Journal of electricity, power, and gas . on. The response of the men engaged in thiswork has been magnificent. Transcontinental rail- roads have been built and rebuilt almost at once; mil-lions have been spent to save a few per cent gradeand to provide heavier rails and equipment. Thebrains and faith of engineers and capitalists have beenpitted against the forces of nature until today thecost of transporting freight by ocean is about onemill per ton, and by rail is from to 8 mills per 464 JOURNAL OF ELECTRICITY, POWER AND GAS [Vol. XXXII—No. 22 ton mile. This low transportation cost has be
Journal of electricity, power, and gas . on. The response of the men engaged in thiswork has been magnificent. Transcontinental rail- roads have been built and rebuilt almost at once; mil-lions have been spent to save a few per cent gradeand to provide heavier rails and equipment. Thebrains and faith of engineers and capitalists have beenpitted against the forces of nature until today thecost of transporting freight by ocean is about onemill per ton, and by rail is from to 8 mills per 464 JOURNAL OF ELECTRICITY, POWER AND GAS [Vol. XXXII—No. 22 ton mile. This low transportation cost has been at-tained by the substitution of mechanical power forman power wherever possible. Labor in Freight Handling Comparatively this increase in economy and efficiency ofthe transportation systems there is one link in thechain that is practically the same as it was fifty yearsago, and now represents the greatest unit tax the con-sumer pays for the privilege of transportation. Thisis the handling of freight at rail and steamship. Storage Battery Motor Truck for Freight Handling. terminals. Here freight that has been brought acrossthe ocean at a cost of about one mill per ton mileis handled at a labor cost varying with the kind andcondition of the freight and the local terminal condi-tions from $.10 per ton per 100 ft. ($ per ton mile)toi $.70 per ton per 100 ft. ($ per ton mile), bymeans of stevedores with hand trucks, and the steamhoists and elevators of the ship. This cost has beenincreasing steadily due to the increasing cost of laborand the increasing congestion of terminals which ren-ders the worker less efficient. The cost of re-handling miscellaneous freight bymanual labor with hand trucks, varies with the localconditions from $.35 to $.95 per ton with efficientmanagement. As all transportation problems involveat least two terminal handlings and some three ormore it will be seen at once that in the average trans-portation the cost of handling at terminal
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