OCR Text |
Show If. I'iir- ) il ' , , iiim,iLi--'-'","- - YirmTaa JUDGE 18VETT I HKHPOSfnON Made Chief of Division of Betterments and Additions to Railroads. WASHINGTON, March Robert S. Lovott, former chairman of the board of the Union Pacific, and priorities priori-ties director of tho war Industries board, has been appointed by Director General McAdoo, chief of a now division divi-sion of betterments and additions of tho railroad administration, it was announced an-nounced today. Ho has resigned from the Union Pacific and from tho war Industries In-dustries board and has given up all his other cqrporate interests to tako charge of railroad1 shipments under government operation. Judge Lovott Tvill hold one of tho-most tho-most important positions in the administration. ad-ministration. He will supervise tho big program of extension contemplated contemplat-ed for this year, particularly rolating to terminal constructions, and will determine de-termine what Improvements aro essential essen-tial and what should be postponed until un-til tho closo of the war. Reports of railroads, now being tabulated tabu-lated by the interstate commerce commission com-mission and railroad administration officials, of-ficials, show tho improvements railroads rail-roads had planned for this year If prl-vato prl-vato operation had continued. These reports also are being examined by a committee of railway engineers, acting for Director General McAdoo with a view to trimming tho estimates in the light of emergency war noeds. Judge Lovott is expected to form a national organization, Including railway rail-way vice presidents in charge of improvements im-provements and extensions on their respectlvo lines. Every proposed expenditure ex-penditure for theso purposes will ho closolv scrutinized beforo being approved. ap-proved. The now division' will work closely with the division of finance and purchases, directed by John Skel-tou Skel-tou Williams, who plans to centralize purchases for all the roads. As director of priorities for the war Industries board, Judge Lovotfs duties had been greatly curtailed by tho absorption ab-sorption of transportation priority functions by tho railroad administration administra-tion and tho exercise of fuel priority by the fuel administration. Eventually a joint government board may be formed to co-ordlnato the priority pri-ority functions now exercised by the railroad and fuel administrations, the war and navy departments and the shipping board. Officials who have discussed this plan also would Include a representative of the treasury, whose capital issues committee, is ad--ministering a voluntary system of credits priority. |