Evening star., 1945-08-30

1actuflng business, ana VarlOu
plans for keeping the sleeping car!
rolling are being con Sidered by the
court.
Keep in mind thai other coun.
tries are concerned with obtaining
any kind of transportation, then
rail systems having been not only
disorganized by the war but in some
cases literally blown to pieces, rail,
road yards, locomotives, etc, having
been prime targets for the bombers
Those devastated lands are not con.
templating luxury travel at the mo.
ment ANY of them would be happy
to have the transportation we con-
tinue to enjoy despite the war.
Yet Otis & Co. offer as one of the
principal arguments in support OF
their petition that the sleeping cal
service in the United States is obso-
lete The present heavyweight
cars, they say, must be completely
replaced with modern, lightweight
equipment, which, they add cheer
fully. will cost in excess of $780,
100000"
New Types of Service.
To pick up some more OF the pc
tiCion's language, ~NeW types OF
services must be made available or
Nation wide scale so that the
railroads can meet the needs of the
public and the challenge of other
forms of transportation =. Time
is of the essence. Each month OF
delay will cause untold loss and
hardship both to the railroads and
to the public
There is a good deal more to the
petitioners argument, including the
need to meet the competition OF
the airplane and the automobile
Greater speed than is possible with
present designs is called for. Rail-
roads must organize their services
in such manner as to encourage
transcontinental travel and provide
the travelling public with new types
of luxury equipment and service"
The petition then paints picture
of possible railroad travel that
equals, if it does not exceed, the ads
you see in the magazines. 1t even
proposes to bring about through
coaSt-to-coast service, eliminating
the present stopovers in Chicago
ST. Louis and New Orleans.
But the essence of the argument
is not that travel has really become
an intolerable hardship in this
country. That, of course, would be
nonsense. The essence is that the
development of this travel service
with all its ramifications, can play
an important part in providing post
war employment.
Confident of Success.
AT the moment the whole ma
tional economy is in a state of fux,' ,
say the petitioners. War contracts
are being Cancelled faster than new
opportunities can be found Fear
of unemployment is growing. The
rehabilitation and expansion of the
Pullman service can be made a stra-
tegic factor in the conversion of a
war into peace economy. 1t is in
a position to give tremendous stim-
illus to other industries, particu-
larly the metal and equipment in
dustrieS, and at points where the
need for new markets is most acute
ly felt. This stimulus, with far
reaching effects, will provide en-
ployment and promote an expand
ing economy"
Much of the rest of the petition
is intended to persuade the judge
that Otis & Co. are completely
qualified to do the job. They assert
that they are just naturally COM
petitive by nature-"men who were
imbued with competitive ideas at a
time when the dominant railroad
tradition was against competition. "
A principal person in the group, in
cldentally, is Robert R. Young, some