Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-28
HOW RAILROADS ARE
 HELPING UNCLE SAM
Arc Moving Greatest Possible Amount of Coal and iron Ore on Their Lines

1 S<To WoVth9 GFeateot PosStpie Anount
 of Coal and iron Ore on Their Lines On April II, the railroads of the United States announced that during 1 the present war they would co-ordi- 1 nate their operations in O continental | merely individual and competitive &C., tivities in the effort to produce d
 maximum of national transportation | efficiency. To that end they created | what has come to be known as the 1 Railroads War Board. This board has general authority to formulate in | detail and from time to time a policy
 of operation of all or any of the rail- l ways.
 i This action of the railways was the | result of the desire OH the part of the 1 individual roads to be of the greatest service to their country in the pres ecutives appointed to run the roads as single unit were Fairfax Harri son, president of the Southern Rail- way. chairman; Howard Elliott, New York, New Haven and Hartford rail road; Hale Holden, president, Chica- go, Burlington J Quincy railroad: Julius Kruttschnitt, chairman execu-- tive committee, Southern Pacific rail- l road; and Samuel Req. president of Pennsylvania railroad.
 The first important step of this board was announced on April 90. This action had to do with the movement
 of coal and iron ore. and the an nouncement of the board is self-ex planatory:
 For the past week the executive committee has considered some of the 1 transportation problems before the country at the present time, having
 in mind first the war with Germany and the countrys preparation for it. The committee has decided that in view of the depletion of the reserve stocks of coal in many sections of the
 United States, due largely to an un-
 precedented consumption during the
 past year, the paramount need is to
 insure the largest possible movement
 of coal to every part of the country
 during the coming warm months.
 Similarly, the committee recog-
 nizes the necessity, particularly in
 keeping steel mills abunGantly sup
 piled with iron ore. For this reason
 iron ore is placed second in import
 ance to coal in the order issued to
 the railroads
 "The supreme purpose of the rail
 roads is to see that on every day of
 every week the greatest possible
 amount of coal and iron ore is han
 died by their lines. and the committee
 is confident that the response of the
 carriers to the order governing the
 use of coal and ore cars will be inn
 mediate.
 This ktatement plainly disclosed
 that the war board was fully coSni-
 zant of the supreme importance of
 the quick movement of coal and the
 order to the roads showed that the
 proper methods were taken to bring about the desired results. This or der was framed to give preference to
 coal and iron ore traffic. making it compulsory upon the individual roads
 to send Gondola and Hopper cars, when made empty, to or in the direc
 tion of the home road, either loaded or empty. Every movement of the car. this order stated, must be in the iJf aOt 6f int tn hn road; if necessary, short routing of empty cars without charge to accom- plish this purpose was demanded.
 In order that there should be no rule. the war board placed the re- sponsibility of seeing that it should be scrupulously carried out directly upon the shoulders of the president of each individual road, making it an especial charge upon his good faith and that of his company that no em- ploye of the company should evade or abuse the rule. Each road was also ordered to give preference oyer all other traffic in the daily distribution and movement of Gondola and Hop Ter cars The sub- committee of the war board on car service was also road to see that these cars were moved with the proper efficiency and despatch.
 Other efforts to save fuel. man
  by the war board include the elimina- ton of passenger trains aggregating 16,267,02S miles of train service per year.
 The war board also brought about | a pooling arrangement both at tide water ports and the lake ports that have resulted in great saving of available car capacity and the quick CT movement of cars. At the fake ports an arrangement was made be- tween lake carriers and ore carriers so that when coal arrives at lower lake ports there will be minimum de- lay in putting it into boats, thus re- leasing cars and sending boats for ward promptly. Previously boats 1 loaded only with coal consigned to them. Under the pooling arrange nent they load up with whatever coal | is at hand and the cars are released | immediately.
 Similarly. agreement has been | reached whereby all shippers of tide l water bituminous coal now pool their l coal at the ports of New York, Phil | Roads. This arrangement is expected | to affect such a saving in the use of | coal cars as to enable the railroads | to handle to these ports 6,640,000 tons | more this year than they did last year. when they handled 31,OOo.o0o
 Since November l, 1916, 9S9 new ! engines have been placed in service | and 44,O63 cars Orders have been | zines and 04,s17 freight cars. These | orders indicate that the railroads are | fully aware of the necessity of in creasing their capacity for doing the | business of the country.
 Reports made to the Railroads War 1 Board for April from roads operating 51 per cent of all mileage showed | that they produced more than 3,000.- poo, 900 ton miles of freight than they did in April, 1916. The roads in the same month showed an increase of i i6 tons, or 10.4 per cent. per train and "A tons or 10 per cent. per loading 1f cars. This is equivalent to the l addition of 126, GOO cars to the equip 1 nent of the roads reporting. It is a | clear indication that both the public l