Evening star., 1941-05-19
American Out to End Burma Road BottIeneck
Californian Named by Gen. Chiong to Put Supply Route
Vo to Chnos Struggle Smooth Running Boss
(First of a Series on Burmd Road.
BY A. T. STEELE,

BY A. T. STEELE,
Special Correspondent Of The Star and
the Chicaso Daily News.
RUNNING, Southwest China (via
Clipper 1T is one thing for the
United States to promise war mate
rails to China. 1t is quite smother
problem to deliver them.
More than SO, 900 tons of supplies,
mostly American, are heaped at
Rangoon and Lashio, In Burma
awaiting transport over the Burma
Road to China. More thousands OF
tons are en- route to Burma in
American ships and still more thou
sands have been promised.
President Roosevelt's pledge of in
creased material assistance to China
cannot be realized until the bottle
neck of the Burma Road is elm
mated. The American Government
knows this: the Chinese govern
ment knows 1t. With encourage
ment from both sides. plans are
moving fast to double the highways
capacity. Today, for the first time,
the Burma Road has an American
manager" who intends to make
immediate, far-reaching reforms.
Bottleneck Scandal.
I have just traversed those 7l6
miles of twisting mountain road be-
tween LaShio, Burma, and this
highway terminus high on China s
southwestern plateau. I can appre-
ciate now the tremendous difficult
ties confronting John Earl Baker,
the stubborn-jawed Californian who
has been delegated by Generalissimo
Chang Kai-shek to put this all
important supply route on a smoth-
running basis.
Friends of Mr.. Baker, whose sue
cess or failure as inspector general
of the Burma Road will depend on
how much real power the Chinese
are willing to grant him over their
own people. believe that If he is to
get results quickly he must be made
the Gear" of the highway. Mr.
Bakers aim Is to double trafic over
the Burma Road within a years
time. But to do so he says he must
have authority.
The Burma Road bottleneck has
been scandal in China for the past
couple of years. The highways in
efficiency is attributable partly to
shortage of transport, lack of gaso-
line and the three-month closure
of the route by British order-con-
ditions quite beyond Chinese control
But less easy to excuse were such
other factors as bureaucratic OBJ
structionism, proiteering, jealousies
among various trucking lines, mad
equate maintenance and trafiic con-
troll and last, but not least, the
chauffeur problem.
Impossible" Is Achieved.
This is not to detract from the re-
markable achievement of the
Chinese in designing and building
this difficult highway in record time
without benefit of machinery of any
kind. Able and lowly paid engineer.
and technical men have done what
many said was impossible, by keep
ing the highway open and operating
In the face of torrential rains anc
Japanese bombings. AS fast as the
japanese have destroyed bridges
the Chinese have erected new ones
Because of the well directed fforts
of an army of laborers. composed
mostly of women and children
traffic was interrupted for a total Of
only five days during the last rainy
season. 1t is hoped that this record
can be equaled or bettered during
the present monsoons, which are
just beginning.
In the month of April, the Burma
road carried a heavier load of ma
terials than in any month of its
two and half year history. More