1
A —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 21, 1973
Rail
Transportation Crisis Seen
Hitting Farmers and Consumers
Food costs could shoot up from
15 to 20 percent this fall if the
railroad freight situation wor
sens, the president of the Penn
sylvania Farmers’ Association
(PFA) said last week.
John R. Pitzer, a fruit producer
from Adams County, referred
mostly to the Penn Central
Transportation Co. - a major link
in the food pipeline between the
Midwest and Pennsylvania
Agriculture
PFA is a general farm
organization with more than
17,200 family members and it has
49 local associations It is also
affiliated with the American
Farm Bureau Federation.
“It (Penn Central) goes out
Oct l,” Pitzer said following an
“emergency transportation
conference” in Buffalo this week.
“I’m hopeful something will be
worked out with the Penn Cen
tral, but even so there are five
other northeastern railroads
which filed bankruptcy petitions -
- Erie Lackawanna, Reading,
Boston and Maine, Lehigh
Valley, and Central of New
Jersey - which must be con
tended with,” he said
At the end of 1971, the six lines
accounted for more than 27,000
miles of track and operating
losses of $3lB million The Penn
Central alone is reporting daily
losses of about $600,000
Penn Central trustees have
N. G. HERSHEY & SON FARMERSVILLE
Manheim EQUIPMENT INC.
R.D 2, Ephrata, Pa.
CHAS J. McCOMSEY
& SONS
Hickory Hill, Pa.
A.L. HERR & BRO. NISSLEY FARM SERVICE
Quarryville Washington Boro
filed a reorganization plan which
boils down to liquidation, with all
its rail assets being sold and the
proceeds, along with its other
assets, to be placed into new or
reorganized corporations whose
securities would be distributed to
the claimants.
The Interstate Commerce
Commission started hearings
Monday on the liquidation and
must report back to Federal
Judge John P. Fullam in
Philadelphia by Oct. 1. Fullham
is overseeing the Penn Central’s
organization under the federal
Bankruptcy Act.
The Penn Central says if it
doesn’t get federal help -
meaning money - by Oct. 1 it will
halt its freight and passenger
service and start auctioning off
trains and tracks.
Pitzer was attending a meeting
sponsored by the American Farm
Bureau Federation, which
believes some sort of legislative
action is required before the
summer recess of Congress.
The farm leader said that the
Buffalo session reviewed three
major plans being presented as
possible solutions to the problem,
one by the federal Department of
Transportation (DOT), another
by the Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC), and one
termed the Adams Bill, spon
sored by Rep. Brock Adams,
Washington.
ZOOK'S FARM STORE
Honey Brook, Pa.
PFA opposes the DOT plan
because it would place too much
authority with the transportation
secretary. “It’s sort of an AM
TRAK freight situation,” Pitzer
said, adding that it is in good part
tied to private financing and
could be put into operation
without ICC approval.
The ICC proposal, Pitzer said,
would mean that that agency
would take charge of restruc
turing of the surface tran
sportation system.
A one percent tax is part of that
proposal. It would be levied
against the carriers but would
eventually be paid by the shipper.
The DOT plan would involve no
direct federal funds and lines
could be abandoned without ICC
approval.
The Adams plan would
authorize the federal government
to guarantee private loans, the
farm leader said, to the
restructured carriers of up to $2
billion, plus other financial help.
A northeast Transportation
Commission would oversee the
restructuring, and would have a
year to provide the plan, which
must be submitted to Congress.
An agency would be created -
the Federal National Railway
Association - which would assist
in the financing - and another
agency would operate the line
and own all the Class A stock,
thus in effect giving it control.
“We realize that the U.S.
economy has undergone a
number of major changes which
have hurt the rails, including
declines in the amount of rail
traffic generated by the mining,
agricultural and forestry in-
JE'MARFARM
SUPPLY INC.
Lawn—Ph 964-3444
H JACOB HOOBER
Intercourse, Pa
HAROLD H. GOOD
Terre Hill
dustries. (
“Total tonnage of agricultural
products fell from 141 million in
1951 to 133 million in 1970,” Pitzer
remarked, “but agriculture still
depends heavily on the use of rail
transportation for production /
June Milk Production
Down From Yr . Earlier
Milk production in Penn
sylvania totaled 586 million
pounds during June according to
a report received this week from
the Crop Reporting Service. This
was 6 percent less than
production during May and 4
percent less than June, 1972. The
number of milk cows was down to
666,000, compared with 670,000
last month and 684,000 a year ago.
Average production per cow
during June was 880 pounds,
compared with 930 pounds in May
and 895 pounds in June last year.
U. S. milk production during
June is estimated at 10,706
million pounds, 2.5 percent less
than a year earlier. Daily
average output was the same as
last month compared with a
slight increase between these
Aerial Ladder Equipped
FARM PAINTING
We Spray it on and Brush It In!
FOR FREE ESTIMATES
CALL COLLECT 717-393-6530
OR WRITE
HENRY K. FISHER
2322 Old Phila. Pike
Lancaster, Pa. 17602
STEVENS FEED MILL,
INC.
Stevens. Pa
DUTCHMAN FEED
MILLS. INC.
R D.I, Stevens
WHITE OAK MILL
R D 4, Manheim
supplies and feed grains,”
“Congress needs to face up to
the problem and take a realistic
look at quick solutions to the
transportation problem in the
Northeast,” he concluded.
same months a year earlier.
Production during the first half of
1973 is 2.0 percent less than last
year. June production provided
1.70 pounds of milk per person
daily for all uses, the same as last
month and compares with 1.75
pounds in June last year.
The United States milk-feed
price ratio for June, at 1.21, was
down 27 percent from a year ago
and the lowest June ratio since
1955 when it was 1.12. Last year’s
ratio, at 1.66, was equal to the
record high for the month set in
1970. The average milk price is up
63 cents from last year while the
ration value is up $1.79. On a
regional basis, the June ratio is
highest in the South Atlantic and
lowest in the East North Central.
FOWLS! JED SERVICE
R D 2, Peach Bottom
MOUNTVILLE
FEED SERVICE
R.D 2, Columbia
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Paradise