The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-09-12
NJ AD00 THINKS
FEDERAL RAIL
CONTROL GOOD
Director General Makes First
Annual Report of His
Stewardship
TELLS OF. REORGANIZATION
Describes Methods by Which
United States Manages
.s.NN Great System

i = ulLcu OldIcS 4ldIllOdu
ton during the first seven months Of
| it's existence.
The American Transportation System.
The American transportation sys-
TEN is briefly described as including
steam railway mileage (all tracks,
of 1877, Ola miles, owned or controlled
by 1905 companies. employing 1,7O0,-
Sl4 persons. Their property also COM
prised various boat and steamship
| lines engaged in$cOastwise transporta-
| ton and navigating All inland water
| ways system which included some 81
canals; 3,057 miles in length. as we'll
many thousand miles of navigable
rivers, lakes, bays, sounds. and inlets:
OF the 2,9O5 railway companies. 1856
| operated major systems, each OF which
had an annual operating revenue of
81 100000 or more, 221 were switching
or terminal companies. l,434 were
plant facility roads constructed pri-
marty to serve some particular fac
tory 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 explained
llldl uluUy LuC SIlldIACI PlOpCA lIC,
included in this description OF the
plexus of transportation which came
under Mr.. McAdOo's control January
l, 1918, have since been relinquished
as not essential to the purposes that
the presidents proclamation and the
enabling legislation had in view, but
that it is the declared policy Of the
Railroad Administration to deal equi-
tably with the relinquished properties
insofar as it may have any relation
to them.
Policy Of the Railroad Administration.
The report concludes with refer
ence to Mr.. McAdOo's declaration Of
policy, issued last June. in which he
announced that he hoped ito human
ize the railroads and negative the idea
THAT corporations, hadAno souls, 1t
might, perhaps, have been more APP
propriate If his report to the president
had been commenced rather than end
ed with this phrase, for the narrative
reflects throughout an undiminished
ardor for practical idealism in the
management O fthe railways for the
purposes for which they were taken
over.
These purposes, as enumerated by
! him, were: stg~'j n . .'s,r,. r..
| 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 maintenance OF the
| transportation system under control
of the government as a self-support-
ing artehr than money making agcn-
| cy ... ~
Future Efficiency Depends on Motive
pa Power and Labor. /,
20 Mr.. McAdoo's viewriof the future is
optimistic. He says that there is good
ground for believing that substantial
progress has been made lin accelerat-
! ing the movement Of traffic ard en-
ploying the available equipment more
intensively." and that he is confident
that the railroads will shortly be in
condition to meet any demands that
may be made upon them if the needed
motive power already ordered can be
secured and the skilled labor neces-
sary is not withdrawn from the rail-
| roads for military and other purposes.
These, he says, are very serious phas-
es OF the railway problem.
Economies Shown by Traffic Statistics
Elaborate traffic statistics are adj
duced in support of his claim with re-
gard to the intensified employment Of
equipment. These statistics show. that
both the carload and the trainlOad
have been substantially increased, and
that by "rerouting" the distance that
freight must be hauled between many
| important centers has been greatly
QSn n1il0S
| have been thus saved, and in many
other cases the saving runs from 100
to 500 miles. #f
| AS one example Of the economy that
has thus been made possible he men
lions the fact that recently during a
period of about 50 days some $500
cars were rerouted in certain west
ern territory so as to effect a saving
in the mileage travelled by each car
Of 1876 miles, equal to a total of 1,754,-
sos car-miles. i. s.
Condition Of Roads When Taken Over.
The report calls attention to the
crippled condition, Of. the, railroads
| when they were taken over as re-
suit of the freight congestion and
blockades, and explains the measures
of relief that were successfully ap-
piled to correct these conditions be-
fore any permanent organization was
erected or congress had passed en-
abling legislation providing for the re-
volving fund OF $5VO, 100000. which did
not become law until March 81
1918.
Ine Federal Railroad Organization.
The organization which has been
since created is described at length.
There is a. centsal administration at
Washington, of which Mr.. McAdoo is
the head. It's chief officers are known
as his personal staff" They are:
w. G. McAdoo, Director General,
Walker d. Hines, Assistant Direct
or General.
|! Oscar A. Price. Assistant to the Di-
rector General.
John Barton Payne, General Coun-
sci. 49,
John Shelton Williams, Director of
Division of Finance and Purchases.
Robert s. Lovett, Director of Divi-
sion of Capital Expenditures.
Carl r.. Gray, Director Of Division
of Operation.
Edward Chambers, Director of Divi-
sion of Traffic.