The Sentinel=record., 1917-12-30

General McAdoo designated as "order number one," telegraphed today to every railroad eecxutiye head. The order follows:
 "1-All officers. agents and en- ployes of such transportation systems may continue in the performance of their present regular duties reporting to the same officers as heretofore and on the same terms of employment. "2-Any officer, agent or emp1oye desiring to retire from his employ ment shall give the usual and reason able notice to the proper official in the end there may be no interruption or impairment of the transportation service required for the successful conduct of the war and the needs of general commerce.
 "3-All transportation systems covered by said proclamation and or der shall be operated as q national system of transportation, the common and national needs being in all in- stances held paramount to any actual or supposed corporate advantage. All terminals, ports, locomotives, rolling stock and other transportation facil- ties are to be fully utilized to carry out this purpose without regard to ownership.
 "4-The designation of routes by shippers is to be disregarded when speed and efficiency of transportation service may thus be promoted.
 "5-Traffic agreements between roads must not be allowed to inter- fere with speed.
 "6-Routes which have not been heretofore established because of short hauling, or other uses, to be es- tablished and used whenever expedi- tion and efficiency of traffic will thereby be promoted and if difficulty is experienced in such through rout- ing, notice thereof shall by carriers or shippers or both, be given at once to the director by wire.
 "7-Existing schedules or rates or outstanding orders in interstate com mission are to be observed but any such schedules or rates or orders as may hereafter be found to conflict with the purpose of said proclamation or with this order shall be brought immediately by wire to the attention of the director"
 Through the railway war board Mir McAdoo called on all railroad presi- | dents to take up vigorously the ques- tion of common use of terminals and parallel lines, wiping out competitive problems ahd waiving competitive control or solicitation of traffic. The
 result of this action may be the as i signment of through traffic moving one way to certain systems and the reservation of other lines for traffic moving in an opposite direction. A committee of presidents of rail
 ways entering New York was ap- , pointed to report as speedy as pos sible what rearrangements of pas senger and freight train operations could be made at the New Jersey water front of the New York harbor , to increase efficiency. It was espe- cially suggested that the railroad heads arrange for pooling docks, car floats and lighter< and marketing facilities now controlled by individual railroads.
 The committee consists of Samuel Req, of the Pennsylvania; Frederick D. Underwood, of the Erie; Daniel Willard, of tho Baltimore & Ohio; William IT. Truesdale. of the Lack awanna; Wm. G. Besler, of the New Jersey Central, and v. F. Iloomis of the Iehigh Valley. At the same time committee of public officials headed by Interstate Commerce Commission ar Harlan, meeting in New York de- cided to put into effect a drastic plan of forcing consignees to remove their freight promptly from terminals.
 Gn all these present preparations for clearing the channels of trans portation, the immediate thought up- permost in the minds of the men in charge is to get coal to market tc relieve the shivering of householders in many sections where a cold wave now is being felt, to provide fuel to make the wheels of various indus tries turn faster, or to release the ships now tied up in harbors for lack of bunker coal.
 The labor situation presents one of the most perplexing problems with which the government has to deal as a decision on 1t will of necessity present the governments general labor policy during the war which as yet has not been clearly defined.
 Those who have studied the situa- ton believe that government officials responsible for a policy are for pay ing labor on a basis of the recent cost of living and many are Of the opinion that the government is about to take measures through it's spread ing control over the necessities of lie to regulate in a more general way prices charged for commodities the people must use.
 The brotherhoods demands were presented to the managers commit tee of the railroads December l and nm arg,rar vyae raouaeted hy December