The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1915-08-20
DEPEND ON RAILROADS
WARNING NATIONS HAVE BEEN
WELL SERVED ~ LINES.
Importance Of Communication In the
Great Struggle Shown-Russia's
Lack Of Facilities Has Proved
Serious Handicap.

Effective railway mileage has played
q potent part in the winning of mod
ern battles. The Russians have not
only had well-equipped, welltrained
men to deal with in the eastern war
theater, but, also, a wonderful, strate-
gically invaluable net Of railways.
The German railways have been in
struments OF first Importance in every
Russian defeat. On the western front,
where the fighting has been more sta
tionary, the highly developed railway
system OF Germany meets the equally
highly developed railway system of
France. How we'll France and Ger
many are prepared to meet the emer-
gencies Of war transportation as COM
pared with the other belligerents is
shown in a recent bulletin issued by
the National Geographic society. The
bulletin reads:
The total length of the railways Of
the world is about 10000 miles, Of
which considerably more than four
hfths falls to the continents of Eu-
rope and America. The United States
leads all the other nations of the
world in the total Of its railroad mile
age, though it is proportionately be-
hind some of them. Belgium, now
back Of the invaders lines, is one Of
the ~best-supplied territories in the
world for rail communication, and the
railways of Great Britain. Germany
and France are equal to almost any
strain that a "a traffic may put upon
them. Europe possesses more than
212,50O miles of railway lines, Of which
about o%ne-third falls to the share of
the central German powers, the Ger
man empire and Austria-Hungary.
Germany, with It's 100000 square miles
OF area, has about 40, 900 miles Of rail
line. while France, with it's 2OS 900
square miles, has $4,000 miles of track
age.
Russia and Finland, together. with a
total are of zoos ,616 square miles, or
very nearly ten times the size of Ger
many, have a railway mileage slightly
less than that Of Germany. In great
part, the Russian railways are far
flung trunk lines, and the Muscovite
land nowhere has anything CORE
spending to the Intervening railway
nets Of Germany and France. This
lack OF railway facilities has been one
OF the disadvantages that the Rus
slams have had to overcome during the
present war.
Among the other countries Of Eu-
rope, Italy has some 1880 miles of
railroad, so laid down as to bind al
most her entire frontier by a rail line
fringe; Spain has about 10000 miles
OF track; Great Britain and Ireland
have $4,000 miles, and Austria-H Hun
gary has a total mileage Of about 49,
900.
The United States has about one
third of the total mileage Of the world.
There ore $4,000 miles of railway on
the continent of Asia, about $4,000
miles ON the continent of Africa and
1000 miles in Australia. Japan. with
Korea, has only about $500 miles OF
railway, and China has a mileage
which totals about the same.
The railways Of Germany, France
and Austria-Hungary have been de-
veloped with considerable attention to
their value in times of war. This
Of railway development has
been especially prominent in Ger
many, where the state has presided
the growth and destinies of
line communication. Several
great trunk lines traverse Germany
from her western to her eastern from
tier. and these lines are prepared to
bear almost any strain. Along the
French border an all-inclusive net
work OF railroad has been laid, while
German railway lines parallel the Rus
sian frontier and receive feed lines
from all parts Of the empire.