ABSURD ANTICS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 113, 17 May 1918, Page 2

ABSURD ANTICS.

OF PRIVATE RAILROAD MANAGEMENT.

In a recent talk with a, newspaper man, says the San Francisco Star, v Mr McAdoo. (Director-Ceneral of American Railways) gave.a couple of instances of absurd antics of private, railroad management and of the superiority of national control. In the first} certain roads were compelled to haul' freigh 55 miles to -get around ; a competitor'* property, which 65 feet of new track would save.. The connecting link was promptly supplied, and this waste of "time, .fuel, equipment, an<s man-power, avoided. The other case cited was in Illinois, where one road' alone had'access to certain mines, but was compelled to go 129 miles further, and up a much steeper grade, than a competitor would have employed. Now the* shorter and better-equipped lino gets the. business. _ Again, a writer in ■one of the magazines tells of the crude situation in Chicago, due to ! the fact that no roao poshes through that city, but all' terminate there. Every passenger must transfer from one station to another, often : miles apart/ and' it it said' the average time. consumed in getting a carload ofvfreight- across the city is one mil© a -day; ,tjnder a : co-ordinatec! sys tern of national owinership, 'with no thought of "unscrambling," how long could such! "a; (ridiculous \ arrangement continue?