The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-27
TRANSFORMATION OF TROOPS.
ZIG MOVEMENTS MEAN A WORLD
OF WORK AND TROUBLE.

,Vbey DO Not Care How soon the
army Gets Back on It's old Peace
FootinG-DiaicuIties That Con-
front Railroad Men-One of Them
saws Regiments Came Too Fast
FROM Jacksonville for the Best
Results.
All departments of the Plant System and
,1s Florida Central and Peninsular have
been worked pretty hard lately. Handling
q. many troops as the roads have in a
snort time from Jacksonville to Savan.
nah is no small job. This the transpor-
t3tion people have become more than
ever assured of, and the work of the pas
ssnser and freight departments has noe
been by an means lessened. Everything
has been going with a rush, and extra
hours have been worked by many.
The brunt of the work falls upon the
transportation people. They have to be
NJ if early and late, and there is hardly
man in the department who will not be
glad when the movement is over and mat
ters have settled down into the ordinary
course.
one official said yesterday that he would
certainly be glad when the war business
is all over and things resume the peace
footing they had before the little difficulty
with Spain began. This gentleman has
had great deal OF experience with troop
movements, and it has not all been pleas
ant There have been many things to
annoy and the work has not gone on as
smoothly as it should. He thinks this has
been largely due to the way he says army
officers have of giving a lot of conflicting
orders He found that a division COM
m3nder would give an order that would
lie carried out by the road, only to have
it to do all over again, because some brig
adler general or colonel objected to what
had been done and wanted it done differ
emily. This has caused a great deal or
confusion at times, and has been the oc-
casion of annoyances tC both the railroad
men aud troops. The most satisfactory
method the transportation man encoun-
ters was that employed by Maj. Bellinger
at Tampa. The major was in charge of
the quartermaster department there, and
he had things going as he said. His or
Gers concerning the movements of troops
and equipment by the roads were final,
and the railroad men could count upon
their being adhered to- This was an as
though with it came trouble. This was
on account of the major having too en-
larged an idea of what the railroads could
do and orders for the movement of two
regiments a day from Tampa were found
very difficult to carry out. Instructions
were obeyed, but no speed in loading and
getting the troops away could be had.
Tampa was for a long time in a congested
condition, and equipment could not be Sc
cured by the roads for movements at short
notice or when they were very large
Just at the time when supplies of all
sorts were being rushed in such immense
quantities to Tampa there were cars side
tracked at nearly every station between
Tampa and Jacksonville. A transporta-
ton man said yesterday that he had made
calculation of the cars that were side
tracked on account of not having track
room a Tampa and on account of the
government having no way to receive or
store the freight, and that he had found
there were more than 1900 that were wait
ing their turn to be taken into Tampa All
the cars were marked rush" but there
was very little rushing about it, They
were simply taken to their destina ton as
the tracks were opened up in front of
them
The official went on to say that he
thought a mistake was made in sending
the regiments SO fast from Jacksonville to
savannah. He claims the two lines over
which the troops came are as we'll able
as any in the country to handle troops in
addition to their regular business, and that
there is no line that could bring the :egi-
ments up as fast as they came without a
great deal Of trouble and delay. Two reg
lnents a day. he says, was too strong
movement. They were handled that way,
bul the work was not done as satisfactorily
OF as well as it would have been done ad
the department allowed the roads more
Tune. II is the railroad mans idea that
regiment day on one line would nave
neen about the right pace for the COM
handing officers to set for the movement.
RMS would have made it necessary for
road TO move one every two days, and this
would not have entailed such a great
amount of extra work and would have
made the movements much more satisfac-
tory IN every way.
The official said his department can move
HNe OF the trains of regular business with
less trouble than they can move one train
OF troops. The big troop movements call
aoI the employment of a lot of extra men.
lhey are sometimes not as well up in The
BUSINESS as the regular men, and the trains
are therefore, handled awkwardly.
Mr.. l.. M. Peasants, general freight
agent of the Florida Central and PENN
sular Railroad, was among the visitors
IN the city yesterday.
Mr.. A. o. MacDonell, general passen-
ger agent Of the Florida Central and Pc
Hinsular Railroad, came up yesterday
from his headquarters at Jacksonville.
Mr. William Butler, Jr., came up from
Jacksonville yesterday. Mr.. Butter is
traVe.ing freight and passenger agent for
."e FLORIDA Central and Peninsular Rail-
Iodu' lie has been at Jacksonville for
sohe weeks looking after the movements
~ tne troops and working for his line.
nah.
MI j. 7. Medlin, general freight agent
ol the Atlantic, Valdosta and Western
1nTa1iiroad, was in the city yesterday. Mr.
rueuiln was formerly connected with the
Ire'ght department of the Plant System.
Mr.. John NJ. Egan, vice president of
'he Central Railroad, is in Atlanta.