The Holly chieftain., 1918-09-12

system WIllcn Included some 81 ca
mails, 3.O57 miles in length, as well
as many thousand miles of navi-
gable rivers. lakes, BAYS, sounds
and inlets. OF the 1906 railway
companies. 1s5 operated major sys-
TENS, each of which had an annual
operating revenue of $l,OOO,OO0 or
more. 22l were switching or termi-
nal companies, l,434 were plant ia
cllity roads constructed primarily
to serve some particular factory or
industry, and 765 are what have
come to be described as short
line" railways, dependent upon one
or more of the larger systems for
through connections. 1t is ex-
planned that many of the smaller
properties included in this descrip-
tiOn of the plexus of transportation
which came under Mr.. McAdOO's
control Jan. l, 1918, have since been
the purposes that the presidents
proclamation and the enabling leg
islatiOn had in view, but that it is
the declared policy of the Railroad
Administration to deal eQuitably
with the relinquished properties in
so far as it may have any relation
to them.
The report concludes with q fefer-
ence to Mr.. McAdOO's declaration
of policy, issued last June, in which
he announced that he hoped ito
flumaniZe the railroads and mega
tive the idea that corporations had
no souls" 1t might, perhaps. have
been more appropriate if his report
to the president had been com
menced rather than ended with
this phrase, for the narrative re
fleets throughout an undiminished
ardOr for practical idealism in the
management of the railways for the
purposes for which they were tax
en- over. These purposes, as emu
merated by him, were
First. The winning of the war.
Second. The service of the public
at the lowest cost consistent with
the payment of fair wages to the
railroad employees and the main
tenance of the transportation sys-
TEN under control of the govern
ment as a self-supporting rather
than a mOney-making agency.
Mr.. McAdOO's view of the future
is optimistic. He says that there
is good ground for believing that
substantial progress has been
made lin accelerating the movement
of traffic and employing the avail
able equipment more intensively,"
and that he is confident that the
railroads will shortly be in con-
dition to meet any demands that
may be made upon them if the
needed motive power already order
ed can be secured and the skilled Ia
Dor necessary is not withdrawn
from the railroads for military and
other purposes. These, he says, are
very serious phases of the railway
problem
Elaborate traffic statistics are
adduced in support OF his claim
with regard to the intensified en-
plOyment of equipment. These sta
tistics show that both the carload
and the trainload have been SUBJ
stantially increased, and that by
'rerOuting" the distance that the
freight must be hauled between
many important centers has been
greatly shortened. In ONE instance
$50 miles have been thus saved, and
in many other cases the saving runs
from 100 to 500 miles.
AS one example of the ecnOmy
that has thus been made possible
he mentions the fact that recently
during period of about 60 days
some $3.50 cars were rerOuted in a
certain western territory SO as to
effect saving in the mileage trav-
eled by each car of 1876 miles, equal
to total of 1,754,S05 car-miles.
The report calls attention to the
crippled condition of the railroads
when they were taken over as q re
suit of the freight congestion and
blOckades, and explains the meas
ures of relief that were successfully
applied to correct these conditions
before any permanent organization
was effected or congress had passed
the revolving fund of $500, 900,
which did not become a law until
March 81, 1878,
The organization which has BEEN
since created is described at length.
There is a central administration at
Washington, of which Mr.. McAdOO
known as his personal staff"
They are:
w. G. McAdoo, Director General.
Walter D. Hines, Assistant Di-
rector General.
Oscar A. Price, Assistant to the
director general.
John Barton Payne, General
Counsel
John Shelton Williams, Director
of Division of Finance and Pur-
chase ~
Robert s. Lovett, Director of Di-
vision of Ganital EYnandifuras