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Show RAILROAD SITUATION' At the present time there is a surplus sur-plus of freight cars, due to the decline de-cline in freight traffic since October. In view of this fact the railroads of the country are once more in position posi-tion to move freight without delay. The following, taken from the current cur-rent issue of the Railway Age, is a comprehensive account of the exist ing situation: "The fact that, in spite of the general gen-eral decline in business activity wbich has occurred within recant months, the railways are still moving mov-ing more annnage than ever before at the same time of year probobly has a Bignificence of much importance. import-ance. It undoubtedly means that the producing and consuming capacity capac-ity of the country has increased so much within recent years that no decline in business activity ever again ag-ain will carry the total freight business bus-iness of the railways down anywhere near as low as it used to go. By the same token, a revival of business activity ac-tivity will result in giving the railways rail-ways a much larger freight traffic to handle tha nthey ever had before. stantially larger. The traffic wnose movement s chiefly causing the total This is a strong argument for shippers ship-pers to 'shop now' while railways have surplus capacity, for it must mean that when business activity again revives the difficulty of getting get-ting sufficient transportation will return. "The number of cars of freight loaded in the four weeks ending on December 11 ,the latest period for which figures are available, was 3,-385,260. 3,-385,260. This shows a decline as compared with the four weeks ending end-ing October 23, when the highest record was made, of 617,087 carloads. car-loads. While this reflects a sharp decline in traffic, the figures for the four weekes ending December 11, 1920, compare very favorably with those for teh corresponding weeks of 1918, when the largest record for the same weeks of any previous year wa made. In these weeks of 1918 the number of cars loaded was 3,251 Oil, or 134,249 less than in the same weeks of this year. Since the average load per car being handled is larger than it was in 1918, the total to-tal tonnage being handled is sub- loadings to hold up so well in spite of the recent decline in general business bus-iness activity is the coal traffic, which is still being handled n re-cord-breakng volume." |
