Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1917 — Heavy Problems For Railroads In Moving of Troops. [ARTICLE]

Heavy Problems For Railroads In Moving of Troops.

•Few people realize the enormity of the task now confronting the railroads of the country, a task which would have been impossible of accomplishment if the shippers and roads alike were not co-operating with the railroads’s war board in the emergency. The board issues a bulletin which throws some light on this, as regards, for instance, the movement of the citizen soldiers to their training camps. Between September sth and 9th, 200,000 6r more men, not counting officers 'already enroute, will move to camp. This is thirty per cent of the total number of drafted men to be moved prior to October 3. The railroad war board has prepared schedules for the trains. It finds that to move an army of 80,000 men, 366 trains are necessary, consisting of as many locomotives and complete train crews, and some 6,229 cars. The first national army will have 687,000 recruits and any mathematician may figure how many trains and cars this means. But add to this the trains and cars now. being used to send 350,000 members of the national guard to their camps. Then one may well wonder how in the world the rolling stock is sufficient to handle the troops and at the same time maintain normal traffic as the war board says it expects to do. Co-operation and centralization of power is the answer. By co-operat-ing with the provost marshal general, the roads have designated 4,531 different points for troop concentration. This prevents trains and cars from leaving their .own roads to any large extent and shortens the haul to the camps. Traffic officials have been asked to bear in mind that: “In preparing schedules due regard will be paid to feeding these men at convenient points either by the use of eating'houses, dining cars, or by furnishing box lunches on the train.” If this warning serves to mitigate some of the hardships experienced by guardsmen who went to the Mexican border and by recent army and navy recruits, it will be well worth while. On the trip to Texas, it will be recalled, many men suffered for days for lack of proper food or no food at all. Some of this suffering was due to the negligence on the part of the company and regimental commanders, but much was due to poor military and railroad arrangements. It would seem that even now it would be well for local organizations of defense councils to meet troop trains with sandwiches and coffee.