was about 890 million sacks in 1920. That is to say, the 
country has never used, at least in any recent year, as much 
as 709, of its productive capacity. 
With adequate railroad facilities, there will be plenty of 
cement to supply the country’s needs. But many people 
are too complacent about the transportation situation. 
As business quickens, as general commodities begin to 
move, as the season progresses and the demand for coal 
increases, and as farm products move to market, trans- 
portation facilities become taxed. The railroads, like 
most other concerns, are not equipped to handle nearly a 
full year’s business in a few months. It is uneconomical. 
If too many people wait to order cement shipments until 
farmers turn loose their products and business in general 
quickens, it becomes difficult to obtain cars not only to 
transport cement and other materials from mill to market 
but to haul raw materials to the point of manufacture. 
GOOD CARS REQUIRED FOR SHIPMENT 
Cement, under ideal conditions, is shipped in box cars 
in good order, but in 1920 it was necessary to take what 
cars could be obtained regardless of expense and inconven- 
tence. Use of restricted railroad cars, privately owned cars, 
furnished by customers and by cement companies, stock 
cars, open-top cars which require the use of tarpaulins to 
protect the contents and bad-order box cars have to be re- 
sorted to, as in 1920, when it is impossible to get enough 
good-order cars to supply the demand. 
Another means adopted to keep Universal cement mov- 
ing to its customers in 1920 was the use of motor trucks, 
involving, of course, additional expense to the company and 
to its customers. At the Universal plant near Chicago, 
there were loaded as many as 618 trucks in a single day or 
the equivalent of 120 box cars. This was at the rate of 
more than a truck a minute. In 1920, total shipments of 
cement by truck of the Universal Co. were nearly 10 million 
sacks. This saved about 12,000 railroad cars in a time of 
acute car shortage and furnished that much extra cement 
to the country’s building program.