The Mena weekly star., 1921-12-08

building it, have reduced by fifty per cent the amount of coal it burns. The locomotive now covers the dis tance between Springfield, Ohio, and Detroit on five tons of coal, whereas it used to consume ten.
 "Think what it would mean to American railroads to cut their coal bills one-half. A great part of the traffic that each road carries is coal that it burns itself. Reduce the coal bill one-half and the cost of railroad ing is not only made less, but equip rnent is released that may be used in carrying freight for the public.
 Increase Freight Speed.
 Can you begin to realize how inef- ficiently our American railroads are run? Think what it would mean to increase the average speed at which freight is moved from twenty to two hundred miles a dayl That means that the freight-carrying capacity of American railroads can be multiplied by ten without increasing equipment and without additional cost. Amer ican farmers and shippers generally are crying out against high freight rates. If freight is being moved only twenty miles yet the charge is ap- proximately the same as it should be for moving it two hundred miles, is it any wonder that freight rates are re- garded as high"
 "Mr. Ford" I said, Suppose you were in charge of all the railroads in the United States, could you do with them what you have done and what fAVo tA do xutth road ?'
 He winced at the question because of it's form. To have given an affirm be boasting. So l changed the form of the inquiry and put it this way: Gould any man of good administra- tive ability who understood your rail- way methods-could such a man do for all American railroads what you have done and hope to do on your own road?"
 Could Improve All Roads.
 "Yes," he replied. "It would be no more difficult to apply my principles to all lines than it is to one. 1 could run them all as easily as 1 run my own"
 "What would be the first thing you would do," I asked, "if all the rail- raods in the United States were under your control?"
 q would send word to the D. T. & I. gang to extend their principles to all the other lines"
 MT. Ford laughed as he said this and then added: But 1 do not believe the railroads of America can be prop erlly run except under Government ownership. Present wrongs are too deeply entrenched, and if it were pos sible to remove them-which 1t is not they would spring up again under private ownership. There are too many parasites on American railroads people who own stock and demand dividends, yet never do any work on the roads. Nobody should get a cent of railroad income except those who work on railroads and earn it. But l do believe that under private own ership American railroads will soon follow my example and cut down the weight of their cars two-thirds. l am not going into the car-buiIding bus mess except for my own road, but ] there will doubtless be other builders who will see the advantage of sav. ing two-thirds of their steel. The railroads themselves will see it.
 Talks About Coal.
 "Other railway managers to, will see the desirability of saving two thirds of the coal they are now burn ing in their locomotives. I am ever making experiments to see if 1 can not burn the coal in the mine anc do entirely away with coal-burninf locomotives. That is Mir. Edisonf idea. cannot give him enough credit for what he has done for me. Goa contains two hundred and eight In. gredients. All of these ingredients can be obtained by burning the coal