Iditarod pioneer., 1915-03-20
MARVELLOUS EFFICIENCY
 OF ENGLISH RAILROADS

100000 men have been transported on time to a second The public has not been seriously inconvenienced. The government is satsfed-and so are the railroads. Noth ing like it ever happened before. There are no standards of comparison.
 '0The government" said Lord Kitchener, in effect, to the general managers of the railroads, Twill take over your lines to ia cilitate the movement of troops"
 One can faintly imagine the yelp that would have gone up if the same thing had been proposed in the United States. There the roads would have been managed by a commission of politicians in frock coats and tan shoes Maybe a few interstate com merce commission members would have been stirred in for the flavor. The admin istration-any administration have either fought the roads or favored them. The roads would have either acted like martyrs on particularly hot fires or would have given the observing public the idea that they were trying to hide their loot. Over here
 Fine" said the railroad managers, heartily. "Well help you"
 "Then get on the job" said Kitchener.
 How It Was Managed
 This was at the outset of hostillties. ! Kitchener wanted to transport various bod ies of troops, 1000 in all from varlous towns to various ports on the east coast. Absolute secrecy was enjoined in order that the enemy should not get wind of the plans. He wanted to transport other troops to va rious garrison towns and take recruits to training camps It was desirable that the travelling arrangements of the public be not upset. It was essential that railroad finances be not injured Engands pocket book was being pinched badly enough, any 1 how.
 "Well run things" said the railroad man. agers.
 They formed committee of ten, of which H. A. Walker of the London x Southwestern road was made chairman One of the members was Henry W. Thornton, that former Long Island railroad man whose translation to England last spring brought such a shower of concrete bouquets about his head. They sat down and considered 1 things.
 'If we can keep our roads up in as good condition as we usually do, and earn the same net on our stocks that we did last year, we'd be mighty lucky" said the man. l agers to each other. We will make that ]
 It was accepted. The government doesn't ] pav a penny directly-for the movement | of troops. Now and then it wants to shoot the North Gooseshire rifles from one end | of England to another. It notifies the general managers committee. They attend 1 to the transportation, obeying the wishes 1 of the government as to tune ana place as nearly as conditions permit. That par * ondS n has kept account of the number of men, miles used. At the end of the hscal year ! the managers will present bill, including l the five year average cost ot upkeep and last years net earnings The government Will 1 pay it. The roads will not have lost any 1 money through the war and the govern | ment will have been given servlce that could not have been so excellent If bar gained for on the piece plan.
 Worked in Secret
 ! The ten general managers repre- sent all the railroads in England, although onetenth of the roads have not yet been commandeered- an organisation. 1 Private and secret telephone wires were | run from the central offices to the bureau which was set up in the office ot each 1 railroad. In each bureau experts worked 1 practically under turned keys. They worked out all details of each required movement. "The Great Eastern"--to create an illus | tration-"will movev 50000 men tomor- | row. To do this 2,000 cars and fifty en- I zines gre needed" The general managers thereupon assigned to the Great Eastern as many engines and cars as it needed It had no bill of costs to face for them. In order to take care of its passenger traffic, Great Eastern tickets were made good on all competing lines. So far as possible, both for the sake of secrecy 1 and in order not to inconvenience the public, the troop movements were mace at night This wasn't always possible lhls | placard was often seen on Londons walls:
 "For three days the London Northwestern will be closed to the public"
 There was no friction. How far this fact may be accounted for by the we'll known characteristics of Lord Kitchener | and how far by the desire of the general | managers to help England in her tmle ot trouble no one can say. incline to the belief that the general managers were in spired by patriotism. There isn't any pull back and be-devi visible in England any where Everyone is anxious to help where help is needed. The flaw lies in the English inclination toward belittling enemies loo many think that no help was needed
 Soldiers Have Right of Way
 On every road the soldiers and their goods have the right of way Whenever possible the existing trains are not disturbed. When 1 those trains interfere with the troop move ment they are cancelled as ruthlessly as though they were motor buses What this means in England can hardly be appreciated bv those who live in America. Some ot these trains have become institutions. Ira ditions have clustered about them as though they were ruined abbeys. They almost have ivy. ooooo
 -"The movement of the 100000 sol diers," said MT. Thornton, Twas the most remarkable example of railroad efficiency I have ever witnessed. The schedule men would work out time card. At the ap- nointed moment train would pull up at some little siding, perhaps miles from any considerable town. Right on the dot that train would pull out. It would maintain schedule time on lines that had been cleared in advance l do not believe there was a single serious delay in all this perlod,'
 A most important feature of the com l mandeering, of course, is that Englands finances were not disturbed. More men rely wholly upon the income produced by in 1lrr and HC m