The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1917-12-24

How can | best help my country :"
TO railroad men this question carried peculiar
appeal, practically every in the service,
from track walker to president, appreciated that IN
time the transportation facilities Of a country
rank next in Importance to its army and navy.
They did not need the reminder of Marshal Joffre
that the battle of the Marine was won by the rail
ways of France. to Jolt them into realization of
the responsibilities that the war had thrust upon
them. They klie1c. And because they knew, Just
exactly FIVE days after the declaration of war rep
resentatives of Us of the principal independent
railroad companies of the country assembled in
Washington and voted unanimously to forget COM
petition and coordinate their activities for the
period of the that the railroads Of this coun-
try might be IN position to respond Immediately
and a unit to any demand made upon them bv
President Wilson in the interest of America and its
Allies.
To small committee of five men, representing
the ablest brains in the transportation field. the
railroads gave over their control. Nothing of the
kind had ever been done before by any industry in
this or any other country. 1t was the answer of
the railroad of America to the question that
each individual in the railroad army was asking
himself: How can best help my country"
As a result of this answer. the railroads of this
country arc being operated today as a single sys-
TEN, working for and with the Government to get
the last of efficiency out Of their equipment
so that the abnormal transportation problem which
the war has produced may be solved without
jeoPardizing the commercial life of the nation.
Ownership Names Wiped Out
Sitting constantly in Washington is the commit
tee of five to whom the railroads have en-
trusted their control. This committee. which has
to be known as the Railroads War Board
keeps, in effect, before it map of the United
States which is a railroad system 265 900 miles
in length with all ownership names wiped out The
members Of the War Board no longer think in terms
Of the Southern Pacific c. b. & O., B. & O.,
Pennsylvania any other road They see before
them only the transportation problems of the entire
country, and these problems arise, after the
other the solution of them is reached without the
question of ownership intruding itself
In the South, recently, for instance. thousands
OF cars were needed to haul lumber to the canton
ments. The lines operating in that territory had
every car they owned msving between the forests
and the environments, and it was not enough. With
out bubble or dispute the Railroads War Board
acting through its Commission on Car Service
ordered roads operating in the North and Middle
West to send enough empties" into the Southern
territory to protect the lumber movement and as
sure the rapid completion of the training camps in
which Uncle Sans citizen soldiers arc being
trained for their duties abroad.
All in all, more than I25 900 cars have been
shifted from one line to another, irrespective of
ownership, during the past five months in order to
avert freight congestion and slowing up Of the
countrys transportation machine.
What such a slowing up would mean now is not
difficult to visualize For in addition to keeping
the commercial life of this country at high pitch,
thousands of carloads of troops, munitions food
and other supplies must be kept moving constantly
from seaboard to seaboard.,
From on, Great Britain, France and all
our other Allies will have to depend very largely
upon this country for their food and for mucle of
the material needed for carrying on the war.
In addition, must send at least a million
men to the fighting lines within the next wear
This means that millions of tons of food and sup
plies must be sent out of this country and all of
this tonnage must be brought to the seaboards by
the railroads.
The effect Of shortage of transportation even
in normal times easily be appreciated What
such shortage would mean at the present time,
however, with the whole fate Of both this country
and Europe involved staggers the imagination
The railroad men, however, have not permitted
themselves to be terrified by the situation Neither
have they deluded themselves with anv false hopes
concerning the possibility of securing enough new
equipment to enable them to handle the additional
transportation that the has produced without
herculean efforts. They know that this new and
needed equipment is unavailable, not only because
it is impossible to turn out freight cars and ocomo-
tives night, but because what new equipment
can be manufactured is sorely needed BY the Allies
As result, they have taken up the only real
solution that is practicable, which is make the