Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-02-18

failure, from The attempted expansion
OF the New HAvcn road, which expansion
turns out TO havo been wholly in tho in
forests Of the travelling public and against
the interests al the shareholders.
1s il fair to judge tho efforts of Congress
and the Interstate Commerce Commis-
aion to promots . Just system Of trans
poFtation by tAe resulting breakdown Of
transportation in thc United States, Al
though it is the dfcct result of govern
mont attempted regulation Of railroad
operations Tho Whoao hent Of the
Washington mind w.s 10 prevent in
Justice 70 tAs shipping pablo: After
accomplishing some measures of Justice
IN the destruction of secret rebates and
went further and finally placed even the
locomotive power Of the railroads also
under tho Interstate Cummofcc Commis-
sion.
YYueD UP TIM LOOooeo1IvAA
Orduss veso issued by tho commission
50 that not . railruad locomotive boiler
could be patched without . blue print
of the proposed repair being filed m Wash
inRton. Ions Of sa,ch blue prints are now
stored with the commission. Tho aiI
road pcople receive no permission 10 10
pair the locomotives, but have gone
ahead and, perhaps Illegally. repaired
them.
A locomotive using pure water as m
mountainous districts needs no boiler
cleansing oftcner than once a year, but
using impure water IN other districts,
locomotives must be cleaned every week,
or sometimes at the end OF every trip.
Nevertheless, Interstate Commerce
hnk
locomotive boiler must be cleaned every
80 days. This order puts many loco
motives unnecessarily out Of days work
every month.
Other paper orders Of the Interstate
Commerce Commission forbid operation
of certain locomotives under cast iron
rules without regard to their location
or the character of the work performed.
One railroad president estimates that the
Interstate Commerce Commission has
thus reduced the locomotive power of
the railroads by S per cent.
NO NEW LOCoMoTIv rs FOR THE U. 8.
There are but three companies building
locomotives in the United States. Ten
months ago the railroads had orders
with these companies for the construc-
ton of nearly 1000 locomotives. After
the declaration of war, the United States
pushed these orders aside and ordered
5000 locomotives built for foreign war
service in France, Russia, &c. 1t will
toe next July or later before these gov
crnmcnt orders can be finished. But
for many months not a new locomotive
WIS permitted TO the American railroads
One should not condemn the govern
ment for the unexpected result TO trans
portation at the present timo. Judgment
must bo according To facts and circum-
stances at the time these orders were
given by tho War Department and the
War Department should know the cir
cumstances of the case better than the
public knows them or ought 10 know them.
THE RAILROADS WAR BOARD.
But judgment should not be rendered
against railroad companies for deficiency
In locomotive power to meet the greatest
strain against weather and freight that
ever was put upon them. Nevertheless
the railroads moved is per cent more
traffic in 1917 than in 1916, because their
rolling stock and motive power and ter
minal facilities were voluntarily CO..
ordinated at the opening of the war by
the signed agreement of 40 railroad presl-
dents summoned TO Washington. In q
few hours these railroad presidents had
with Fairfax Harrison of the Southern
Railway as chairman and Howard Eliot
Of the New Haven. President Rea OF the
Pennsylvania, kruttschnItt OF the South
ern Pacific. and Holden Of the Burling
ton, as his associates.
GOVERNMENT ORDERS MADE CONGESTION.
This board has had to contend not
only with conditions financial and physi-
ral l-o,,rht ohnrss hry inu1s Ia ~
and impracticable Interstate Commerce
Commission orders, but with orders from
more than 200 officials IN Washington
who had authority TO order priority in
shipments over the railroads. The gov
ernmcnt Is holding goods in $4,000 con-
gested freight cars and this accounts
for more than twO-thlrds Of the car
shortage in the United States.
The practical railroad men in vain
cried out to the government TO make a |
master Of transportation as IN Canada |
and England, where all priority orders |
must be handled by single head. The |
government was warned OF congestion |
at the seaboard; warned of the dangers |
of coal shortage.
Now exactly the thing happened as
predicted by the practical men. In
organized oficialdom sent freight helter-
ShplbPT on w Nflt stdbp1iO
and college professors and theorists were
put in charge of the country's fuel The
first cry of these theorists was TO make
sure that there should be no unjust prices
for coal and that no business profits
should in any way attach to the coal ad-
Therefore, it was primarily
decreed that no coal man could serve the I
country, locally or nationally, In the coal
EXPLODING THEORIES.
The result was Just what always hap
pens in the United States OF AInerlca.
The exploding of the theories by painful
and a sudden demand for
reform which goes TO the bone; in this
case the taking of the railroads by the
government as war measure. Thus Is
history from the beginning OF the great
American republic repeated.
Our first Constitution was theoretical
Il ..:4lo,,. a h,,Oipecc baca R,lt on ijs