The Idaho Republican., 1919-01-07


that corn to- change crews and en-
gines, and to get coal, water and OIL
All the rest of the time Is was headed
for Picardy via some seaports.
Monumental Economies
II they wanted to ship troops or
materials from Southern California
east over the Southern Pacific and up
thru the states and across the old
Hannibal bridge or any other old
toll bridge and then into Canada and
back into New York via Buffalo, they
DID not consult the officers Of the
Southern Pacific to see II they would
let them leave their lines. and take
the Texas-Pacific cutoff toward St.
Louis and save going around 500
miles farther via San Antonio and
TT. Worth as all traffic had been COM
PEELED to do; or be tied up In jam
at Detroit just because they were not
allowed to use the tunnel under the
Detroit river-they cut red tape and
ignored the interstate commerce
commission and the fool laws we
had enacted and put the trains thru
to destination and did it quickly. In
q period of sixty days Aey re-routed
5000 freight cars in way to save
one and three-quarter million miles
of travel for the cars.
Annulling Useless Trains
Last winter our morning papers
told US about the government cutting
off forty passenger trains in a day;
then $50 trains, then 200 trains in a
day, but it took us a good while to
find out the details, SO We could
realize the vast saving and improve
ment. Here are some examples:
Sqaadrons of Passenger Trains
There were six competitive roads
operating passenger trains between
Chicago and the twin cities, st. Paul
and Minneapolis. zach of these six
roads was trying to operate a finer
set of trains than the others. Each
tried to have it's trains leave those
cities at the hours when most people
wanted to go. Each had hard time
to get enough passengers for its
trains, and each spent much money
and energy to attract people to it's
line. Each maintained it's uptown
offices and it's vast system of adver-
tising and solicitors. They sent out
their six palatial trains at seven in
the evening, at nine in the evening,
at midnight, and at seven and nine
in the morning and at noon. Six
other finely equipped vestbuled pas
ca xxyith 4
platforms and all Pullman coaches
pulled out the same hour for
st. Louis; six others for Kansas
City; six for Omaha; six for
Cincinnati six for New York;
three for Columbus; three for
Souix City whole squadrons of |
trains partly loaded when ,half,l
as many waqk lave been
enough On such useless duplica-
ions as these the government used
he pruning knife. I,
Dismissing Unnecessary Help
While they were cutting out USE
ess miles Of travel for trains and
aking of useless trains, they were II
Ilso cutting out useless managers
md an infinite number of workers.
they cut out 400 officials who had
'een drawing salaries averaging !
$4,000 p year each, and got better
ervice than before. Each of these I
nen had been working faithfully,
ut he had been doing useless work.
was necessary to have that work
one to satisfy the law-not be-
ause there was any other necessity. I
was a part of our fool program Of q
egislating against the railroads and +
gainst the big combinations of '
apital. We would not let them +
even for our own benefit Y
r to win the war. We preferred to +
rosecute them.
'reater Results With Less Equip
AS the year 1918 progressed, the n
were simplified and i'm s
r0ved in management so that there g.
as little or no congestion of traffic.
reight would cross the continent in r
'om twenty to thirty days. We could
ct freight from New York to Idaho
1 ACoo IIHuC IudA VIC uc0U " 6cL IL "
.om Chicago. We have no car
anime to speak of. Our potato crop :
two-thirds moved, while last year 4
e had most Of it on hand at this =
mo. Our coal famine disappeared
nd dealers have coal piled in the
ards. There has been some delay
| handling sheep and wheat, but the
ongestion has been due more to
ther things than the railroads.
Apply it to Our County Roads
Up to the time the government
,ok over the railroads, there were
'rty-eight states, the federal govern
lent and the interstate commerce
,mmission telling the railroads
hat they must not do. Unified
and q total disregard Of
ID practices brought the present
Apply relief. In Bingham county we
ave twenty-one road districts and
lpervisors, county surveyor, a !,
'unty board and the state highway
to tell US how to make ,
'ads. Our roads and our road
aiding are monumental blunder
I'd handicap, comparable to the rail- !
ads Of year ago, and the remedy
es in surgical operations that will !
"a