and thereby move more than five times the volume the B & O could handle using its own tracks .
• In several places , it operated single tracks of two separate railroads as the double track of one , thus increasing the traffic capacity between various pairs of cities .
• It enforced a system granting permission to begin a shipment of freight only after receiving assurance the train could be unloaded promptly upon reaching its destination .
• It sent more freight designated for European shipment to ports in the South and Southeast , and it prevented merchant ships from sailing until they had a full load of cargo .
As part of its efforts to both aid the movement of war materials and improve the efficiency of the railroad system , the USRA also took actions that impacted passenger traffic .
• It eliminated more than 10 % of passenger train miles and shifted the industry ’ s capacity to moving soldiers .
• It rerouted passenger trains of the Sante Fe and the Western Pacific from their own terminals in Oakland , CA , to the Oakland terminal of the Southern Pacific to more efficiently use the underutilized San Francisco-bound ferry services of the SP .
• It opened the use of the Pennsylvania Railroad ’ s terminal in New York City to several other companies ’ passenger trains .
• It consolidated the number of passenger ticket offices by designating 101 to be used by multiple railroads to replace 564 separate offices used by only one carrier .
In assessing the effectiveness of the federal takeover of the railroad industry , it is necessary to first look at the period from the beginning of the takeover in January 1918 to the signing of the Armistice in November of that year . Throughout those 11 months , most railroad managers , shippers , labor leaders and ordinary citizens were quite willing to adapt to government control of the system and accept some inconveniences in their lives . The evidence suggests the railroads ’ efforts to overcome the congestion and inefficiencies that previously plagued the system were quite successful .
• By redirecting Pullman coaches and both passenger and freight cars , railroads transported more than 6.4 million soldiers from homes to training camps to embarkation points , and they did so with minimal accidents , delays , bottlenecks or congestion .
• By reallocating the use of various types of freight cars , they moved an average of 1.2 million tons of food per month from farms to processing plants to domestic consumers and East Coast embarkation points .
• By taking similar actions with coal cars and locomotives , they relieved the congestion at the mines and moved record amounts of that energy source to businesses and homes throughout the country .
• By reallocating 850,000 freight cars and pooling all equipment , they turned the shortage of 148,000 freight cars in November 1917 to a mild surplus a year later .
After the fighting stopped but before a formal peace treaty was signed , the USRA tried to maintain the practices that had helped unify the railroad system . But the end of hostilities also brought about the disappearance of the patriotic spirit that had enabled railroad managers , shippers , labor unions and the general public to tolerate the restrictions the USRA had been imposing on the railroad system . Some observers wanted the government to turn the railroads back to private control immediately . Others preferred to maintain federal control until Congress could codify some of the USRA policies that had proven most successful in improving the efficiency of the system . Director General McAdoo recommended extending the period of federal control for five years to allow for thoughtful consideration of efficiency-improving changes .
Throughout 1919 , the USRA continued to operate the system , although it found it necessary and useful to back off certain restrictions .
• It permitted shippers to choose their preferred route for cargo once again .
• It expanded passenger traffic and permitted the resumption of consumer advertising of routes and timetables .
• It permitted the movement of cars not fully loaded with freight .
In addition , the organization had to deal with erratic seasonal traffic flow associated with a post-Armistice recession , separate strikes by engine house workers and coal miners , as well as the needs for changes in working conditions and wages for certain classes of railroad workers .
Meanwhile , Congress was holding hearings on various bills that would not only return the railroad system to private hands , but also bring some order to what had long been regarded as a chaotic and inefficient “ non-system .” Back in 1916 , a congressional committee ( the Newlands Committee ) had begun to investigate the problems . But after only a few months of hearings , it suspended that work .
The result of the congressional deliberations throughout 1919 was the Transportation Act of 1920 . That 44-page law had five densely worded titles . The most important one contained 11 sections detailing the procedures for ending the period of federal control . The USRA turned the railroad system back to its private operators on March 1 , 1920 . The 26-month-long reasonably successful , but nonetheless controversial , experiment would not be repeated when the United States entered the next World War .
Michael A . Martorelli is a Director Emeritus at Fairmount Partners in Radnor , PA , and a frequent contributor to Financial History . He received his MA in History from American Military University .
Sources
Cunningham , William J . American Railroads : Government Control and Reconstruction Policies . A . W . Shaw Company . 1922 .
Dixon , Frank Haigh , Ph . D . Railroads and Government : Their Relations in the United States 1910 – 1921 . Charles Scribner ’ s Sons . 1922 . Hines , Walker D . War History of American Railroads . Yale University Press . 1928 .
Kerr , K . Austin . “ Decision for Federal Control : Wilson , McAdoo , and the Railroads , 1917 .” The Journal of American History , Vol . 54 , No 3 . December 1967 .
Sharfman , Leo . The American Railroad Problem : A Study in War and Reconstruction . The Century Co . 1921 .
Thelen , Max . “ Public Service Under Government Operation of the Railroads .” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , Vol . 86 . November 1919 .
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