OCR Text |
Show Railroads and National Defence j t PPJ I TransPrtation Men Regard Exclusive Federal feaSfefWfMrfM1S Control as War0Measure of Paramount V ,v. Ymr Importance. assmsssaa I BY FRANCIS H. SISSON, Assistant Chairman of the Railway Executives' Advisory Committee. Military experts all ajjree that in a war with Germany well organized railroad rail-road facilities will be of an importance to our government second only to abundant abun-dant munitions and trained men. Without With-out the former the latter would be of little avail. The secret of securing this efficiency lies in unifying the control of railroad systems under the federal government gov-ernment Railways must be ready at a moment's notice to transport raw material and fuel to shipyards, armor plants and naval coaling stations. They must ship arms, ammunition and other military and naval supplies to any part of the country. Then there is the problem of transferring troops from all scctions to training grounds and mobilisation points. All these purely military functions, tvbirb will immensely increase the present pres-ent railway business, must bo Carried on oot only without delay, but without in-lorfcrinpr in-lorfcrinpr disastrously with the civil Iraffic essential to the affairs of non-rombntnnts. non-rombntnnts. Not only must the routes in and out of our large cities and strategic centres be protected against attack, but the roadp mustjbe handled bo efficiently that there will be no tie-up of freight, which would mean starvation to our population and tremendous advantage to the enemy. How well are the railroads prepared to mMt the situation? It is impossible trt give a very encouraging reply, although the picture drawn by some commentatora - is overdark. The exhibition inado by our railroads in the Spanish War was not encouraging. Tho demonstration last summer, when they transferred 111,919 men to the Mexican border in one month's time, showed, to be sure, that our system had greatly improved in twenty years. The routes covered by these troop trains varied in length from COS to 2,U1G miles. The majority of them were more than 2,000 miles long. This mobilization was carried on at the time when commercial traffic was taxed to its uttermost and none of it was suspended. It was an illustration of the marvellous resourcefulness resourceful-ness of American railroads, but at the same time it demonstrated our lack of preparedness. If the number of men to be transported had been J. 000,000 and the delay of one month a fatal ono wc should have been helpless. Our problem is vastly more complicated than that of Europe, where the longest troops train run i8 only 700 miles and mobilization is accompanied by temporary suspension of civil traffic.. What. then, remains for us to do? Government Gov-ernment ownership is not necessary to meet tho situation, or government leasing, leas-ing, ns in England. But we do need more complete national control than wo now have, not only for efficient handling of war traffic but ns n preparatory step toward making good deficiencies in physical physi-cal equipment. Secretary Baker has pointed out that our terminal facilities are deficient. For example, last summer army men learned that one of the biggest stations in Jersey City would not allow the passage of more than five hundred troops a day without tieing it up. Freight yards are equally inadequate for handling military supplies. sup-plies. Many sidings nre not long enough to accommodate troops trains. Many new sidings, spurs and branches are needed. Single track roads are of little valuo in transporting troops. Single track lines should be doubled. Rolling stock is not sufficient; shop fucilities are inadequate. First, then, we must bring our physical equipment up to the mark. This means more capital, and at the present time investors in-vestors are not seeking the railroads. While gross earnings have increased very greatly, net earnings and reserves have fallen off, until 42,000 miles of railroads are in receivers' hands, and relatively few roads in the country are able to pay rogular dividends. This is due largely to the hampering and expensivo restrictions restric-tions of conflicting railroad legislation and regulation in forty-eight different States, in addition to the national government. govern-ment. The remedy is the reorganization of tta Interstate Commerce Commission, giving it tho entire supervision of interstate inter-state commerce, with regional commissions commis-sions operating in connection with the federal body. Railroad men ccncrally agree that the solution of their problem lies In full federal control, and this control con-trol is the foundation of proper aailltary railway preparedness. To this end the Eailway Executives Advisory Committee, representing over ninety per cent of the railroad mileage of the country, nas be? working for tome time. |