Ahern, Albert M., Boilermakers Union, Local 46, Cheyenne, Wyo... Bath, Harry, president, Line Drivers Local Union No. 961, Denver, Bornhorn, Paul, terminal manager, Commercial Carriers, Inc., Page Fleischli, Gus, Jr., manager, Husky Terminal, Cheyenne, Wyo Gavin, W. E., local chairman, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Grant, Leo P., general chairman, Sheet Metal Workers District Coun- Hayes, Ted, Uinta County State representative, Evanston, Wyo 174 207 Leach, Paul W., director, tax department, Kenosha Auto Transports 27 Lumborg, O. R., vice president, Order of Railroad Conductors & 212 4 Perry, C. R., vice chairman, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Union Pacific System Division, Denver, Colo-- Philabaum, Everett, secretary, Cheyenne Lodge of Railway Carmen, Showalter, C. O., freight traffic manager, Union Pacific Railroad Co, 1416 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebr Smith, W. D., Commercial Carriers, Inc., Cheyenne, Wyo Spracklen, L. L., passenger conductor, Chicago, Burlington & Quit.ev Strange, James S., Brotherhood of Railway Car Men of America, Taylor, Verne A., Uinta County commissioner, Evanston, Wvo Wendt, John F., House of Representatives, State of Wyoming, Rock Wheeler, Warren F., assistant general manager, Burlington Track Lines, Inc., Denver 2, Colo.......... Wilson, Harry, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Cheyenne, Woodward, Tom, Oasis Service Station & Cafe, Medicine Bow, Wys Breitenbreck, T. V., traffic manager, National Automobile Transport- Gilliland, J. E., vice president, St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co. Macdonald, D. R., general traffic manager, Butler Bros, Division of Pendley, William Perry, secretary of Local Union 106, Sheet Metal Letters submitted: Shafer, Archie W, executive vice president, Wyoming Automot Wyoming correspondence submitted to the subcommittee Zanetti, Pete, State representative, house of representatives, PIGGYBACK TRANSPORTATION Hon. GEORGE A. SMATHERS, APRIL 12, 1961. Chairman, Surface Transportation Subcommittee, Senate Commerce Committee, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR SMATHERS: The decision of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee to hold a hearing on the TOFC, or piggybacking, in Cheyenne was much appreciated. I believe the record of the testimony taken at this hearing will prove very useful to our committee. The question of whether or not the practice of piggybacking has had a discernible economic impact upon the community as well as the extent of that impact has been thoroughly and skillfully explored by witnesses representing several interested groups. In my opinion, it is of special significance that these witnesses are intimately involved in the subject matter of the hearing. Several questions have been raised but not resolved by the testimony of these witnesses which may well merit further consideration. 1. It has been asserted that the savings which result from the much lower transportation charges for the shipment of automobiles by piggyback, have not been passed on to the local automobile retailer or to the public. The scope of this hearing did not lend itself to a definitive answer to the question of what happens to these savings, but is is certainly a question which needs answering. 2. There was relatively little testimony to demonstrate exactly how many additional men the railroads had been able to employ because of the increase in tonnage carried resulting from the piggyback operation. 3. Testimony did establish that in many cases individual truckers own and are making payments on their tractor unit. The result of this fact is that when business decreases, the individual who has the least financial flexibility bears such a substantial proportion of the burden of the decrease that he loses both his investment and his tractor and is out of business. This brief list does not, of course, cover all of the questions which were raised in our Cheyenne hearing. It does indicate, it seems to me, the range and depth of the inquiry and something of the real intensity of feeling which surrounds this subject. It is my earnest hope that these questions as well as the others suggested in the body of the record, will receive the attention which their seriousness merits. The subcommittee owes its thanks to the State of Wyoming and to its Governor, Jack R. Gage, for making available the chamber of the house of representatives, in which the hearing was held, and for the very helpful cooperation which contributed so much to its success. Sincerely, GALE W. MCGEE, |