SMooTH.., AGC U RAT

Washington, D. C., Jan. 8,-Estimates of expenditures needed to restore railroads to physical condition equivalent to that of 1929, made public here today, in'clude the renewal of 85.000.000 wood cross-ties over and above normal requirements, rvhich can be placed roughly at 50,000,000, and indicate the possibility of total purchases by raihvay companies of 135,000,000 ties during 1935.

Such a development, according to a statement by the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, would give the forest products industries a volume of business from this source alone amounting to, possibly, $80,000,00O, at the present average price of cross-ties, r,vhich is probably 60/o below the high mak of pre-depression years'

The degree to which tie replacement has declined in the last few years is indi'cated in figures of the Bureau oi Railway Economi,cs, which show replacements as 74,662,278 in 1929,63,338,798 in 1930, 51,486,627 in 1931, and 39,175,74L in 1932. There was a marked increase in-replacement in 1934, and, although final figures are not available, it is estimated that the roads used 50,000,000 cross-ties in the first nine months of the year.

In the event of use by the roads of the entire 135,000,000 estimated as needed, an auxiliary source of revenue would be provided for farmers, farm laborers and woodsmen in every section of the country, as ties are produced in all of the states.