Evening star., 1934-03-25
Continued From First Page.)

fense. But 1t will coordinate with
| that unit the operations and the per-
| sonnel, the training and the develop
ment of the flying equipment of the
/ commercial field. Each is an intri-
cate part in the general picture. in
| terdependent
Being frankly "air minded" and
| because aviation just now is so much
in the public eye, perhaps have de-
voted too much space to observations
concerning flying-for of course, Mr..
| Secretary, the larger part of your job
| for some years to come will concern
ground transport.
| Railroads have been with us a hun
dred years. From their pristine need
and their period of progressive devel-
| opment latterly they have largely
been outmoded by the march of time,
burdened with duplication of mileage,
obsolescent equipment and changeless
methods Of operation. Contributing
to their difficulties, too, is the fact
| they've been legislated nigh unto
| death.
| The Duplication iii.
Duplication of competitive railroad
| effort is a primary i'll in the ground
| transport picture. An instance is the
corps OF far-f1ung freight agents, each
trying to route shipments over their
particular system, no matter if, after
so doing, carload originating in
Ohio and bound for New York may
have to go via New Orleans.
There are reasonable middle
/ grounds, involving logical competition
without illogical wastefulness which.
| Mr.. Secretary. your co-ordinating
powers may make it possible for you
to force upon the carriers, just as we,
the people. expect you to unravel
| some of the burdensome regulations
of today.
AS to common sense regulations, I
| suspect, for instance, that you would
not permit the expenditure of some
hundreds of millions of dollars upon
the electriflcation Of line when the
engineering trend seems so definitely
pointing toward light, stream lined
train units. with individual power
| plants.
Air operators realize how obsolete
Is the communication equipment of
most of the railroads. Few of them,
believe, have teletype. that auto
matte telegraph-typewriter, for in
stantaneous written transmittal, which
may duplicate a message at every
point OF the system.
Problem of Equipment.
In this matter of equipment, of
course, the railroads face tremendous
problems. Vast investments cannot
be wiped out. The luxury of thor
oughgoing replacements cannot al
ways be INDUCED in, even though new
| equipment in cars, locomotives or
Whatever could be shown capable of
| paying for themselves in a compara-
lively short period. But at that there
is an interesting comparison between
| the rate of depreciation of airplanes
ana OF railroad cars. I believe every
successful air transport company
charges off its flying stock" under
nve years at the most, while the life
OF passenger coach goes on for
| decades.
Originally the railroads won out
over the waterways and stage coaches
ny oHerlng greater service. So today
they are in turn being outmoded by
newer means OF transport. In vain
do they still hope to have busses or
air lines forced out of business by bur-
| densome gasoline taxes or other legis-
lstive obstacles calculated to embar-
rass their rivals. 1t is too late. The
most they can do is to form operating
connections with air lines or bus lines
In order not to lose entirely the reye-
| nue. these media do and will continue
| to draw.
| There is special work that the re-
adjusted railroads can best do. Just
as there are classes of travel which
In the years ahead will best be han
died by the airplane, the bus, the
truck or even the barge canal. Al
ready broad strides in this direction
are being suggested by Joseph East
man, co-ordinator of transportation.
Flatly he has asked for legislation to
regulate transportation agencies look
ing toward fundamental co-ordina-
tion. That, I think. is the commence
ment of your department, Mr.. Secre-
tary. Its functioning, on broader
lines even than Mr.. Eastman requests,
Is just around the corner.
| There Is a new deal worth dealing
the cards alluring. the stakes funda-
mental in the development of our
prosperity and social weIl-being.
The Field of Trucks. :.
Perhaps, under your guidance, Mr..
Secretary, we shall see the day when
railroad trains. be they passenger or
| freight. will not stop under 100 miles,
with the minimum hop Of an air.
plane perhaps 200 miles, leaving the
intermediate work to busses and
trucks.
That may be. a transportation
utopia, but utopias are worth aiming
at. Instead of all carriers competing
for every type load as now, believe
a division of traffic along the follow
ing lines will be recognized:
Railroads-MaSs movements (troops,
harvest hands,, mostly long haul;
| suburban service; freight.
Airplanes - First-class passengers,
mostly long haul; first-class mail.
Buses and trucks-First-classm mail,
short haul; the same for frst-class
passengers and light express.
| AS to water transport, 1t seems
doubtful that the inland waterways.
except in specialized instances. will
ever recover their lost loads, for the
time-saving necessities Of today's rap
idly moving world set up other
requisites for transport besides cheap
| ness.
To return to aviation moment.
may I call your attention to the fact
that many of its problems are quite
the reverse of those of the railroads?
For instance. in the period which ac-
companied the upbuilding of the rail-
roads, it was profitable to push feed
ers into rich unopened territory
cities in due time appeared. But the
function of the air lines with the map
of today Is primarily to link already
established centers of population. In
fact q good rule for testing the need
Of air service in any isalitv is to as