Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Some Difficulties of the Transportation Business: Address to the Chamber of Commerce of Ansonia, Conn., By Howard Elliott, Chairman of the Board and President of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company; April 4, 1916
Aug 181916make it hard to cure those difficulties. As the subject is vital to the welfare of the United States, the welfare of New England and the welfare of the Naugatuck Valley, and to every manufacturer in it, I thought it might be of interest to speak of it. The Great To begin with, we know that up to Business 3oom. Less than a year ago business through out the United States was not very good. We had many idle freight cars all over the United States. We had many idle engines. We had many men unemployed and committees in various cities were asking employers of labor to give employment to men. Many of us felt, I know I did, business would improve, but many made the mistake that perhaps I made - we did not realize it would improve as fast as it has. Even as late as the first of August last, only eight months ago, the New Haven Road had 200 engines in apple-pie order, laid up in what we call white lead on side tracks with nothing to do. Then this business, this wonderful business started. One hundred million people of the United States had been stimulated in their activities by the demand for so-called war materials. Then, too, the shelves of countless storehouses all over the country had become depleted of all kinds of goods. The buy ing power of people started, and this busy New England, filled with manufacturing enterprises, began to receive orders. In this valley, which, as your toastmaster says, is one of the busiest of its size in the world, the acceleration of business was perhaps greater than in any other part of New England. Knowing I was to come here, I had figures com piled typical of this remarkable business growth, and fortunately for me the man who compiled the figures linked Ansonia and Derby together, so I cannot draw a comparison between the two. (laughter.) The tonnage for January, which is simply a typical month for the two ed 76 per cent. Over January a year ago, t tonnage of Naugatuck increased85 per cent., Seymour 147 per cent., Union City 39 per cent., Beacon Falls 110 per cent., or an increase of 86 per cent. For the group of points in which you are directly interested. That was a tremendous uplift in business development. The railway struggled to meet it but it met with some of the difficulties you have met in your business. It has had labor troubles; we have had only thirty-four strikes since August 24 - not very many, but quite a number. We have had very unusual weather conditions, and, as our business is outdoor business, these unusual weather conditions have diminished the efficiency of our machine. We had in the ninety-one days begin ning December 1 and ending February 29, fifty-eight that were either snowy, stormy or foggy. A foggy day on the New Haven Road, while it does not always trouble you in the Naugatuck Valley, has a direct effect on the volume of our business, because it checks everything in New York Harbor and that backs up all along the line. The snowfall especially has been very unusual. In the four months beginning with December there have been seventy-four inches in this part of the State; out around Poughkeepsie there were more and up in the Pittsfield country very much more. We have had the same trouble you have had in getting proper fuel and enough Of it; and we have had, as I have pointed out, various labor troubles. We have had inadequate facili ties, as you well know, and so have you. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
