Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-09-30
GERMAN RAILROADS RESTORED
A Miracle of Rehabilitation Performed
by General Groener.

A Miracle of Rehabilitation Performed
by General Groener.
Gcrmany's railroads are being ra-
pidly restored. This fact IS even more
important for agriculture than for in
dustry. The disastrous collapse of the
crops of 1920 was due mainly to lack
of cars and locomotives, which pre-
vented thousands of tons of nitratcs.
phosphatcs and potash from being
moved to the fields.
The rapid restoration of railroads
is the German Republics greatest
achievement so far 1t is the achieve
ment of a single man, and he a SOL
dier. the General Groener who was
chief of field railroads during the war.
and first chief of staff after the mill
tary collapse. Groener has remained
in office throughout all cabinet yicis-
situGcs.
The obstacles which he faced SEEM
ed insupcrablc. The permanent way
and rolling stock were worn opt; D.
900 of the best locomotives and 100000
of the best cars had been surrendered
under the armisticc; the roads were
operating al n loss, which last year
reached IS billion marks; the en-
rloyecs were unskilled, idle and mu-
tinous: efficiency in the state con-
structiCn and repair shops had fallen
off AZ per cent of prc-war level. In
August, 1917 only II per cent of the
pre-war number of trains were being
run, and these at half pre-war speed
The passenger cars were dirty, un-
heated battered and tattercd; and
hardly q car had all its windows
whole. Cities froZc and mills stopped
work for lack Of fuel at n time when.
through car shortage, millions of tons
of coal were accommodating at the pits
mouths
Op.imists declared that the railroads
would not be in tolerable conditions
for at least ton years; pcs3imiats held
that without miracles one of which
must be the hanging of half the de-
moralizcd employees, they would never
be restored at ali.
Groener has restored them. BY
January 1920, he was running % per
cent of the trains Of 1914; in May,
1921, he was running 6S per cent. In
eighteen months the average speed of
trains was increased by Is kilometers
an hour Today the trains are clean,
sufficiently heated and punctual: and
industry is well supplied The meth
DDS of Groencr who is nOminally a
Democrat. differ little from the meth
DDS of Grocner when he was junker
officer of Ludendorffs staff.
Gcrmany's military collapse has
cleared the ground for the electrifi-
cation of her whole railroad system
an ambition proved to he impractical
bile in her days oi military power. The
technical and commercial advantages
of electrification were proved eight
teen years ago when Il test stretch
between Dcssau, in Anhalt, the Bitter
field. to the south was electrified with
success. But general eleCtrifca.ion
was vetoed by the general staff on The
ground that a single enemy bomb or
tho act of 2 single spy might interrupt
transport on long stretch Of road.
That obstacle has vanished with all
the other obstacles TO efficiency rails
cd by prctensions 10 military and nav
nj greatness. The preliminary work
of clectrification is being done with full
speed. Through elccrifcation Ger
many will, even if she uses coal cN-
clusively for power, save half her
present railroad coal consumption,
which is IS per cent Of her whole coal
output and she will gain the use Of
the cars annually engaged in trans
porting this great part of her COAL
Saturday Evening Post.