The Port Gibson reveille., 1910-02-24
German
Railways
sDefeCts Due to Their Mil
J itary Character a nd
J the Empires $ Poverty

pAOpSA Notwithstanding Oli IuS 0Si-
man railway system. The first is
that German railways are part of the
scheme of national defence and ag-
greSsion and an arm of the military
power, dominated and controlled by
the general staff as much as any 9th
er part of the German military ma
chine.
Since 1S70-71 considerable mileage
has been constructed throughout the
territory of the empire, but erpe-
cialiy along the western frontier,
solely from military considerations,
with almost no regard to the prob
ability Of a successful exploitation
from commercial point of view.
Great and costly passenger sta
tions have also been constructed at
various junction points in the west,
like Strasburg, Frankfurt and Metz,
out of all proportion to the size and
traffic requirements of the cities
which they serve, with trainsheds
and platforms inordinately long and
broad, for the quick mobilization of
the army.
The second thing to remark, ac-
cording to Moody's Magazine, is the
continuously necessitous condition
of the imperial excheduer The en-
pire practically never has much
money. Accordingly, practically
from the inception of their present
iuorarioI ,Ddo-4oIz;r1 A. ro..,.. -. -
began to milk their railways and to
absorb the earnings of the prosper
Gus lines for the benefit of the fed
eral treasury.
The results of such financial tao
tics are obvious. In the first place,
the property as a whole is not prop
erly maintained; money that should
be spent on betterments, reconstruc-
ton and rolling stock is diverted to
the State treasury or expended too
generously on the strategic lines. In
the next place the service is gener-
ally poor throughout the country.
taken as a whole, except as to a
few Of the great lines.
Necessarily the lines connecting
the large towns must be decently
maintained and are fairly well oD-
Grated. But aside from this the lines
are poor, the equipment meager and
the service slow, irregular and inef-
ficient.
A third result is that the rates are
high, except as between certain
great commercial centres and on
through and export traffic. These
rates are very low and inasmuch as
the German lines have an enormous
through traffic, that makes the re-
ported average rates of the entire
system seem low.
Operating expenses on German
are generally high. About
1900 the figures for the different |
States ranged from GO per cent. to
78 per cent One reason why the |
cost of operation is so large is that
he number of employees is exag-
yerated.
This is inevitable under the ad-
by the State, because
is a matter of politics everybody
must be taken care of by the State
md as many as possible must have
on the railroads. Ger
ain non-eommissioned officers in
he army when their term of service
las expired have right to employ
nent in the railway service and must
therefore, have places found for
hem.
AS far as passenger traffic is con-
erned it may be said that in gen.
raj in the first and second classes
ne travels along the main lines very
omfortably in Germany. OF the
bird and fourth classes it is not
ossible to say much by way OF
ommendation. In the higher classes
he carriages are almost always
lean and the service and the SER
ants satisfactory.
The express trains make fair
ut not exceptional rate of speed
he best trains running on the line
rom Berlin to Hamburg, which is
the most representative
ne in Germany, make the run OF
Sc kilometers, including three stops.
/ three hours and twenty-five min
tes, which works out about eighty
We kilometers per hour. This is a
traight line over a fiat, level coun-
".
To an American there is a certain
mount of militarism in the opera
on. I'm addition to the regular fare
ne is called on to pay a small ex-
"a fee for his seat; this is collected
fter the passenger enters the train,
,r which he is given seat with a
lumber. Here he is expected to re-
lain during the journey in a way
eny much like a dog In a kennel.
Whatever criticism may properly ,
e made of German railway opera ,
on it is not too much to say that
he defects of it are defects of the
theme. which is q bad one, and not
[ the personnel, which is good !
ne. Nowhere IS there to be found
more competent or a more accom-
lished general railway staff than in
ermany.
HABIT AMONG ANIMALS. /,
a..