Show 0 R m nation s railroads move X troops each day da y special surveys decrease cross hauling developments abroad may force unexpected shifting of troops by news analyst and commentator service union trust building washington D 0 recently I 1 had to make seven consecutive weekend week end trips between washington and new york I 1 left washington after a late friday broadcast and had to return monday for one at noon not once was 1 I able to get reservations for the return trip until at the last minute when some unused space was turned in if I 1 groused a little too loudly over this it may have been because I 1 know then what I 1 learned officially only the other day namely that mf if the war department insisted in having all the PU pullman ilman equipment it could use all the pullman ma n cars of the country would be car carrying crying troops in other words it if johnny doughboy step aside occasionally wed nil all use coaches or walk compromise the present arrangement Is said to be a compromise in recognition of essential civilian needs at pres ent a million and three quarter soldiers are arc being moved a month that is a day in americas trains train in official troop movements this does dae not include the many men on leave there are of course movements of whole divisions with full equipment but these are the exceptions As you have probably noticed it if you travel very much there are usually a few cars containing troops atta attached chea to your passenger train this is the way most of the troops are transport edin small groups group i of 25 br less however wever that is a considerable addition to the regular passenger traffic its said a soldier eats twice as much as he did in civilian life and that is one one reason why food has to be rationed to civilians but he travels a lot more in proportion to his normal Ei civilian villan peregrinations many a man saw his first big city when when he 1 reached london or cairo or New Delhi I 1 know a pilot pilo who dropped in at thi airport here recently inq had several hours wait over when he was asked why he cross the bridge and 10 look ak the capital over he said hed never been in a big city and want to get lost the next thing heard from this particular was ws that he was in calcutta average number in the last las war the average number of moves made by a soldier were three here is alist a list of typical moves he makis makes in this thin war drawn up by the office of war information 1 to the induction center 2 to reception center 3 to replacement training center 4 to his parti particular qular branch of service 6 5 to big maneuvers 6 return I 1 7 to special training areas 8 to port pert of embarkation special studies are made to cut down unnecessary cross hauling but sudden developments abroad may force soldiers who are located near one port to be shifted to another for far owa away y or a special need for bartic training may arlie arise and that thai may force men to be doubled back to desert or mountain for the specialized ciali zed practice in snow or under a hat sun that new requirements make necessary maneuvers in the southeast and southwest including the desert training trai ping areas of california have sometimes required the moving in ef cf as many as men within a few weeks equipment and all naturally that disrupted a largel large part art of passenger for severe several weeks at a time unessential travel elferts are being made to cut down extra passenger travel by discouraging coura cou raging jing conventions trade shows big sports contests and other gatherings one exception has been made and that is the lecturer even the president saw fit to come out with a statement encouraging the continuation of the work of lecture bureaus ile he expressed himself to lowell thomas who traveled to washington on that subject the plea pica for a good word for the speak er thomas represented many people who do considerable public speaking I 1 know how difficult ills it is I 1 myself have been unable to av capt lecture dates because it is so difficult to be certain of connections and a broadcaster has to move with the regularity of a train schedule a train schedule in peace time the microphone waits for no man there have been rumors of laiq late that transportation was snagged that because of the U boats sup plies nvere were piling up on the docks and loaded freight cars were jamming the yards and causing congestion but the office of war information says sacs that latest advices advises indicate that congestion is being I 1 lessened ess ened in fact the official word is the battle of tran transportation tation at a crisis at pearl harbor time is now being won 0 i 1 nearing limit t I 1 hope that this statement jsn baer optimistic As a matter of fact the reservation is noted that the victories are not necessarily permanent our transportation equipment with few exceptions la 13 being used close to its limits and there here remain two situations which are not satisfactory one eneis Is movement of oil and the other is the problem of i getting etting the war workers to and from work the latter difficulty Is responsible I 1 according to some investigators for much of the recently decried absenteeism to get an idea of what the traffic has to bear in a city where war industries dus tries are concentrated there has been an increase of use use of the detroit street railway systems of per cent the baltimore transit line is up 00 90 per cent and the washington per centi know enoi what these figures mean as does anyone who has to make his way to and from work in I 1 the capital I 1 have also seen that fabulous city of san diego once a pleasant sleepy town which seemed komove to move lazily with the pell cans that hew flew over ove r the bay or th the whispering palms the pelicans have been replaced by planes a and nd Ws its a 24 hour town with a per cent increase in the use of its busses and trolley cars diary of a broadcaster today imade I 1 made it from bedside to desk in one hour and 18 minutes including the time tomake to make my own breakfast of coffee poached eggs grapefruit and zwieback my wife is away also tp to traverse on toot foot some 13 Washington bloc blocks kf I 1 think that this record is not bad considering the variety of activities included I 1 managed to hear the early five minute newscast and scanned the headlines which told me whether thi news new wind was mas blowing in the same direction this morning that it was last night when the newspapers went to bedin other words was I 1 to plow fresh fields or ha harvest arvest what I 1 could from the old ones I 1 also removed the blanket that ahat shields our three parakeets from northern drafts and waited for the welcoming chirrup that one the least snobbish of the three condescends to give me before I 1 leave the room As soon as I 1 do they all burst into song walking to lo work in washington these days is like reviewing the e armies of the united catl nations ns fo for r one can spot almost any uniform on form between dupont circle and pennsylvania avenue but it seems seems that the WAVES are in the preponderance the WAA Csare smart but the na navy has a uniform that Is a little bit less drab than the olive it is surprising how an elderly matron turns out in that navy blue and gold as smart as a midshipman mam one of its two beautiful seasons is here in april gone in may first the for sythia burns with its yellow flame lame then the magnolias blush and fade and the dogwoods dog woods raise their sweet ghostliness among their darker sisters then the cherry blossoms come and there are many of them scattered over the city as well as the better advertised ones along the lagoon soon they are followed fol loved by I 1 leaves e aves on the oaks a and nd the e elms I 1 ms and the maples then backyards are brilliant with the rambler roses and you know that spring is done |