davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
Demand for Return After
the War

The desire Of the railroad executives,
expressed by Frank Fl. Trumbull, chair
man Of their advisory committee, for
the return Of the roads fixed year in
tcrval between the conclusion of peace
and the restoration. though, later, a
more immediate return has been in
sisted upon. The executives desire to
make the temporary naturalization
complete success for the winning Of the
war, but they do not wish their vslu-
able properties to become q political
football, subject to the vicissitudes Of
postwar legislation.
This demand for the postwar dena-
tionalization Of the roads, for the de-
Capitalization Of the management, and
for the dismantling Of Washington
railroad headquarters is therefore the
big internal issue Of the hour. The
capital, as a capital, will look upon
this disintegration of its position with
great disfavor.
Some more captious critics profess
to observe, or rather expect, to see 3
failure on the part of the railroad
! executives to cooperate fully with the
government, lest national operation
should prove to be success and, by
virtue of that success, should prevent
the restoration of the roads to their
private owners after the war.
No such complaint has been made
By the Director General, nor by any
one competent to speak. The asser-
ton is being made quite generally at
the capital that the executives have
entered into the spirit of the tempo
rary national operation. and show a
great deal more concern for the actual
security, functioning and wellbeing OF
the roads than they do for the discrcd-
ting Of national operation.
For, when they get the roads back,
they, too, will stand in need of sym
pathetic cooperation on the part OF
government and public, lest such a
mess be made Of the unscrambling that
in turn private ownership lose pres
tigc. Good railroading is tho pro-
fcssed end in view.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

be in great luck and could afford to
be patriotic and to abandon competi-
tive trains.
When it comes to getting higher
rates, McAdoo has the charm in his
pocket. Similarly he has political
device in his desk for getting raise
for the men.
1T Is easier to see, now, that impos-
sible things had been expected of the
roads, without unifcation, sympathetic
legislation or authority. For example.
there is motive power. The roads found
the machine shops busy with contracts
for Europe. More motive power was
being made available for Europe than
was being manufactured for the United
States roads.
Along comes the Director General
with the requisite authority to i'm
pound into the service the 200 locomo-
tlves which had been manufactured for
the Russian government. The strange
looking locomotives, painted battle
ship gray for the war zone, are now
numbering along the New York and
Pennsylvania highways.
The dropping Of 1875 passenger trains
by the Pennsylvania road and of other
trains proportionatcly by other East
ern roads has released additional loco
motives for freight haulage, though y
passenger locomotive can draw not
more than thirty cars of freight, being
built for speed instead of for draft.
Obviously, the released Pullman cars
are OF no use for coal Transportation.
though it takes more coal to draw fif.
teen people in massive Pullman car
than would transport a much larger
bulk Of freight
frlvate ownership was never able to
proclaim a five-day industrial holiday
IN order to extricate itself from block
AIDED terminals. This Washington. the
new railroad nerve centre, has been
able to do.
Priority IN shipment and in Freight
movement is another weapon that
Washington yields which was denied
private ownership. Is it coal he wants
urgently? Then coal alone moves. Is
IL munitions? Then munitions move.
ouch minor consideration as passen-
ger service can be disposed of by Di-
rector General McAdoo with wave of
MS hand. Whereas passenger service
was maintained by the private execu-
yves, often at a loss, as an adjunct m
general freight business and for tho
maintenance Of the roads prestige.
6uc even the fve-day industrial holt
oay' which every one knows to have
Deen IN large part McAdoo order in
tended for the solution of the trans
portatlon problem, to which coal is i'm
portant and yet incidental. served
rather to reveal than to completely
remedy McAdoo's difficulties.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

suit when the roads arc turned back. Z"
Both sides score. Congress ia tho
doctor and has the detailed measure
before it. But no matter what eyentu-
ates the railroad security holder Is
tho favored Of fortune. The President
was careful to identify the interests
OF the railroad securities with the
fabric of national credit. Not even the
most radical trustbuster in Congress
has demurred at the throwing Of this
protective arm about the holders Of
railroad stocks and bonds.
All see difference between q man
who has invested $1,000 in New Haven
StocR and man who has invested
$1,000 in automobile stock, or in real
estate, or in some other enterprise the
values in which have been depressed
by war acts of Congress. For these
other securities do not, as a rule.
form the basis for enormous banking
negotiations and are not an integral
factor in our financial, yes, even our
currency, system, as are railroad Sc
curities. So the distinction has been
acknowledged by every one and tho
holder Of railroad investments is called
blessed.
But Uncle Sam took over more than
rolling stock and security holders when
ne became receiver for the railroads
lie came honestly by "bundle Of
tricks" that will keep him up nights
solving them. The wage problem was
on tho fire, OF in it, just when McAdoo
took over the roads. Tho wage demand
mas called for the creation of a wage
board, headed by Secretary Of tho In
terror Lane.
Already tho roads lad paid increased
wages to the amount of 1000, 900 dur
ing tho year under the Adamson act.
Fast upon this increase comes the new
demand by train brotherhoods for O 40
per cent increase,
The rate problem is another puzzle
passed over to McAdoo. The manu-
featuring shipper has never been re-
garded as the friend of the railroad.
And he Will scarcely be the friend of
the new owner if the Director General
demands an increase in rates in order
TO avoid an embarrassing deficit at the
end Of the year. Last June the Inter-
state Commerce Commission allowed
the railroads ratio increase that
netted them $97,0oO,0OO additional
revenues. And the roads have more re-
Gently been demanding another rate in
crease of an estimated revenue total
Of s155,0O0.0O0.
Washington, therefore, is the presti-
dlsitator who must produce a wage in
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
Long Highway Still Too
Short

But this stupendous highway is not
long enough for Uncle SANS freight
train, and McAdoo suggests the pos
slbllity that he may add to il tho
inland waterways upon which freight
moves faster than by rail. This
would make Washington at once the
national rail centre and the great
fresh water financial port
Chicago's eminence is q rail centre
elevation. Indianapolis, Kansas City
and Atlanta each has been summoned
into being because rail nerves centred
there. Washington. if not in freight
sense, then in q financial and admin
lstratlve and political sense, is the
railroad boom town of tho hour.
Railroad executives think now in
terms of Washington. Railroad secur-
lty holders. quite apart from the ex-
ecutives. pray toward Washington.
Wall Street feels for its status as
sub-centre Of finance.
1t may safely DO anticipated that
one of those war mushroom Office
structures with which tho capital
landscape is now dotted will present
~ spring into being, for the housing
of an expanded national railroad ad-
ministration. At present Secretary
McAdoo. concerned in the large with
railroad finance and with the concert
of executives, performs his hcrculean
function from the Treasury Depart
ment and from the Interstate Com
mercc Commission Building, where
large forces were already available for
the handling of railroad matters. But
the expansion is imminent
The Shipping Board, the War Indus
tries Board, the Food and Fuel and 9TH
er administrations are lending their ia
cillties to the railroad directorate with
IN their respective spheres, for the
railroad problem Of the moment is a
war problem. A permanently national
lied system would call for much
larger department than any permanent
department as yet existent in the
capital.
Permanent or temporary? Thus runs
the anxious inquiry. 1t means much to
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
Washington's New Elephant
The Railroad Machine
JIAA1J ~

IVY ASHINGTON. as the new rail-
~ road headquarters. has added
w to it's political headship the
snsucial and industrial direction of
,be most tremendous single industry
!, the world. The capital bulges now
m.b the volume it has swallowed, and
"a its political throcs there have been
added the new agencies of making the
wheels of industry hum and digesting
The securities thereof.
The temporary naturalization OF
TIN railroads of tho United States has
unified 700 roads whose rails, if placed
" md to end, would encircle the earth
seven times at the equator. and has
made Washington the managerial ra-
dial centre for highways that nearly
equal in length the entire railroad
systems of Europe and Asia.
Whatever may be the personal at
titude toward ultimate ownership Of
the roads, statesmen, rail executives,
shippers, stockholders and consumers
agree that the stroke of government
authority was needed for the miracle
OF uniiication in the war emergency.
Who will own and roll the property at
tho end of the war is an open, not to
say vo1ed, question in the capital.
The super patriotic impulse that
Welded these enormously valuable
properties to the nation-at-war is &C.
compsnied by prudent impulse for
postwar restoration. and the execu-
tiyes hold in suspense for after-the-
war utterance the refrain Of the old
song. GIVE Me Dem Presents Back"
Director General McAdoo finds himself
at the head of an industrial army of
100000 direct employees, and Of an
equal number of other employees in
related locomotive, freight car and
other plants. He makes shift to op-
crate from the Treasury Building at
Washington, where he has a chair, a
desk and wire. 100000 cars upon
$4,000 miles Of track, in which are
carried i,s00,00O,000 tons of freight by
$1,000 locomotives.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
His Service Long,
His Record Clean

But civilian praise means little to
the soldierly heart Of Bugler Flynn,
who has grown rotund and grizzlcd
in tho bearing of his buglc and side
arms. His service record is long and
clean, and as dear to the heart Of tic
X. O., through long association, as his
own. About tho round gray head OF
Bugler Flynn hovers that unseen crown
which is the goal Of art. His genial.
slightly cmpurpled face modcstly re-
fleets the knowledge that he is a prince
of buglers, that the army contains none
better. This pleasing fact is likewise
dear to the X. O., even as the mighty
insignia upon his own broad shoulders.
For many years the X. O. has risen,
messed, drilled and even fought to
Buglcr Flynn's stcntorian tones. The
personnel OF the regiment has cddicd,
cbbed and flowed about these two gray
ing, rocklike figures. From Alaska to
the border, and now to uninspiring
guard duty at port of cmbarkation,
the old regiment has travelled in seven
league. boots. The port or cmbarkation
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
Power Simpli6es Many
Questions

McAdoo has divided the country
into zones for the easier administra-
ton of the enormous industry, East
ern, Southern and Western. He aims
to discard the old method Of sending
freight around Robin Hoods barn.
In other respects Director General
McAdoo's task is easy, compared with
the vexed problem that confronted
tho Railroad War Board in its en-
deavors toward voluntary unifcation,
and compared with the pre-war diff
culties Of the railroads.
He can use tho effective weapon OF
demurrage penalties against the ship
pers TO accelerate freight. The ship
per used to be king. Now he is not
even queen. Demurragc penalties
which were never dreamed Of before
are now prodding the shipper along.
They have been practically dou lied.
Formerly the government per2lized
pooling. Now pooling has become the
great agency for unitication of freight
moving facilities and is being worked
with a will by the energetic McAdoo.
it goes without saying that the rail
roads efforts at unication were not
very successful. Competition still OBJ
tanned, even in the coal fields, right up
to the day Of McAdoo's assumption.
Though unnecessary duplication of
trains was supposed to have been re-
duced by the Railroad War Board, as
n matter Of fact McAdoo found scores
of duplicate trains and services, which
he Topped off instantcr.
And this for good reason. The in
dividual executive was ansverable for
profits. Now McAdoo is going to pool
his profits. He has guaranteed a GER
tain average past profit to each road,
but he can pool his totals and get his
profits where he may. A private rail
road manager who could do that would
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

crease, q rate increase and an annual
profit out OF her railroad bag.
Tho amount tho government must
pay in profits, presumably to be
earned, under tho Federal control
arrangement Of December %, is $918.-
424,Sb5.
Tho political soothsayers at tho cap
ital arc reckoning how much McAdoo
VIII be able to save by the elimination
OIL duplicate services and duplicate
functions. But in their reckoninps
they overlook the political and flnan-
cial pull that may be exerted by the
beneticiarcs Of this duplication, Ex-
pensivo branch agencies in all cities
may not submit to elimination with
out patriotic struggle.
These economics which were antici-
pated in terminal costs, bridge costs
and express costs arc completely in
volved in outside ownership. not q
few of the facilities used by the roads
being owned by the executives or by
outsiders who can still exact toll
from the railroads, unless the govern
ment also expressly takes them over.
Director General McAdoo has said
that mot NIL the roads are taken over
excepting in theory" These shorter
and remote lines may be taken over at
his pleasure. but their present status
is in doubt. The present concern is
with the great through lines. because
the present concern is one Of through
tratlic-war.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
Other Thoughts
Rankle Deep

And there arc other thoughts which
ranklc deep in Bugler Flynn. The
troops still go incessantly Sometimes,
IN the dead of night, hail rises to
f. Company's windows and hearty,
cheering crowd Of some friendly outfit
streams through the big doorway and
I out to sea. In the darkness above.
where the low, warning sound of
smothered sirens and sharp, suodued
commands echo. the hearts of few
of the "old 'uns" are very heavy with
the gnawlng sense of being left behind.
When first call" sounds again it is
acid with the stored resentment foment-
ing within Buglcr Flynn.
Suddenly two bombs are burst in the
tedious. CALLING flow Of things. One
comes in slip of paper which sum
mons the X. .. and his company COM
the powers. This is unusual. Alight
with hope, the X. o. assemblies his Of
tlcers and departs.
The other Is in the nature of a trag-
edy. It shakes the earth beneath the
proud feet OF Bugler Flynn.
In call to quarters" that last glo-
rlous bugle feat before the final musi-
cal triumph Of "taps," is low. sweet
note which no other call approaches.
This, and his "taps,' which must sim
ilate the wall of the banshee. are the
GROWING JOY of Bugler Flynn's day
And now, on that sweet, low note,
the wind of Buglcr Flynn fails him.
The hoarsc sound he utters approx
mates no note which so expert
bugler might substitute at crucial mo-
ment. 1t has no depth, no sweetness.
1t sounds Ike nothing SO much as Il
harsh bark. or perhaps 1 canine sob.
Unbelieving. cold with fear, Bueler
Wynn stumbles over the glazed cobbles
to the patch of light which falls from
the window of t c h. O.s empty Of
flee. He examine his instrument with
AGVnNed cA1a. IL seQrch Of a dent or
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
The Regiment Must
Make a Showing

Come here. Listen. They're split
ting the old regiment, Flynn. God
knows why, but there must be some
good reason. Four hundred men are
going tomorrow to join the headquar-
tiers train in FRANCE
"But you. sir!
That will do, Flynn. I'm not going
set awhile. Please God, I'll get there
yet. The regiments got to make q
showing. Pm picking every good man
I've got. And you're going, Flynn, to
hold them together with that horn Of
yours, understand? You're going to
until we all get there! Understand"
yes, sir"
There IS an instant's pause while the
n. .. withdraws into the necessary OFF,
cial she'll.
night"
Good night. sir"
Slipping and sliding over the glazed
!cobbles, Bugler Flynn makes his way
back to barracks. The slim, watching
figure draws aside for him to pass.
bugler Flynn eyes it keenly.
It's d fine. night, lad he remarks,
gazing out into the sleeting darkness.
There is an answering murmur, in
coherent but polite
Ven be gettn' my job now. for "a
while. adds Bugler Flynn amiably.
Mind ye, the X. O.'s keen on that last
note; keep your wind. lad. keep your
wind. an like as not yell get where |
am to-day. Who knows ?" Still muir
muring, Bugler Flynn lumbers heavily
upstairs.
Well on into the night Flynn II.
r Company's new bugler, smokes alone.
MS mind revolves with phonographic
precision the fame winning cadence %
his great predecessor Taps" with
long final note. like the weird lone
vail of the banshee- already his own
oro"s are claSped by that mystic
crown which is tho coal Of art
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
His Salute Is a
Singing Reproof

But whatever the X. @. remembers is
eHaced by the irate, purple face and
stocky form Of Bugler FLYNN himself
filling the doorway with restrained
rage, His salute is a singing reproof.
The buttons Of his blouse are strained
across his great chest.
"Beggin' your pardon, sir, I beg to
be relieved ;N sir!s This from Busler
flynn IN tones fraught with outrage
and tragic determination.
iynn!" gasps the X. O., dropping
his cigar. "What the ---- are you talk,
ing about?"
you'll be excusin' me, sir, but I'm
thinkin' I'm no longer fit to fiji me
post, sir" Over Bugler Flynn's face
has descended that mask of icy calm,
that impregnable armor of his race.
The X. 0. sees light. He resumes his
smoke.
"Have you seen the new bugler,
Flynn" he asks mildly.
~ have that, SIR
"Wcll?"
"Sir:"
The adjutant smiles discrectly at the
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
AT the First Note
Zane Croans of Protest

As the first note, which plcrccs the
Mr In shrill, scolding cackle, even
'a' ~ .. starts awake with smoth-
s''a groan Of protest. At the buglcs
'aas vlndictivc snort the X. O. swings
a's legs over the crcaking edge Of his
wv, siares at the open window and the
.aiah' snowdrift there admitted and
.'acaes for his socks. The X. O. makes
0o'oieriy point Of conforming to the
routine laid down for his men.
oimliar glarings and reachings arc
"'sitused across the way in l. Com
pa"ys dainty barracks, once that haven
y, y. powder and perfume known rs the
iadies' waiting room"
once 1gain the cali sounds. reaches
terrific crescendo and suorts into
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

implied deadlock. The X. O. smokes 81.
lently. The air in the little office is
strained. The great trucks roar on the
cobb}es outside. Thus they roar by in
cessantly. in wave of coal dust and
gasolene: laden with the mighty bur
den OF the food Of impending victory,
There arc thousands of them. The
snow churns in a blackened mass be-
neath their grinding wheels Bugler
flynn fixes an icy eye upon the window
well over his commanders head. and
speaks again, triic shakily:
I'm not SO old yet, sir, that Id be
rctirln'-no more than yourself, sir. if
may say so. But I'm too old, sir, to
be sharln' me name wild a-a"-- He
chokes suddenly. salutes desperately
and bolts. The X. O. calls after him.
but perhaps the traffic browns his
voice. He signs.
",rhat new bugler may be a Caruso
on MS horn, but he's going to be slated
as student bugler under old FLYNN un-
I'll Flynn says otherwise! See to to"
says the n O. with decision.
Thus Flynn II, as he is PROMPTLY
dubbed, drills ANONYMOUSLY minu, the
instruments and sidearms which dis
tingulsh Bugler Flynn. But in the
oder mans face grows the shadow of
the turning point which throws the
balance of power into younger hands.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03
The Good, Gray Bugler of F. Company

IN HERE is haze Of flying snow and
the gray light Of dawn over The
docks. Tho grim black buildings
arc crowned with venerable white.
lccles hang like the beard OF Moses
from the windows of T Company's i'm
provised barracks.
Buglcr Flynn, cursing for the thou
saudth time that it should be his lot to
work while others sleep, wraps his in
strument tendcrly in the tail of his
overcoat and makes his way over the
slippery cobblestones to the exact
centre of the courtyard.
About Bugler Flynn are the con-
vertcd buildings Of what were once
the Offices of n mammoth foreign
steamship line. After a protracted
period of enforced disuse, their main
tenalcc has been assumed by the
legions OF the olive drab. The dark,
rat-infested caverns of the docks and
dusty splcndor of the directors domain
have been Transformed. They are once
again the centre Of tremendous, but
nov mysterious, activity. The original
occupants are widely scattered. or con-
centrated, according to their several
patriotic convictions.
Buglcr Flynn is of the olive drab
ieglons. About him slumber his COM
fades at arms, whose rest he is about
to disturb.
brcasting the gale and its flying par
ueles. which cut like powdered glass,
nagler Flynn lifts his instrument,
Vows silently and tentatively into it
0hce or twice, then initiates his great
west and by sheer counter-wind
ufowns tho storm with the jerky, sleep
Snatterlng blast Of "iirst call"
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

silence. Buglcr Flynn INDUCES, soto
Voce, IN stern comments on the wealth.
er and departs to impress these opin.
ions upon tho unamiablc concourse
formed by T Company, which is strug.
Cling with assumed haste largely into
each others clothes.
The X. O., who is prone to reminis-
cence even at this early hour, grins
wryly at his thoughts. He bangs the
window, steps full into the offending
snowdrift and hastily rummages in his
locker for dry pair Of socks, MUIR
muring the while:
"Drat that fellow! He's a vonderl
Cad! He can make that call sound like
schoolma'am's second warning or
q muleteer's cuss! Now, where the"
During tho congested morning hours,
filled with cramped drillings in the
limited area afforded by the docks,
Bugler Flynn finds frequent expression
for his overlooking soul. He is a pas
slonate devotec of his art. At revcillc,
mess, drill, recall, officers call, and
again mess, Bugler Flynn exercises his
lung power in SO fascinating series
OF tr1lls, runs, snorts and arpeggi that
crowds Of small boys and itinerant DO
llcemen congregate as at an opcn-air
concert.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-03

suggests the adjutant tentatively.
Looks as if he had good wind"
"Wind, nothing," snaps the X. @.
"Wind make a buglcr? Why, man, it
takes soul--soul to make a bugle talk
like old Flynn there can. Why. | re-
member here, have cigar"
The adjutant accepts the proffered
cigar with enthusiasm. He closes his
nina resolutely against the guard de-
tail, seventeen summary court cases
ana an impending visitation from an
amateur social purity league which
await his attention and settles himself
en- the window sill to listen