RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION 
513 
has been a marked increase in the tonnage of manufactures and mis- 
cellaneous traffic (in car-lots) since pre-war years. The volume of 
products of mines and of manufactures loaded during 1925 was greater 
than in 1924, the latter making a new high record. The other com- 
modity groups show a decrease, most marked in the case of agricul- 
tural products. 
Table '5.—Revenue Freight Originating on Railways, by Commodity Groups 
[Thousands of tons] 
Year ended— 
Total 1 
>roducts 
of agri- 
culture 
Animals |_ 
and | 
oroducts Coal 
Products of mines 
All other 
Products 
of 
forests 
Manu- 
factures 
and 
niscella- 
neous 
Mer- 
chandise 
Jess than 
car lots)’ 
CLASS I AND II 
ROADS 
une 30, 1011. _..... 
TT —— 
LL —— 
Dl ccsonanan 
1018. so mnnuiun 
Dec. 31. 1916 ______ 
281, 293 
, 011, 784 
, 160, 863 
1109, 271 
+ 005, 020 
"203 091 
34,478 
39, 688 
06, 067 
102, 200 
113, 040 
116. 887 
23,611 
u, 799 
26, 446 
27,139 
2, 660 
31 904 
335, 685 
352, 770 
390, 701 
383, 882 
348, 130 
199 R53 
i95, 907 
206, 371 
260, 239 
242, 194 
208, 443 
314. 998 
97,427 
91, 359 
12,079 
-10, 878 
93, 971 
111 850 
172, 554 
176, 266 
206, 787 
186, 358 
163, 988 
239. 849 
36, 203 
38,118 
12, 520 
41, 474 
48, 163 
£4 490 
CLASS IT ROADS 
Nec. 31, 1916. _..__, 
TU wns 
Srp 
19... 
SII 
2) mmm msn 
B00 cnvanay, 
EB annem 
2000, cm mn 
1925. eee 
Per cent change 
from 1924 __.___ 
, 203, 367 
264, 016 
263, 344 
096,111 
255, 421 
940, 183 
023, 745 
£79, 03" 
187,20 
047 - 
13, 635 
04, 629 
16, 051 
15, 033 
10, 840 
1069 
11,787 
nore 
30, 473 
31, 858 
25, 777 
35, 494 
16, 505 
i, 263 
a ogn 
~~ 
302, 409 
143, 722 
166, 483 
375, 022 
162, 440 
65, 850 
26, 438 
~ go 
287, 624 
288, 931 
268, 312 
214, 929 
49, 705 
45, 420 
96, 560 
69, 752 
41, 107 
wa Toy 
+18. 5 
98, 819 
00, 838 
97, 256 
94, 076 
00, 766 
76,419 
2, 059 
roa 
~{ % 
231, 038 
240, 269 
226, 077 
710, 256 
51, 864 
72 169 
20, 442 
"7767 
27 
re-4 
11 
52,911 
53, 769 
53, 387 
51, 302 
33, 202 
11,992 
13, 220 
14, 338 
10, 549 
10. 580 
1 Down to 1916, inclusive, undistributed freight, as follows, is included in total but not shown elsewhere: 
1911, 35,338 tons; 1912, 32,414; 1913, 16,022; 1914, 15.147: 1915. 2 Ai25° 1914 1.660° 1916, Class I. 1 RAT. 
Source: Interstate Commerce Commission 
Car Loadings—Surpluses and Shortages. 
The total number of cars loaded (revenue freight) during 1925 was 
51,178,000, greater than in 1924 by 2,644,000, or 5.4 per cent, and the 
greatest in the history of the railroads (Table 7). During the third 
quarter of 1925 the car loadings exceeded those of any previous quar- 
ter, while even the last quarter surpassed the highest quarter in any 
previous year (third quarter of 1923). In Table 6 average weekly 
car loadings are shown by quarters, the original statistics being based 
on weeks rather than months to avoid the effect of varying length of 
the months. 
Car shortages were practically nil in 1925 except for the last quarter, 
during which there was a very slight shortage of certain classes of 
equipment. Although figures of car surpluses and shortages are not 
entirely satisfactory as an index to the carriers’ capacity to take care 
of traffic requirements, they present an approximate picture of the 
situation. Frequently shippers order more cars than are needed 
during a shortage period in the hope of thus getting their minimum 
1950-——98+—— ©