The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-19
TRANSPORTATION
 IS BIG PROBLEM
 IN GERMANY NOW
Rolling Stock Depreciates, and Repair Shops Are
 Making Munitions.

Making Munitions.
 Berne, Switzerland, Feb. 19-Al- though the most serious of the great
 problems which today occupy the att tention of the German leaders is the food question, of almost equal inn portance is the situation presented by transportation difficulties. Until the present winter these difficulties were felt but little, and were not recognized generally as constituting major problem until the shortage of food became more acute by reason of the lack of rolling stock, the depre- citation of freight cars and the sud- den cold spell which froze the rivers and canals, hindering or preventing transportation of the most necessary foods to the centers of population. At the beginning of the war Ger
 many had surplus of freight cars and locomotives, which had been pro- vided expressly for emergency. The conquest of Belgium resulted in the capture of comparatively large num- Der of Belgian freight cars, which to- day may be seen everywhere in Ger many, Poland. Lithuania, Australia, Hungary, Serbia and even Rumania. The factories in which rolling stock ordinarily is produced and repaired,
 however, are needed urgently at pres ent for other purposes. Moreover,
 the shortage of oils has made it inn
 possible to keep the cars in proper condition. Such few cars as were cap
 tured in Russia have been found un-
 available because they are of broader l OTTO ocr0 "a I0t~
 orating from month to month, has
 gradually gone to pieces. Shortly be- fore the correspondent, left Berlin 1t
 was declared by an unusually out spoken German railroad officials as
 miserable"
 From time to time passenger ser
 vice in all parts of Germany has been reduced, until at the present time the
 trains, which at this season are cold to the freezing point, are terribly over-
 crowded, frequently late and seldom complete even short journeys without at least one hot box. From the be- ginning of the war the governme ent
 has proceeded on the basis that the troops must be supplied with all kinds of necessities at the expense of every
 thing else, and even the magnificent 6OA AAc1AA CA6CAdSS SySLSAA AS lOdO0u down constantly with trains carrying troops, supplies and ammunition. Not only is 1t impossible for civilians behind the front to travel without difficulty. but food supplies often are jeopardized. The problem has been increased by the necessity of shifting troops frequently between the western and the eastern fronts to counteract offensive movements of the Allies. Beginning with last fall, the canals
 and rivers had come to be used more and more for the transportation of foodstuffs, partly because boats have a longer life than cars. Then came the cold, which froze everything but the largest rivers and even stopped transportation on the Rhine for a time. Every city in Germany had
 long felt the pinch from lack of
 horses, automobiles, and other means
 of short haul transportation. This, in
 connection with the stoppage of water
 traffic and the great reduction in the number of trains, has brought trying need to the larger cities. Centers like Berlin have not had even their scant allotment of potatoes, flour and other commodities.
 The arrival of spring and warmer weather will help the situation, but not greatly, because it will merely
 make water transportation again pos
 sible. Thorough going repairs for the re-establishment of railroad equip ment would be possible only by cut ting. down the output of ammunition from factories that in peace times chN Hy,+ riH for war purposes.
 All that applies to Germany is doubly true of Austria, and especially of Hungary, where the gradually in creasing shortage of cars and depre- citation of rolling stock in general are added to the difficulties imposed by
 the tremendous stretches that are sim gle tracked; for instance, from points only a short distance from Budapest all the way to Pennsylvania Whereas the Germans in the early days of the
 war had men and materials to re- construct hundreds of miles of broad gauge tracks in Russia,' the process of double tracking lines of communi- cation to Rumania, Serbia and AL bania is increasingly difficult. Aus tria-Hungary, which is less ready than Germany to resort to stringent ! measures, refuses for the time being 1 to consider a plan proposed by Ger many for Tightening the transporta- ton problem by preventing prospect l i've travellers from using the trains unnecessarily. It was pointed out that the train service might be reduced still further travel were regulated by 1 a card system.
 l The transportation problem is com- l plicated by the employment of substi- tute workers, chiefly women, who have
 been introduced everywhere in. Ger
 many and Austria, not only on rail- roads but also on street cars in the cities. Roughly 50 per cent. of the wo-
 men thus employed have been strong enough to endure the strain, but even these women have been much less eff ficient than the men. There are con- stant complaints in regard to the ser vice The number 7e railroad acci- dents, such as derailments, mistakes
 in signals and collisions, has increased to an alarming extent.
 Billy Sundays first meeting in New York will be held on April B..