Evening star., 1918-02-17

Copyright, 1918. by Frank C. Carpenter.)
q 7AKING the railroads efficient!
MM| That is what Uncle Sam has
UNIt undertaken to do. He is put
Il x ting his giant hand on the
tangled network of iron which covers
the United States. He is tightening the
duty. He has as his assistants the best
railroad men of the country. and has
brought them together in this one
great work of transportation applied
to winning the war. From now on
every mile of passenger traffic, every
ton of freight transportation. and every
atom of friction in running the rail-
ways will be regulated to this endeand
no other.
are already apparent. The average run
of a freight car has been twenty-five
miles per day. II it can be increased
only five miles it will add $4,000 cars
to our railway equipment. The aver
age run of a locomotive has been
seventy-five miles day. If we can
make it run fifteen miles farther we
will have what is equal to more than
$4,000 additional locomotives for tight
ing the Germans. Ordinarily one loco
motive in seven is undergoing repairs.
TIE railroad officials tell me that this
percentage might be reduced so as to
add 5000 locomotives to the govern
ment service In short. by speeding up
and watching repairs on the equipment
as well as by heavier loading OF, both
cars and engines We can, enormously
increase the rolling stock which Is SO
far below the government needs. some
of the members of the war board be-
Heve we can thus add to our. present
supply what will equal about 100000
cars and $4,000 locomotives. Moreover.
these efficiency methods are already In
operation, and the saving has been
steadily increasing ever since war was
declared last spring.
+ <
The war work is excellent. More than
100000 men have been moved on the
trains here and there over the United
States, and 95 per cent of those VINO
have Travelled twenty-four hours nave
had sleeping cars. In the transfer OF
the troops there have been only four
derailments, and of the vast number
carried only three have been killed.
Few people realize the changes thae
have been going on in, our railroads.
For the past two decades they nave
been ground between the upper ana
neither millstones of increased wages
for labor and decreased, freight. rates.
All of their years have been lean years
and each system has had to study ef-
fciency and economy in order TO nam
tain the equipment. and keep out OF tne
hands of receivers. AS result al
sorts of improvements have been made
in our rolling stock to increase trans
portatior without additional COST. ana
we have today, notwithstanding the
poverty of the railway companies, the
best transportation system OF the
world.
We have been carrying our passengers
and freight at q greater economy than
any other nation. and our Ireignt anu
passenger rates are today ABOUT tne
cost less than cents to take a tbushel
of wheat from Chicago to new YORK
and the average freight rate OF Ethe
whole country was less tnan tnree-
ton mile means the carrying OF ton OF
goods for a distance OF one mile That
is what we have been paying A two
horse wagon load Of goods mas oeen
Think of toting that much goods that
distance for a. postage stamp.
THAT has been the average price $ for
all the traffic upgrade and down al over
the country 1t was the rate paid when
the farmers were getting 30 cents a
bushel for wheat. and it,was the rate
they paid last year when they were re-
ceiving more than = busheL. II was
cents a pound. and it was the same when
the price rose to more than 500 per
bale.
In contrast with this I give you the
rates which the people Of other coun-
tries were paying when the war began.
The rate for moving 1000 pounds OF
goods one mile in Great Britain was
more than three times what we are now
paying. The rate in Austria was twice
as. large and that of Norway, and Sweden
still larger. Our actual rate. was less
than seventy observation-disclosures sof q cent.
In France they were paying one and
three-tenths Of a cent. in Germany moro
than one; and one-third cents and IN
Russia more than one cent. The cost Of
the same service in the United Kingdom