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Show wm mm HEAViESlMN HISTORY Expansion Due to War Reaching Its Limit, Says O. S. L. Official. That the trend of developments is forcing upon railroad officials the anticipation an-ticipation that probablv they will become be-come unable to provide transportation for all classes of commodities they have been moving, and the reasons vrhy freight traffic may be cut to war-time essentials, are set forth in a statement from William Sproule, chairman of the western department of the railroad war board, received by D. S. Spencer, general gen-eral passenger agent of the Oregon Short Line Railroad company. "The railways have secured niore service from every track, every car and every locomotive than ever before, and the fact that the unfulfilled requisitions for freight cars amounted on November 1 to HO. COO iu spite of the tremendous increase in traffic, reflects great credit upon their performance," Mr. Sproule says. "We have no doubt that if the nonessential non-essential commodities are eliminated the railroads can transport all commodities commod-ities required by the government in carrying on tho war and by the people for their subsistence and comfort. The difficulties with which the railroads were confronted at the beginning ot the war were very great. Some of these have been overcome. The increase during dur-ing the first five months of the war of 16 per cent of freight traffic handled with practically no increase in locomotives locomo-tives or cars was equivalent to tho addition ad-dition of 5000 locomotives and Sf0,000 ears to the number in service." During the first five months of the war the railways handled 16 per cent more freight traffic than iu the same months of 1916, which year broke all recoras up to that 'time, the statement says. |