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close such rules shall be again resumed as far as is practicable. Any changes in working conditions are to be introduced after consultation with the workmen or their representative. In case of disagreement, such changes are to be determined by a committee on which are representatives of workmen, employers and the public.

PRIORITY RULES.

The regulation of the order in which goods are to be produced and distributed is determined ultimately by a Priority Committee. This committee consisted in the first place of three or four subordinates in different divisions of the Ministry of Munitions who met daily and determined specific questions laid before them. Inasmuch as such questions necessarily involved more or less other departments, there has been added to the committee from time to time representatives of those departments until now the committee consists of some twenty members. This committee has not final authority, as a question may be taken from them to the heads of departments. In practice, of course, its decisions are almost always final.

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LICENSED TRADES.

The carrying on of trades of certain classes that might compete is forbidden except under a license. By issuing permits then to a sufficient number of establishments and by having the power to prevent the transfer of work from these establishments into other private establishments, through refusing permits, a sufficient control is established. Generally speaking, this power is not rigidly exercised excepting within narrow fields or in case of necessity. Under the general act "any company, association, or body of persons shall have power notwithstanding anything contained in any act, order or instrument by or under which it is constituted or regulated to carry on munitions work during the present war." The control exercised is largely through the control of the workmen, it having been agreed upon that any workman who enters into an undertaking with the government to work in any controlled establishment must remain in the establishment to which he has been assigned.. Furthermore, if any employer attempts to dissuade a workman from entering into such an undertaking or offers to retain in his employment any workman who has received notice from the Ministry of Munitions to change, the employer suffers the penalty. Again, if a workman leaves a munitions factory contrary to the regulations, employers are forbidden to give him employment anywhere else within six weeks, unless he holds a certificate from the last establishment saying that he left work with the consent of his employer or one from the munitions tribunal saying that the consent has been unreasonably withheld.

SUMMARY.

The government, therefore, does not directly manage establishments. It does (a) tell what to do; (b) determine the order of work; (c) control transport of goods and materials in proper order; (d) forbid workmen who are needed for production

of munitions to enlist; and (e) forbid trade except under license. These regulations are enforced by a committee of subordinates acting in a friendly way by a unanimous agreement. Their decisions are upon disputed questions laid before them and are subject to an appeal to their superior officers.

Their clafiisscation may be put into effect by employers or contractors, subject likewise to an appeal. Disputes of all kinds regarding prices, wages and conditions of labor are settled by committees representing all parties.

(National Civic Federation, Press Service.)

(d) [§253] The Railroads' Supreme Patriotic Duty to the Nation (1917).

BY FAIRFAX HARRISON (CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF DEFENSE).

EFFICIENCY OF EXISTING RAILROAD FACILITIES MUST BE INCREASED.

In an appeal to the railroads of the United States to increase their efficiency, so that they will be able to produce more transportation with their present facilities-an absolute necessity if the railroads are to do their full share in the defense of the Nation-the American Railway Association's Special Committee on National Defense has called upon the carriers to demonstrate to the American people what their 262,000 miles of railroads, working as a unit, can accomplish.

"Our railroads and their employes now have an opportunity to show what they can do for their country in a great emergency," is the announcement of Fairfax Harrison, President of the Southern Railway, and Chairman of the railroads' Executive Committee.

"Furthermore," Mr. Harrison says, "the Executive Committee has offered suggestions in detail the adoption of which will, it is believed, greatly increase the capacity of the present facilities. It is true that some will entail larger operating costs, but the sacrifices must be made in this national emergency.

"The European war is responsible for conditions that have caused large increases in traffic on American railroads, and as a result they are now overtaxed and they are unable to respond promptly to all demands made upon them.

ORGANIZATION OF CARS AND MOTIVE POWER.

"In the Executive Committee's appeal for greater efficiency, stress is laid on ways to get more work out of the existing freight cars. It is pointed out that a careful study has shown that by heavier loading, by expediting the movement even more than is being done at present, and by speeding up repairs, it is possible that the equivalent to 779,000 additional freight cars might be thrown into immediate use. This would increase the car supply more than 30 per cent.

"By reducing the number of locomotives under repairs, and by increasing locomotive mileage, it may be possible to keep in service 16,625 more locomotives than are in use today on our railroads. This would be equal to an increase of more than 25

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per cent. in the number of locomotives available for service. "The railroads will be foredoomed to failure in this national crisis unless they co-operate loyally and completely in carrying out the policy as to freight car service as laid down by the Executive Committee, and turned over to the Commission on Car Service for administering.

"Although our railroads have carried a record-breaking tonnage since the beginning of the war, there have been many delays, as well as shortages of service, for which they have not been altogether responsible. Nevertheless, these conditions have sorely taxed the forbearance of the public. Now, following these vexing times, our own country has entered the war, and this, of course, will increase and intensify the difficulties under which both the public and the railroads have labored.

"The Executive Committee realizes the difficulty of obtaining the maximum effect of the suggestions for increasing efficiency, owing. to the great demand for men in every quarter.

"We are relying for results, however, on our belief that the American railroad man is as patriotic as any other, and that he will respond in this national crisis, just as men in all walks of life are doing.

"We have urged the railroads to have meetings at various places all over their systems, so that their officers and employes can discuss the national situation, and learn its very great seriousness. The greatest possible interest must be aroused in the proposition of increasing the ability of the American railroads to produce a larger quantity of transportation with the existing facilities.

"To bring about this all-important result has been put up to every man in railroad service as his supreme patriotic duty."

MORE WORK WITH EXISTING FACILITIES.

The official bulletin just issued to all the railroads of the United States by the Executive Committee of the American Railway Association's Special Committee on National Defense follows:

The European war is responsible for conditions that have caused very large increases in traffic on American railroads, whose capacities are now overtaxed, and they are unable to respond promptly to all demands made on them.

In other words, there is a demand for transportation that is not being supplied, and it becomes the duty of your Committee to suggest how the present high efficiency of American railroads might be still further raised so as to increase the supply of transportation units with existing plant, forces of skilled and unskilled labor, and supplies of fuel and equipment which cannot be increased because the demand for all of these far exceeds the supply.

Your Committee prefaces its suggestions by saying that to many roads they may be unnecessary, but they are offered to all in the hope that they may find them helpful.

It is also recognized that some of these suggestions will increase operating costs, but their purpose being to increase the

capacity of the plant, the result is deemed to justify sacrifice in a national emergency.

INTELLIGENT USE OF EMBARGOES.

1. One of the greatest opportunities to increase car efficiency lies in better control of an unusual traffic movement through placing embargoes promptly so as to avoid congestion and delay. The importance of keeping yards and terminals, especially in large cities and at seaports, clear of accumulations which cannot be handled expeditiously, cannot be overestimated. The experience of the past year has shown that the number of cars held in such accumulations, together with those unduly detained by shippers, have been the chief causes of car shortage. The importance of this question demands the closest possible attention on the part of transportation officers, so that freight which cannot be moved will not be loaded in cars, which are thereby taken out of service as effectually as if they were not in existence.

2. The Executive Committee has announced a policy as to car service and has entrusted to the Commission on Car Service the duty of making that policy effective. Unless all carriers cooperate loyally and completely little will be accomplished and the railroads of the United States will be foredoomed to failure in a national crisis. We must recognize that although our railroads have carried a record-breaking traffic since the commencement of the war in Europe, there have been many delays and shortage of service for which they have not been altogether responsible, but which nevertheless have sorely taxed the forebearance of the public. Following these vexing conditions our country has entered the war, which increases and intensifies them.

The Committee realizes that it is difficult to obtain the maximum effect of these suggestions because of the great demand for men in all industry and for Government service. It is, however, believed that the American railway man is as patriotic as any other, and will help in this national crisis.

THE RAILROAD MAN'S PATRIOTIC DUTY.

You are urged to have meetings at division points with officers and employes where the seriousness of the national situation can be explained verbally and the greatest interest aroused in this subject of increasing the ability of the American railroads to furnish a larger quantity of transportation with the present plan. This is a result to which it is the patriotic duty of every man in railroad service to contribute his maximum effort.

You are also urged to use the forces of the freight and passenger departments in having meetings with commercial bodies and with shippers so as to enlist their aid in obtaining the desired efficiency.

3. To our railroads and their officers is presented the opportunity of showing what they can do for their country, and your Committee appeals to you to make extraordinary efforts to demonstrate what can be accomplished by the 262,000 miles of our railroads in co-operative and unified service.

(American Railway Association, No. 4; May 9, 1917.)

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TRANSPORTATION

(e) [$254] Problem of the Nation's Transportation.

BY SENATOR FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS.

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A significant thing about the joint committee of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives now considering the methods by which the transportation of the country should be carried on is its very comprehensive title. The word "railroad" does not occur in it. It is the "Joint Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.” As big as the railroad rate question is, as much to the front as the eighthour law has been and is to be again, as tremendous as the issue between Federal and State control may be, and as charged with new interest as the question of Government ownership undoubtedly is-all these things are but phases of the vast problem which Congress has undertaken to solve by means of this committee under the guidance of the Chairman, Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada.

CHANGE IN ATTITUDE OF RAILROAD MEN.

"Two big factors which will make for the success of this undertaking," said Senator Newlands the other day, "are the changed attitude of the railroads toward the public and the new capacity and willingness of the old state rights Democratic Party to be a national party, to legislate for the welfare of the country as a whole in all matters, such as transportation, that have long since outgrown the proper control of the separate states.

"This new power of the Democratic Party, its shedding of selfish provincialism and awakening to the needs of the entire United States, has been demonstrated along many lines in the course of the first Wilson Administration. The party has at least four years more ahead of it for even bigger work, and that surely should include the working out of adequate laws for the furtherance of domestic and foreign commerce.

"The change in the attitude of the railroad men toward Government is just as marked. For many years their attitude was one of contempt. They had everything their own way in the state capitals and in Washington. It was the conventional thing for Government to omit doing what the railroads opposed, and the representatives of the Government were very deferential to the views of the railroad representatives who appeared in opposition to reform measures when the head of this or that railroad concern came for more privilege.

"In a way the railroad men and the representatives of the Government were co-operating in the perpetuation of conditions that were not for the welfare of the public primarily. Then came the period of hostility between the railroads and Government, with the latter trying to remedy the damage of previous legislation and unwise freedom and license, and the railroads fighting every inch of the way against reform.

WATER TRANSPORTATION.

"But the railroad phase of this question of commerce must not be over-emphasized at the expense of other equally vital