Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 202, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1915 — DEPEND ON RAILROADS [ARTICLE]

DEPEND ON RAILROADS

WARRING NATIONS HAVE BEEN WELL SERVED BY LINES. Importance of Communication in the Great Struggle Shown—Russia’s Lack of Facilities Has Proved a Serious Handicap. Effective railway mileage has played a potent part in the winning of modern battles. The Russians have not only had well-equipped, well-trained men to deal with in the eastern war theater, but, also, a wonderful, strategically invaluable net of railways. The German railways have been instruments of first importance in every Russian defeat. On the western front, where the fighting has been more stationary, the highly developed railway system of Germany meets the equally highly developed railway system of France. How well France and Germany are prepared to meet the emergencies of war transportation as compared with the other belligerents is shown in a recent bulletin issued by the National Geographic society. The bulletin reads: "The total length of the railways of the world Js about 750,000 miles, of which considerably more than fourfifths falls to the continents of Europe and America. The United States leads all the other nations of the world in the total of its railroad mileage, though it is proportionately -behind some of them. Belgium, now back of the invaders’ lines, is one of the best-supplied territories in the world for rail communication, and the railways of Great Britain, Germany and France are equal to almost any strain that a war traffic may put upon them. Europe possesses more than 212,500 miles of railway lines, of which about one-third falls to the share of the central German powers, the German empire and Austria-Hungary. Germany, with its 210,000 square miles of area, has about 40,000 miles of rail line, while France, with its 208,000 square miles, has 32,000 miles of trackage. Russia and Finland, together, with a total are of 2,095,616 square miles, or very nearly ten times the size of Germany, have a railway mileage slightly less than that of Germany. In great part, the Russian are farflung trunk lines, and the Muscovite land nowhere has anything corresponding to the interweaving railway nets of Germany and France. This lack of railway facilities has been one of the disadvantages that the Russians have had to overcome during the present war. Among the other countries of Europe, Italy has some 11,250 miles of railroad, so laid down as to bind almost her entire frontier by a rail line fringe; Spain has about 10,000 miles of track; Great Britain and Ireland have 24,000 miles, and Austria-Hun-gary has a total mileage of about 28,000. The United States has about onethird of the total mileage of the world. There ore 65,000 miles of railway on the continent of Asia, about 26,000 miles on the continent of Africa and 21,000 miles in Australia. Japan, with Korea, has only about 6,500 miles of railway, and China has a mileage which totals about the same. The railways of Germans 1 , France and Austria-Hungary have been developed with considerable attention to their value in times of war. This feature of railway development has been especially prominent in Germany, where the state has presided over the growth and destinies of steam line communication. Several great trunk lines traverse Germany from her western to her eastern frontier. and these lines are prepared to bear almost any strain. Along the French border an all-inclusive network of railroad has been laid, while German railway lines parallel the Russian frontier and receive feed lines from all parts of the r