New-York tribune., 1920-03-02
period of Federal Control
Marked by Heavy Increase
Without Adequate Repair
or Addition to Equipment
Some Reforms to Remain
private Owners to Benefit
by Changes Adopted Dur.
ing War.Tinsc Emergency
By Stanley Frost


ready inadequate in 1917, and which
specifically has not been increased
.;nce. while now it is two years nearer
.omplete disintegration. That is the
.n.wer the administration gives to
.h.rves of inefficiency. To do this it
ha, exercised many powers which were
denied to private owners and disre-
r.rded many restrictions which ham,
nere6 them under the old law. The new
transportation act aims to permit the
continuance of most of the reforms, all
that are possible under private owner
ship.
mendous, and there has been a con-
stant exercise of ingenuity to find
ways of caring for it. Not all of these
Nave appealed to the public, for many
vsnences and have sacrificed personal
interests to the public welfare. This
the private owners could not do.
Neither could the private owners put
into operation the centralized bureaus
which have made many of the savings
nossible. On both points they were
hampered not only by their own con-
aiet;np interests, which will remain
now that the roads are back in their
hands. but by laws which have very
largely been altered.
Steady Gain in Passenger Travel
The increase has been steady, except
for the big slumps that followed the
armistce and the coal strike. In pas
seneer travel there has been progress
hos fn
ner cent since 1916. In freights there
was smaller increase in yearly total
in 1918. and drop to about the level
of the 1916 figure, and below that of
1877. during the last year because of
the slumps. But there have been rush
periods. peak loads, in both years that
have sent the monthly ton-mile figures
past the forty billion mark and broken
ali records These months were in
August, 1918, and September, 1919.
IN each case the traffic has been
handled without serious congestion, so
that the railroad administration can
iustly claim to have made the best use
Of facilities recorded in American
railroad history.
To do this it began at once by abol-
ishing all the priority orders and other
wartime restrictions which had tied
up the roads nnder private operation in
1917 The priority orders alone were
svexation beyond words. AT the Pitts
burgh gateway, for example, 85 per
Of 1911? was under them. There was
steady, competition between govern
ment departments and bureaus of the
same departments to get freight
through. which resulted in the deliv-
cry at Hog Island Of anchors for ships
before the piles had been driven for
the slips in which these ships were
to be built. In one yard near Pitts
burgh switch engine worked a ten
hour day and succeeded in getting only
seven priority cars sorted out. Nor
mally it would have handled some hun
dreds of cars. The administration
stopped this at once.
Permit System" Effective
Another feature Of Federal control
mas been the permit SYSTEM under
which car could not be loaded and
started unless there was assurance that
1t could go through to it's destination
without becoming involved in conges-
ton and that it could be unloaded
promptly when it arrived. This pre-
vented congestion, avoided the use of
cars Tor storage purposes and was Of
great general benefit. But it did not
please the shipper who was anxious to
get MS goods under way and then dis
count his bill of lading to get cash
lor further business.
A measure used by the administra-
ton which hurt certain railroads and
wnlcn was impossible under the old
Jaw was the diversion of traffic from
oae road to another, and the establish
,nent Of what was practically the sys-
.em OF freight pools that formerly had
oeen illegal. This, too, was a great
saver During 1919 the diversion of
safs Tor short routing" alone-to save
nsuiage, and not with any plan of
gearing congested areas-amounted to
izeoo,0C0 car miles.
other innovations of great value
were the joint use of terminals. no
aa'eer by what road they were owned;
we pooling of all cars and equipment
sna sending them to the roads that
s. aeeueo tnem worst, regardless of own
S.sn.pp. and the pooling of all repair
sTt,'ties, NJ, both for cars and engines
~ .ae n results OF these measures and
wine, y. me speeding up process which was
sa.iieo on everywhere show in long
Iives OF statistics, and in freight de.
hsseu. h, The average distance travelled
,, eacn car each day increased trif1e.
aas number of tons of freight carried
y" each tram ran up from 656 in 1917
saa oc2 IN 1918 to 693 last year. The
Merage load for each car was increased
~ ~ 90 tons in 1918, though it dropped
W. w. again last year to 279 tons, when
ass s public spirit induced by the war
su it;o. ocwn. This was partly the fru-
.as ,..On OF movement which the private
wei uefs OF the railroads had been car
a'"g on since 1912.
Decrease in Car Shortage
w.. "nosner evidence of the saving made
In NJ W De seen in the shortage Of cars.
november, 1917, just before the
wo.la ~.as set IN that made that winter the
nur,n. N railroad mems memory, the
Is,s Is0er G was ,466. On January /,
!. W. "hen the government took charge,
lsasosoi ilo'o00, and on February 1, 1918.
ws,s Compared with: this, there
h., only $1,000 cars short in Novem-
hi, ,ss ,ast year, $4,000 on January 1 of
MTssr' and $4,000 short on February
,,,,at aae averages for the entire years
shmss DC compared fairly because the
surnIp sp IN traffic last spring piled up a
,.eara ,as OF 100000 cars, the biggest on
ID. naother :! test of efficiency of opera
losd. - - In the number of delayed
whsts. Dy which is meant all cars,
bot ther hsars loaded or empty, which have
Il ecrs:, ea moved for twenty-four hours.
sensnssioering these figures it must be
hyed i"d that car becomes a de
wuet road" just as certainly if it is
sere ia. "a a snowdrift as if the railroad