Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-06-11
PLAN TO RETURN
RAILROADS TO
PREWAR BASIS
Director General Hines Says
Administration Policy In
cIudes More Economy in
Carrying Out Operations.

Walker D. Hines, director genera
of railroads, in a speech at the lunch.
con at the Chamber of Commerce
yesterday, told~of the aims of the
administration in the future. His
speech, in part, follows:
81 am delightedsto have this op-
porrunity here and feel it is highly
significant to have such large audi
ence do me the honor of listening
to me, in this temporary period. and
also now the very short period re-
naming of federal control of the
railroads. I am exceedingly anxi-
Gus, as far as it lies in my power, to
come in contact with the people OF
the country. ,and to get them to
thinking. as fa r as | can of the poll
cies which my associates and | are
trying to carry out in the railroad
administration, and to seek every
practical opportunity to get the point
of view of the people as to what is
right and proper for the railroad adj
ministration to do. The railroad ad-
ministration is trying to render an
appropriate and economical service
to the public 1t has no function to
perform with respect to perma-
nent solution by congress of the
railroad situation. And yet feel,
as | have had occasion to think a
great deal about it, that it will not be
improper to make some suggestions
upon the subject.
Outstanding Features Of Policy.
81 want to tell you that the two
outstanding features of my policy in
carrying out the railroad admins
tration at this time are: First, to get
as soon as possible back to the con-
tingency of railroad service in the
prewar period, and to give even a
more steady service than was given
up to that time. And in the second
place, to accomplish a more reason
able economy in carrying out rail-
road operations under the exceed
ingly difficult conditions that have
been created by the war.
There is one specific feature of
railroad operation which | think is
particularly important to this part
of the country, and I want to say
few words about it, and that is, what
the railroad administration has done
and tries to do in order to control
the movement of traffic, so as to
avoid as far as possible the serious
congestion such as has occurred in
recent years.
Give Best Service Possible.
"Last year the government took
advantage of the opportunity of hav-
ing a unified control of railroads
and undertook to meet that situation
by controlling the loading and
movement of the traffic, and l be-
lieve the results accomplished were
very gratifying to the country as
whole, although, no doubt, in some
individual cases the shipper may,
have felt that he was being deprived
of the right to ship his traffic when
he wished to do So.
II wish to say to you that the
people in the railroad business are
rendering the best possible service
as far as the people connected with
the railroad service are concerned
as can be done under reasonable
conditions. l will cheerfully well
come your confidence and sugges-
tons with respect to anything that
can be done that is reasonably cal
culated to improve that service or
improve economies incident to it.
l feel very happy and gratified to
have had such earnest attention
from such large audience as l
have had here today apd wish to
thank you heartily for the privilege
of talking to you"