The age-herald., 1898-07-29
POLITICAL PULLS IN
 RAILROAD AFFAIRS
From the Atlanta Constitution.

From the Atlanta Constitution. No army contracts like kissing, go by favors? Some people think so. An in- stance occurred last week when orders were received at Chickamauga to move a large body of troops at once to Portsmouth for transport to Porto Rico. Up to that time the army authorities had been invit- | ing bids for the movement of troops and all | the railroads which could possibly stand a chance of getting the business put in bids. Here in the south the roads have uniformly bid one rate-2 cents a mile-and they have competed in service. For this movement of General Brookes men there seems to | have been no call for bids The first of it which the railroad and army officials at Camp Thomas knew was contained in a telegram notifying the officers to get ready to move at once by the Cincinnati Southern and the Chesapeake and Ohio to Ports mouth.
 Preparations were quietly made 'Soy the troops, but day after day passed and the roads were not ready to handle them. Four days passed and only three passenger coaches had turned up. The Cincinnati Southern is a small system and could not l be expected to have surplus of passenger
  l Ohio is a coal road and while it runs a | good passenger train or two, it does not | keep any large amount of passenger cars | on hand which can be taken from the reg ular service.
 | It began to look as though the war would | be over before the roads could get together enough rolling stock to handle the soldiers. On the fifth day after the order had been received to move, General Alger, secretary l of war, ordered the confscation of 300 cars | belonging to or leased by the Southern, Western and Atlantic and the Central of | Georgia. These companies have been en- gagged in the business of moving the sol- | diers for more than sixty days and they | have got together big passenger equip ment. Using this confiscated rolling stock, | the Cincinnati Southern and the Chesapeake and Ohio proceeded to start the move | ment Through some delay, the troop trains made slow time and it is said that | they were two days making the trip This route by Lexington is S90 miles long, or 240 miles longer than by the most direct line. It is ITS miles longer than the route from Chickamauga to Portsmouth by way of At lanta.
 The route designated by the Washington authorities from Chattanooga to Porto
  which could have been chosen, as by Sa- vannah for instance. To go from Chick amauga to Portsmouth is to go away from Porto Rico. Why the government prefers to pay that extra mileage, amounting to $50,0O0, is what puzzles traffic men. Savannah, for in stance, would be a convenient point for embarking the soldiers. The wharf capacity there is entirely adequate for any move ment which the government is likely to order.
 The railroads down this way have had large share of the transportation of the troops, and it may be that the amy off cials thought it was time to give some of the other roads a show. And it is suggest ed as an explanation that the movement was awarded to the Cincinnati Southern and the Chesapeake and Ohio because of political pull. President Ingalls,, of the Chesapeake and Ohio, is an Ohio man and while he has been a democrat, in the
 last national campaign he fought the ticket vigorously. The army officials at Chicka-
 mauga were astonished- when they were
 notified to send the men by way of Lexing-
 ton. This took the transportation out Of
 their hands, it having been arranged at
 Washington.
 Then the confiscation of the cars belong
 ing to the southern lines was rubbing it in on them.