Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-18
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY IL. 1922.
THE RAILROAD CONTRAST.


Walker II. Hines recently have been
trying "to show that the railways
were operated with the greatest prac-
ticablc efficiency under government
control" tho Railway Age says:
"Aleantimo. tho railways under private
operation have been crecting In
creascs In efficiency and economy
which AFFORD the best answer TO the
statistics and arguments OF Messrs.
McAdco and Hines.
Tho Railway Age shows among
other THINGS that under government
operation IN 1919 the average number
o. mon employed by the railways was
i.aia,s?a. while In the ten months end
Ink with October. 1891. the average
number OF mon employed was only
i.6sG,sib. or sss,so7 loss. II says that
IN these ten months OF private opera
tion tho railways rendered more pas
s.nKer train service than In 1919
under government operation and
handled only ~ per cent less freight
ueffc. and yet employed ish per cen.
less men. II shows that In spite OF
hsher scales OF wages the number Of
employees has been reduced so much
under private operation that the
wages paid In October. 1921. were
only t2a'.eoo.ooo as compared with
esss 100000 IN October, 1919. under
sovernmsnt operation.
"Th. most outstanding fact about
government operation" says the Rail-
way Ar~. 'rs TIM, under II tho ex-
ponsos Of the railways were always
Increasing. whether the traffic handled
was increasing or not The traffic
handled IN 1919 was less than in lsiS.
but this docrs4Ne In the traffic hand
led was accompanied by an increase
in operating expenses. On the other
hand, while under private operation
in 1920 an increase In traffic was ac-
sompanied by large increase In ex-
pcnses as soon ~as the traffic began
70 decline the operating expenses be-
gan 10 hc reduced. and in the FIRST
eleven months OF 1891 the total eI-
pcnses were 1900 .ooo. 900 less than
IN the same months OF 1920.
Tho principal cause OF the large
and practically uninterrupted increase
OF operating expenses under govern
mcnt control WAS the Railroad Ad-
ministration's labor policy. Mr.. Nc
Adoo has attempted TO show that Il
tho railways were not operated with
the highest efficiency under govern
ment control II was largely the. fault
Of railway officers who constituted
most OF his staff. But these railway
officers were not responsible for, and
most Of them were not In accord with
his labor policy, and 1t was the In
crease In the number Of employees al
well as in their wages that caused
most OF the increase in operating ex.
pensss. In December. 1917, when tn,
government took over the railways
they had 1.7os,74s employees. In Jan.
uay. 1920. Il month before they wer,
returned to private operation, the,
had l.s5S.67l employees"
But In . contrast OF this characte
there Is one element. and a very i'm
bortant one. which must not b
omitted. and which cannot be omitte,
without doing grave injustice to MI
NcAdoo. Mr.. Hines. and all who co
operated with them In conducting tn
ra:iroad service of the country dur
ing the exigencies Of the World Wa,
necessity.
There was no time for Director
General McAdoo. or his successor, M,
Hines. TO sit back in comfortabl
Offices, at their leisure. and give care
ful consideration to all the details @
railroad transportation. the condition
OF labor. and the demands Of employe
insistsnt upon changed conditions an
higher pay. They had to meet emerg
sncies promptly and summarily. an
IN a manner that would not interpos
the slightest obstruction to the opera
tions OF railroad lines all over til
country.
The war demands upon railroa
trafic were tremendous. The insist
snt call was for the shipment OF 4ne