate the necessity or of expending or on the railroads of this thim country In lathe the next ten years |
