Evening star., 1925-03-02
RAIL HEADS CONFER
ON DEFENSE PLANS.
Talk Over Use of Roads in
Time of War With Military
Men to Establish Program.

leaders met with officers of the War
Department at the Interior Depart
ment auditorium today to work out
plans for national defense. by which
wartime efforts of business transpor-
tation and the Government may be
co-ordinated into a working unit.
The meeting was addressed by Sec
retary of War Weeks and Maj. Gen.
John L. Hines, chief of staff. who
outlined the defense plans tentatively
mapped out by the War Department
and the part assigned to transpor-
tation and business agencies.
The meeting was addressed by
Secretary Of War Weeks. Assistant
Secretary OF War Davis, Maj. Gen.
Hines, chief of staff, and Maj. Gen.
w. II. Hart, quartermaster general.
Calling attention to the tthousands
Of human lives" sacrificed ''unneces-
sarily" by our unpreparedness, Mr..
Davis outlined a plan for industrial
cooperation with the War Depart
ment. while Gen. Hart said this ma
tion today has no more assurance
against war in the future than it had
in the past.
Emphasizing the vital need of
transportation to the national de-
fense, Secretary Weeks explained
that an armed. force depended for its
effectiveness upon movement, "an in
dispensable element of war"
Importance of Rails.
'If our armed forces should be COM
PEELED at some future date to defend
the continental territory of the Unit
ed States, the railways of the United
States would assume prime impor-
tance," Mr.. Weeks said. "You know
as we'll as that 1t will not be possi-
BILE for the railroads and the Army to
cooperate effectively Immediately
upon the occurrence of an unfortu-
nate emergency unless they spend
some time together preparing and
developing plans for such co-opera-
tion. That is why we have asked
you to be here
You are here to lend the benefit of
your expert advice so that our de-
fense plans shall be in conformity
with the actual capacities of our
transportation lines. You are here to
learn what our defense plans might
require you to do. You are here to
adjust your ideas of wartime en-
deavor and the War Department ideas
until the two fit closely together in a
workable unit.
IF our armed forces should be COM
PEELED at some future date to defend
the continental territory of the United
States, the railways of the United
States would assume prime i'm
portance.
knowledge of Business.
I'm making ready to take advantage
of the national system of transporta-
ton, the personnel of the Army well
realize the fact that civilian experts
of your caliber know much more about
transportation than any one in the
War Department could reasonably be
expected to know. On the other hand,
it is evidently impossible for you
gentlemen to give the study to the
use of transportation for purely
military purposes which can be most
appropriately given by the officers OF
the general staff"
Gen. Hines went more into detail
regarding the services to national de-
tense the Army expected the trans
portation lines to render in an emer-
gency. and pointed out something
of how they could be expected to
function.
"our field service regulations"
Gen. Hines said, now definitely as
sign the operation and maintenance
of railroads in the theater of opera
tions under the control of the COM
mander-in- chief to the railway engi-
neer troops. On the other hand, 1t
is proposed that the actual operation
of the railroads in the zone of the
interior shall be in charge of the
railroads themselves under such
plan for unified control as shall be
agreed upon by the railroads and the
Government. How the railroads in
the zone of the interior should De
operated you gentlemen will have to
determine in study of your side OF
the plan.
I'VE intend that in time of emer-
gency all requisitions on the railroads
in the zone of the interior shall
emanate from a single unit of our
organization, namely, the Transpor-
tation Corps. The officials of that
body will be vested with sole author
ity to call for equipment to meet the
demands for the movement of men,
animals and material. Competition
among Army shippers will be elimi-
mated"
Security Against War.
Declaring that billions Of dollars and
thousands Of human lives have been
sacrificed Unnecessarily" by the un-
preparedness of this Nation, Dwight
F. Davis, Assistant Secretary of War.
told the conference the War Depart
rnent plans to so prepare the United
States to resist aggression that the
chances Of war are extremely remote
because no other nation would dare
attack u.s."
The United States has no intention
of aggression, Mr.. Davis said, but will
be prepared to resist aggression
Every man, every dollar and every re-
source of the country will be mohilized
in an emergency for the defense of the
country. I'VE are only taking such
precautions," the assistant secretary
said, "as a prudent nation should to
protect ourselves and to promote peace
among the nations"
Mr.. Davis added that III we are ever
again forced into war we are deter
mined there will be no slackers and
no profiteers" outlining steps to be
taken to thwart the activities OF
profiteers The one great lesson OF
the World War, the Assistant war
Secretary said, is that the industrial
power of a nation is as necessary as
its man power. He outlined plan
for dividing the country into IA in
dustrial districts, with each district
in charge of a business man, to CO.
ordinate industry with the demands or
wartime.
'aThis Nation has no more guarantee
against war in the future than 1t had
in the past" Gen. Hart, quartermasteR
general, u. S. A, declared. Expansion
of industry during war will follow
plan already worked out, Gen. Hart
said, adding that I'VE are here to take
the confusion out of war with all it's
waste"
Business should be prepared to ex-
pand it's facilities Immediately with
the declaring of national emergency
and be ready to increase its produc-
ton to a point consistent with war
time demands, the quartermaster gen.
eraI added.