Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/109

signee was allowed to hold a car as long as he liked. The retail dealer who received a car of coal used it as a warehouse until little by little the contents were sold. A factory receiving carloads of coal, cement, lime, lumber, or any other article, kept the cars on its sidings until the contents were needed. And so it has been with dealers in hay and grain and fruit and vegetables. That is, freight-cars were held and used as warehouses, thus preventing the use of the same car for its proper purposes. Such practice is most wasteful, and demurrage charges have been established in the hope that cars would be released more promptly. In the United States, as a rule, consignees are now allowed forty-eight hours In which to unload cars before any demurrage charge begins. In Germany, in times of increased business, consignees are obliged by a strictly enforced law to unload their cars within six hours. Notwithstanding this allowance of free time, which is more liberal in the United States than in any other country, commercial customs have grown up so that cars are retained at