The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-06-20
Vacation
AT Home
BY COL. J. MONROE 1ou,
l U1iiee of Defense TransportatdoosA
Written for the Associated , n

Written for the Associated' t p
WAsHlNGToN.-This YEAR ~
nation S transportation systen ,' NE
be engaged in the most trar ~ wiz
GUS military movement in al
tory, The redeploymen+t al :, al''
victorious ', army of over three VI ~ :
lion men from Europe. nora a mn
halfway around the world 10 n ,1'aN
IN striking distance of tbe W.T., riyA'
Nearly four years were sno papS
assembling this Amy in Fl,ro N
Only 10 short months have baa
allowed to complete the now ven
the Pacific. 'e %
II every man, woman and ob,,
in New York, Chicago, PhiIs ,'ip
phia, Detroit, Los Angeles, rIaY'l
land, Pittsburgh and Boston AVE .n5
In addition, the population Of 1 ,b.
Ell ire state of Wisconsin eacb \. NY
cided to take a long railroad tr Ge'
the 20 million trips would con
pare with the number involved !,
the redeploymant of cur troon '4
The troop movements of NapoIs
on, H a n n b and Aleyando,
which won them legendary fame
were by comparison b,,4 c,s,,s,
evening strolls.
For the secondhand We bona
the last-year, the Office of na.
Tense Transportation finds il ner,
essary to ask the American pubIic
to vacation at nome. The need for
the general public to keen Of,
trains and inter-city buses tbi,
year is even more urgent than II
was in 1914.
If the redeployment program
were the only task to be faced BY
transportation tbs year, it would
keep us very busy. But it is onIv
one of many jobs to be done. Mi.
lions of soldiers, sailors, marines
| and coast .guardsmen, stationed in
the United States. must be provid.
ed transportation, Many thousand:
of imported la5orers, as well as
some 100000 enemy prisoners Of
war must be moved, A large
amount of essential travel arising
out of the reconversion program
must be handled.
And in addition to all Of this is
staggering burden of freigh,
both war and civilian, which must
be moved. The fourth consecutive
bumper grain crop must be haulpi
from the West to the consumin!
areas in the East, much Of it ~
be shipped abroad to the hungry
people of liberated Europe, Until
fighting in Europe ceased only a
minor portion of our huge war pro-
duction went to the Pacific. Now
all of it is flowing westward. Al
transportation facilities nor'h,
south, east and west-wiIl be
taxed far beyond their normal Ca
pacities.
The job ahead 70, Transportation
would not be easy even ii we had
considerably more equipment than
is available today. Actually, we
have far less passenger cars, 10
comotives, freight cars and per-
sonnet than we had back in the
days of World War l.
1t is obvious that our present
transportation equipment cann't
do its war job and also carry the
many civilians who would like to
travel. Already MALT OF our Pull
man cars and nearly third Of
our passenger coaches are in co.,
slant military movement. IheSe
additional cars will have to come
from the already limited civilian
supply.
Many passenger trains will be
cut down in length, the cars SaVea
going into military service oohe
trains will be cancelled entlreF'
Already, more than 50 trains nave
been cancelled, and this year 10
seasonal trains will operate 10 re-
sort areas. Furthermore, there y
no guarantee that a traveller ca"
get to or from his destination wi~r
in any given time. All faclH"s'
which will operate will be crow
ed beyond normal capacity. FROM from
a practical standpoint, the puo,,
can have a FAR more enloydO'
and beneficial vacation II "cl'
and intercity bus travel is dVUm Wv,
ed completely ard the Vacd"0'
neriod is spent al home,