New Britain herald., 1917-08-07
RAILROADS READY
 TO ASSIST GOVT.
Special Cars to Carry Supplies
 for Army

portant transportation problems thrust upon the railroads of this country by the war have just been adopted by the railroads war board after series of conferences with au- thor1zed representatives of the army the navy and the United States ship ping board. The problem concerns the supply and prompt movement of the thousnds of cars required by the government to transport lumber and other supplies to the ship building yards, the army cantonments and the other mobilization points. During the next few months, it is estimated that more than 100000 cars will be needed for government purposes.
 Under the plans agreed upon by the railroads war board and repre- sentatives of the government, the government will give advance notice to the war boards commission on car service whenever orders are placed for more than ten carlaods of mater ials or supplies.
 The government will also issue, where necessary, through it's author ized representatives, orders to the railroads on which the supplies are to be shipped instructing them to provide the number of cars ordered within the time specified and at the shipping points designated.
 To prevent shippers from utilizing for their own selfish purposes cars needed for government service the railroads war board has issued strict orders to all the railroads absolutely to forbid shippers the use of any of the government-ordere cars for any purpose except the loading specified in the government order
 To assist further in the campaign to keep the cars bea ring Government supplies moving, new form of en- velope in which the waybills are to be carried has been designed. These en- Velopes, which will be supplied to all persons or f1rms making shipments of materials for the use of the Army, the Navy, or the Shipping Board, will bear the following headings, printed in big type.
 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT UNITED STATES ARMY SUPPLIES
 UNITED STATES NAVY UNITED STATES SHIPPINGt BOARD
 In addition, the railroads have been directed by the War Board to instruct their agents at all points to stamp or write in a prominent place on way bills covering less carload shipments consigned to officers or agents of the Army or Navy or of the Shipping Board, the words, UNITED STATES EXPEDITE"
 The railroads have also been in- structed that if departments of the or individual railroads desire to place cards of their own form upon cars to assist in securing the continuous movement of Govern ment and U. S. shipping supplies, neither the Railroads War Board nor the Government will object
 The chief desire of both the Govern ment and the War Board is to expe- dite the movement of all the Govern ment supplies that are needed so vi- tally for the proper conduct of the war. If any shippers are unpatriotic enough to attempt to make improper use of the cars delivered to them for Government business, investigation will follow promptly.
 The railroads war board has ad- dressed a plea to public service com- missions and all state. county and municipal authorities throughout the United States, urging cooperation with the railroads in suspension during the period of the war, of "all efforts not designed to help directly in the winning of the war"
 The specific suggestions which the railroads war board make to all such authorities are embodied in letter forwarded by Chairman Fairfax Har-
 1v~NtcS says:
 "The present emergency has im- posed upon the railroads very un- usual strain in transporting men, food, coal, munitions and material in augmented quantity. This burden. while cheerfully undertaken, requires rolling stock, every dollar of capital, every bit of supplies and coal which the railroads can command
 Tt is the opinion of this committee that all efforts not designed to help directly in winning the war should be suspended during the period of the war Indeed, this is obviously the thought of President Wilson in his appeal to he country on April 18th. 1917, which included the following statement:
 Ut is evident to every thinking man that our industries must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever, and they must be more economi- cally managed and better adapted to the particular requirements of our task than they have been."
 Therefore this committee earnest ly recommends that during the war the railroads be required by the public authorities to make improve ments and carry out projects involv- ing the expenditure of money =@ and labor only when they are absolutely essential for war purposes or public safety The prevailing high interest rate on money. the difficulty of raising money in competition with the tax