The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-03-17
rur BROTHERHOOD VIEWPOINT

formation OF It's reaueis, anu
first of the three is given herewih.
These bulletins are special arsa
ments prepared by officers OF the
brotherhood in the controversy tha'
has been waging between the organ.
Tod EMPLOYEES and the organized
,,,on.gers of the roads. The bulle-
tins nresent figures and quotations
thar are impressive and that are IN
sonded as a reputation of the charges
widely made. first, that the railroads
were taken over for political reasons
and that they were operated mel
ficiently: second. that railroad work
ers were overpaid during federal con
troll and. third. that railroad workers
failed TO give full service during tne
war period.
bulletin No. 1. Why the Railroads
Wore Taken Over by the Govern
ment: .rn
ment on January l. 1917, take over the
control OF the railroas and operate then
|, during the war and until February ~,
1902" ,,-,,
This question was answered Dy WIZ
liam Gibbs McAdoo. former director gen
| eral OF railroads during federal control
before the senate committee on inter
state commerce. on February 2, 1922. He
said:
I'm the fall OF 1917 the inefficiency OF
tho American railroads made them un-
| Intentionally. but nevertheless actually
the strongest ally of the German haiseEs
The collapse of the railroads under ue
burden of war traffic had almost cut
the line of communication between y e
| American army at the front and It's base
| Of supplies
Allied Nations Faced Starvation
| on February. 1918. the situation was
extremely black for the allies" On the
sth day of that month the President
sent to Mr. McAdoo a collective message
| from the prime ministers of Great Brit
ain. France and Italy. saying
% That the bread cereals sent from
| North America were in December. 1871.
| 500. 900 tons below the amount fixed by
| the Paris conference; and in January
more than 400. 900 tons below the adopted
program.
f21 That This deficit OF 100000 tons
had been caused by the congestion of
the railroads and the lack of cars and
| coal and would result in a condition es-
| pecially serious throughout the allied
states
go That the failure of the railroads
| to deliver food had already resulted in
the rations of the Italian army being
| twice reduced and the rations OF the
| French army once: that unless food sup
plies were rushed to Europe Immediately
and in adequate quantities starvation
would Inevitably overtake- the civil non.
| ulation of the allies. that the armies
| could not be adequately supplied and
| that defeat would undoubtedly result.
| The railroad administration, upon as
Stunning control. Immediately gave its at
tention to this exceedingly grave prob-
| lem. EMMY cars were rushed west
| loaded and then sent to the eastern sea :
| board. The result was stated by Mr..
| NcAdoo "a tho Sanata oon,n,ittaa
| Railroad Administration Saved europe
"On the 18th day of March 1918 one
| month and one week after the Eehr,.nrv
meeting mfr NcAdoo refers 70 a maa,io.
of railroad and government offici,t. ~
! consider and outline plans for mao,,,e
| the emergency | had the pleasure of al
dressing a letter tn the smbass.,,oIs ~
Great Britain France and ITALY mn, ~.
| ing Them that ,oadad cars 80 e., Ma
| accumulated tn snch an ex,en, AZ ~.
| leading Atlantic seanors thar II w,,,,a he
| necessarily to seriously consider an
| embargo apains, the food movement
unless immediate relief in rho wav ~
ships could be afforded so thar the c,,s
| could he unloaded and mn. hack into ,he
/ The congestion of traffic had reached
L such an acute stage that on Decemher
II 1917. the Interstate Commerce Como,s
II sion submitted to Congress renort
i sharply calling attention to the critical
i situation that faced the country
i "Menace to the Public Safety"
/ on January 2 1918. Commissioner
Aitchson. of the l. C. c., told the Inter.
| state Commerce Committea ~ tho san
i
conclusion which we all reached was tha,
| existing conditions were intolerabIe and
constituted a menace m the n,,h,,S
safety"
| On March 22. 1917. samue, Rea nras
ident of the p. r r Informed the rn,ar.
state Commerce Commission that ra iiroa 4
| executives had reached the same conclu.
| sion. He said. I've realize tho, the con
| dition of the raiIroads toda,, ,rasants
menace to the country not a,pns 70 ~
owners of the properties. but as affe,.
| ing directly the international Situation -
| Upon the declara ton of war AMI, q
| 1917, the council of national defense or
ganized the railroad war board. comnosed
| of Fairfax Harrison. Julius Kruttschnitt
Hale Holden Samuel Raa and rIo,,a "A
| Elliott, and 1t undertook to secure 90.
| operation between the various railroad
systems. Despite the activities of This
| committee, Mr.. McAdoo says. The conli.
| ton of the railroads grew steadily worse
until there had been an almost complete
paralysis of transportation. On f,acemher
| ~, 1911. the railroad war boar tonfesSe ed
| its inability to solve the problems o!
transportation
| During this period not less than five
committee of railroad executives had
failed to restore the proper efficiency to
the transportation system.
Followed Recommendations Of I. c. c.
1t was upon recommendations of the
interstate Commerce Commission and
the concession of failure by railroad exc