The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-09
ELLIOTT TELLS OF RAILWAY WAR
 BOARDS PLANS
Roads Ordered to Give Pre-. ference to Food, Fuel
 and Iron

Howard Elliott, former President of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, and now a member of the Railroads War Board, in a statement outlines the efforts the War Board is making to arrange for move ment of the essentials of life and war, rather than 'tthe things we can get along without in this terrible world crisis
 'The War Board feels," MT. Elliott said, ''that if the war goes on the total amount of transportation now available will not be enough.
 Ut will be absolutely necessary to use such transportation as there is for essential things The public should willingly give up the non-essentials. It is going to be a great deal more food, fuel and iron and the like than to move luxuries. We hope that we are going to be able to move them all, but I think it is only fair to point out the facts, and to ask the public's support,
 sThe railroads have done their best in the last eighteen months to add to their cars and engines. There have been placed in service since No vember 1, 1916, 989 new engines and 44,06S new cars. Orders have been given fop-as of April 1-2,209 en- zines and 104,917 cars. We hope they will be received between now and the first of next January. If so, there will have been introduced be- tween November 1, 1916 and January 1, 1918, 14S,98O cars into the ser vice. with, an average capacity of over
 50 tons; and 3,188 engines, with an average tractive power of 54,o00 pounds, which is very much above the average of the engines of the United States.
 "On May 1, there was, according to the record, a shortage of 150,000 cars In round numbers there are 2,50O,0O0 cars in the United States. If, through better loading by the Shipper, better unloading by the con- signee, better movement by the rail- road, and. more alert work by every man in the railroads, from the Presi dent down to the waterboy, each car is used efficiently, it will not take long to get what amounts to an add ed service of 15o,000 cars out of the cars on hand.
 saThe Railroad War Board appeals to railroad officers and employees, to shippers and to the public generally to cooperate in every way to make more efficient use of the existing rail- way plant. It is absolutely necessary to make every car, engine. track, freight house, and every other appli- ance do more work.
 Movement of Fuel and Ore "One of the first and most import ant measures the Railroads War Board has under way is to help move a greater quantity of fuel to the
 northwest and at the same time to
 bring East the greatest quantity of iron ore possible from the upper lake ports. This will provide for indus trial activity both East and West next | winter and also insure a supply of domestic coal.
 with the cooperation of the lake
 carriers, and the ore carriers we have I arranged for a pooling of shipments of lake coal, so that when coal ar
 rives at lower lake ports, there will
 be minimum delay in putting it into the boats, thus releasing the cars and sending the boats forward promptly. eThere is very luxurious passenger service in some places in the country and we would like to keep it up, but 1 the country can get along without some of it. We are suggesting changes I in the passenger schedules, not with the idea of saving money, but simply I to save man power, fuel and motive power. all of which must be applied to the transportation of necessities. ''The Railroad War Board has sup piled to the government five trained railroad officers, who were commits stoned to go to Russia to help the Trans-Siberian Railroad to move to- ward the Russian front the freight piled up at Vladivostok.
 | we are arranging to obtain nine regiments of trained railway officers and employees to help the English and
 French people carry on railroad ac-
 tivities, principally in France. Organization of War Board t@The War Boards organization in- cludes sixteen experienced railway officers, including the five executives,
 composing the head committee, and | eleven others who are here perman- ently. There are in addition sixty
 nine genral employs. and eighteen in- spectors who travel about the coun- 1 try. l tsThis is an expensive piece of ma
 chinery. Our estimate is that, not counting the services of the War
 Board and the railroad officers who d10 0SfOtlAS d VOly Ad1 60 dIAOuuG or
 their time to this national work, the American Railways will contribute
 the equivalent of about $5o0,00O a
 year to this special work. And we
 are glad to do it.,
 '1 think we will win this war soon-
 CT if first we wake up to the magni-
 tude of the task, and then, not only
 mobilize our marvellous man power,
 but also coordinate with that our
 money power, our business organiza-
 ton, our press, and all the other
 manifold industries of these United
 States, twining all this mobilized and
 o-ordinated power to the sole pur-
 pose of supporting our Allies in main
 taining the highest ideals of humanity
 and civilization.
 That is what the American Rail-
 ways are trying to do through their | War Board"
 l