Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1916 — ON A VISIT OF INSPECTION [ARTICLE]

ON A VISIT OF INSPECTION

British Railroad Authority In This Country Looking Over the Leading American Systems.

W. M. Acworth, the distinguished British railroad authority, Is visiting the United States and. inspecting.several of the railroad systems of the East. He is keenly Interested in the wage controversy between the railroads and the train service employees, which he avers is similar in its general aspects to that which led up to the British railroad strike of 1911. Mr. Acworth is a director of the underground railroads of London -and has written a number of books on railroad development and regulation. He is no stranger to the United States, having made many trips to this side of the Atlantic, and having been for many years in touch with the railroad situation here. He is a close personal friend of leading railroad officials of the country. “The war has made heavy drafts upon the railroad workers of Great Britain," said Mr. Acworth in an interview at New York. “Probably 20 per cent of the railroad operatives are in active service. From the London underground system, which employed about 25,000 men at the outbreak of the war, some 8,000 have enlisted. On all the lines somewhat similar conditions exist.

“The places of those who have volunteered have been filled to some extent by keeping older men in service instead of retiring them. On the London buses .500 women are employed as conductors. On all the lines forces have been reduced by cutting off a large proportion of the passenger trains. '' “'