The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-03-18
McADOO AND THE RAILROADS

We do not think President wilson
should be unreservedly blamed for put
ting the "a lroads under government con-
troll. Such action seemed to be war
necessity. Mr.. Wilson's great mistake
was made when he put authority to con-
troll the immense railroad trackage of this
country, its equipment, its own business
and the vast businesses which were d.
rectly or more or less remotely connected
Herewith, under the hat OF Mr. McAdoo.
1t was a mistake because that gentleman
had not had that experience in the rail-
road business which director general
should have had. His lack of experience
was not the least of several reasons why
government control was colossal failure.
When Mr.. McAdoo took charge of the
railroads 27 months ago, there were in
this country 253, 62e miles of trackage
exclusive of switches and terminal prop
critics. The administration admits that
there has been deficit in operation OF
s715, 600, 900, which is $1,000 for every
mile of track. and Mr.. Hines, the pres
ent director general, has recently stated
that the government owes the railroad
companies $685., 1000, 600, which must be
paid out of the United States treas
ury this year. This adds a further
loss of 81, 5O7 per mile, making total
admitted loss per mile of SIS, l16, Just
how much money has been sunk in gov
eminent railroad miscontrol has not yet
been revealed, but it would be interesting
to know for what purposes the above vast
sums have been spent. 1t is safe to pre-
sumo that the increase in passenger and
freight rates was ample to- take care of
the increase of wages, and the opinion
prevails that this money, much of it, has
been wasted.
MIR McAdoo recently stated that 'fu-
ture congressional legislation should real
ize absolute economy in expenditures.
Perhaps if he, himself, had realized abso-
Lutte economy in 1918 the deficit, whatever
it NAV be, would have been less. When
he began to misdirect there were "a, $50
locomotives in service, exclusive of
switching and terminal engines. This
was: one locomotive for every four miles
of trackage There were 2, 400, 3l8 freight
cars in service. This was g freight cars
for every mile of trackage, equivalent to
Que car for every $50 feet of track. If
there had been a practical system for
utilizing this equipment it seems that
there were as many locomotives and
freight cars as could be used to advan-
tage. During the year 1918 Mr.. McAdoo
contracted for 3, 600 new locomotives and
100, 900 new freight cars, as is shown by
the report of the interstate commerce
commission for that year. This shows
that Mi McAdoo was not in close touch
with the railroad situation and its needs.
We do not know what was paid for this
new equipment but in 1912 the cost of
standard locomotive was $3.50 and the
cost of the average freight car was 81, 200
1t is therefore within bounds to say that
these new locomotives and cars cost, at
war prices, at least $500, ,000 In due
course of time the director general dis
covered that he had no use for much of
this new rolling stock, that he had to face
4 huge deficit and that the railroad service
was not good and was becoming worse
every day. He wanted to get under cover
somewhere and saw no way to do so but
to resign and 60 West, which he did. If
proof were needed to show that the pur-
chase of the above large amount of rail-
road equipment was not necessary, we
have only to recall the fact that the rail-
lsoad administration forced the Maine
Central R. R. Co. to accept new locomo-
tives and cars for which that company
had no use whatever, and therefor
charged up more than 100000 against
the company. Mr.. McAdoo desires to be
President of the limited States