Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-03-01
REA PROMISES BETTER
SERVICE ON PENNA. R. R.
Old Standards to be Established
Soon; B. q O., With Reading.
Announces Many Changes.

Philadelphia, March 1.-The three
! great railroad systems running into Phila-
delphia were returned to their private
owners last night at midnight without the
slightest hitch. The Penn sylvania, the
Reading ard the Baltimore Il Ohio con-
tirued their operation as formerly, so far
AS the public eye could see. But behind the
SCENES tremendous changes took place All
the Federal officials automatically went
out of power, closed their offices and re-
moved their effects. All the private cor.
poratioD officials, ut ore stroke regained
their power and control and began exer-
cisirg it Mt once.
The two systems with headquarters
here-the p. II. r. and the Reading
had planned far in advance for the shift
from Federal to private control. During
the past week both announced their flu
ture plans OF operation. In the Reading
this consisted merely of the creation of a
sonnet, MS the result OF valuable lessons
learned under Federal control. In the
Pennsylvania, however, the change is
more marked. as the entire system, in
stead of being divided into two great dis
tricts, has been split into four with n
vice-president III charge of each. OF
course, the president and the main office
remain in Philadelphia, but responsible
ity for the vast SYSTEM il divided more
than ever before by the regional plan,
so that the system hereafter will have
four main headauarters-Phil Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, Chicago and st. Louis.
In view of these great changes, which
were announced several weeks ago, Pres
ident Rea. of the T. X. r., thought it
advisable yesterday to make further
statement to the employees, commenting on
this and also upon the return of the roads
ID, private ownership. This statement
says:
Effective with the return OF the rail-
roads to their owners for operation on
sMaroh ], the lines of the Pennsylvania
system have been divided into four opera
ting regions 10 facilitate and encourage
closer and freer contact at all times with
the employees and the public.
"All efforts must be devoted to meet
ing the demands of the country, but, a.
a result of war conditions, and the crisis
through which the nation has passed. the
property Is returned 10 it's own manage
ment with lis roadbed and equipment be-
low its usual standard. Further, our fa-
cilities have not kept pace with the
growth of industry, aad until additional
cars, locomotives, tracks and terminals
can be provided, we must utilize the
present facilities TO the fullest possible
extent. For some time, and for these
reasons, the service rendered cannot fully
meet public requirements. However, II
~ hoped that everyone who requires
transportation OF the Pennsylvania Rail-
road system, either freight or passenger,
will see constant improvement. Our flu
ture success depends upon our ability 10
command and retain the confidence and
of the public, which We can
have only If we fully meet all our obliga-
lions, aud conscientiously perform our
every duty.
For long time many of us doth
employees and oihcers) have justly felt
that our real problems were not appre-
ciated and were not understood by the
public; but now we believe the American
people arc thoroughly alive 10 the neces-
sity for understanding these problems,
and deciding upon policy under which |
they can be settled on a Just basis.
In our own OF ganization, the longing |
for 81 return TO the Pennsylvania stand |
ard of work and service Is apparent ON /
every side II each of us-the 275,000 |
men and women who comprise the per-
sonneI Of the Pennsylvania Railroad sys- /
,em-will respond 10 this split and /
work together as we have in the past.
we shall succeed IN satisfying the public /
md earning fair return for the many
hundreds Of thousands OF our citizens, and /
heir institutions, who furnished the
money TO create and improve this great
public transportation system, and who
have entrusted ITS operation 10 US.