The Sentinel=record., 1917-12-30

Washington, Dec %. - Definite steps toward national unification of railroads and improvement of con gested conditions were taken today by Director General McAdoo in the appointment of a temporary staff and the issuing of his first formal order directing absolute pooling of all traf- fife, common untilization of terminals, rolling stock and other facilities, haul ing of freight by the shortest routes and retention of all present officers and employees.
 Special instructions were issued for the clearing of congestion in New York and Chicago through pooling terminals and other facilities and AL fred II. Smith, president of the New York Central, was named temporary special assistant to supervise trans portation in the trunk line territory , east of the Mississippi and north oi the Ohio rivers where congestion is greatest.
 Walter D. Kinds, of New York, g railroad lawyer, and for many years special student of government op- eration, was appointed assistant di- rector general pending the formation of staff.
 The interstate commerce commis sion was drafted for an immediate investigation by its inspectors of gen. eral freight conditions on eastern trunk lines.
 While the director general was con- ferring today with a number of rail- road heads the interstate commerce commissioners and members of con- gress and planning immediate action 10 remedy faults of transportation, it became known that the demands of the four railway brotherhoods for a forty per cent wage increase had been denied by the railroads and that con- sequently the labor men had decided to postpone for probably sixty days the presentation of their case to the government It was thought probable that President Wilson would take up the labor situation Tn his address to congress next Thursday or Friday.
 Congressional agencies went to work today on the new railroad sit nation. The senate interstate com merce committee at special hear ing drew from Chairman Mall of the interstate commerce commission the statement that the governments fail- ure to centralize priority administra- tion was largely responsible for freight congestion.
 Senator Cummins, ranking reppbli- can member of the senate interstate commerce. committee, in a conference with Mir McAdood, expressed the opinion that legislation to prescribe the basis of government compensa- tion to the roads would be passed speedily. though not without some opposition to the presidents sugges- tion of guaranteeing to the compan- ies the average earnings for the last three years
 iAt lnlllOdn N dA HOul ht " hbot oN4 vices have been solicited temporarily by the director general today pre- seuted recommendations for speedy moving of freight in the Chicago con- gested center and made a number of other suggestions for economies and efficiency under the new unification plan. The railroad chiefs freely pre- dicted today that the advantages of the great non competitive system now being developed would soon become so apparent that the country never would revert to the old plan of pri- vate control. They even went so far as to predict very definitely that gov ernment ownership as well as control would be a development of only few years.
 This attitude of the railroad presi-