Evening star., 1918-01-13
BY CHARLES M. PEPPER.

~ ERMANY offers some hints to
N the United States in the mat
"A 81 ter of railway control. They
~ may be taken or they may be
rejected, but the German experience is
not without value. An account OF the
system must be promised with the eau
tion that similar conditions do not in
all cases obtain. Therefore. the Ger
man system in it's workings is to be
understood in the light of German con-
ditions.
There are approximately 10000 miles
of railways in the German empire.
These served at the beginning of the
an area fraction less than 100000
square miles, or considerably smaller
than the state of Texas. With the eX-
ception of little more than thou
sand miles. all the lines are of stand
ard gauge. The railways are for the
most part government lines. The pri-
vate lines are 5000 miles in extent. but
they are controlled as parts of the gen
eral system. They have no independ-
ent existence.
When it is said that the German rail-
ways are government railways. this
means that they are not only controlled
by the state. but are state-owned. 1t
is not. however. the imperial govern
men that owns them, but the govern
ment of the different kingdoms. The
exception is the Reichsland, or territory
of Alsace-Lorraine.
The naturalization of the German
railways was part of the Bismarck
program, following the victory over
France in 1870 and the political uni
fcation of the different kingdoms and
so-ca1led republics under the empire.
Prussia. with a territorial extent COM
prising half the empire. has also tri-
fe more than half the railway nlileaG Ge.
There are about 21,000 miles in the
kingdom, of which 10000 miles are
owned by the state. Bavaria comes
next. with about 5000 miles. nearly all
owned by the state. .
Prussia dominates the railway sys
tenn. as she dominates the political sys-
tenn of the empire. Four or five years
ago the Prussian railways were said to
represent cash investment of ap-
proximately $500, 100000, on which net
earnings of 5 per cent were made. They
We're carried on the books at valua
ton of s5.00o,000 900 on the theory that
an adequate return on railway invest
ment was per cent.
Imperial control of the railways was
provided in the Bismarck legislation of
the early 70s. The responsible author
ity for the administration of the lines
was placed in the bundesrath OR fed
eral council. acting through the i'm
perial railway department as the
executive office. Prussia prevails in the
bundesrath. In the German political
system the autoeratic power of the
kaiser is maintained by the complete
authority in legislative matters with
which the bundesrath is vested, and
under which there is no popular repre-
sentation. The reichstag, as a debating
society, rarely debates railway prob
lens or critictses the bundesrath.
There would be no use in debating a
subject concerning the administration
Of which the reichstag had no say.
Il X
The machinery provided for railway
administration under imperial author
ity has been worked out in the course
of a generation with Teutonic
thoroughness, and with scientific sys-
TEN developed to the minutest detail.
1t has had it's good and bad points. Be
fore the war there were many eulogies
of it's efficiency. These eulogies usually
came from individuals in other coun-
tries who were carried away with what
they saw on the surface. Foreign tech
ntcal experts were not always among
those who prasied the system as an
example of transportation efficiency.
Also there were always plenty of in
diyiduals in Germany who pointed out
the defects. But the Germans were sat
isfied with the system, and many for
eigners, charged with the responsible
ity of political powers in their own
country, seemed to regard it as worthy
of imitation.
Lloyd George, when he was president
0f fn1n oil
years ago, in a speech to delegation
of British shippers. remarked that he
did not know whether the German was
a much more contented animal than the
Rritisher, but from what he heard the
Germans were very satisfied with their
railway system, and considered that it
was doing its very best to assist and
to promote industries. and even to de-
velop weak Industries. He Indicated a
disposition on the part of the ministry
of which he was member to follow
out the German practice. The London
brought the head of the board of
trade sharply to book, and publish-
ed a series of articles on the difference
between the German and the British
railway conditions. Some of this in
formation is interesting to the United
states, but much of it related to con-
ditions peculiar to the United Kingdom.
The utility of the German railway
lines in war operations has been put
to test during the last three and
half years. Since the lines were gov
ernment lines and were operated as a
INIT. the transition to war opera
ton was simple. It was coin
cident with the discovery by the rest Of
Europe that the German railway sys-
tenn had been built up with view to
military strategy as much as to eco
nomic development.
Notwithstanding German methods,
German scientific administration and
German efficiency, 1t does not appear
from all the testimony that Is obtain
able that the German railway system,
in so far as equipment and maintenance
was concerned, was SO potent q branch
of the German military machine as had
the lines in 4 geographic sense was
recognized, and the facility with which
troops could be transported from ono
corner of the empire to another, and
from one enemy frontier to another