DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

A portion of the railway level of a Goods Clearing House, showing one of the street level bridges, above, crossing the railway tracks; below, at right angles. Also showing one of the trenches cut in the railway level, parallel with the railway tracks, disclosing the crypt beneath the railway level. Cranes are shown hoisting containers from one level to another. The under side of the lowest sorting floor is just visible at the top of the picture.-Drawn by Cecil King from the designs of A. W. Gattie.

This drawing is intended to help the reader in forming a general idea of the proposed arrangements, but, in order to do this, certain details of construction have, for simplicity, been omitted

FRONTISPIECE

Diagram showing the comparative increase in railway revenue and expenditure

Diagram showing the fall in the price of steel

ON PAGE 16

Diagram showing fluctuations in the price of timber
Diagram showing the fluctuations in the price of coal
Diagram showing the mobility of a railway goods wagon

Diagram showing the life of a steam locomotive

19

21

TO FACE PAGE

A railway goods station platform, showing existing method of transfer of goods as between road and rail vehicles, by means of hand-trucks

ON PAGE

Diagram showing what happens to interterminal traffic as goods stations are multiplied

ON PAGE 64

ON PAGE 68

ON PAGE 84

Diagram showing traffic of Chicago, where there are eighty-six goods stations

1

Diagram showing the comparative sizes of the proposed London
Goods Clearing House and St. Paul's Cathedral -

A box container, as commonly used on the streets of London

TO FACE PAGE 99

A portion of one of the sorting floors of a Goods Clearing House, showing compound conveyor system

Diagram showing a cartage system radiating from a centre, that centre being a Goods Clearing House

ON PAGE 186

Map of a portion of London showing the suggested position of the proposed London Goods Clearing House, with street and tube approaches ON PAGE 89 AND FACING PAGE 340

CALIFORNIA

HOW TO MAKE THE RAILWAYS PAY FOR THE WAR

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CHAPTER I

THE NEED FOR TRANSPORT REFORM

Transport is being strangled by its own increase."-JAMES J. HILL. THERE is no problem more important to the individual citizens than that of transport.

This has always been the case, but in these days of complex industrial organisation it is more than ever true, because nowadays every man manufactures for export rather than for home consumption as was the custom with primitive peoples.

It is therefore deeply to be deplored that the public in general should know so little about the question of transport. Had this been otherwise, the present disastrous condition of affairs could never have arisen.

To begin with, let it be clearly stated that there is no mystery whatever about railway affairs. There is no hidden law. There is no occult lore. He who runs may read. When put in plain terms, railway matters are very interesting, and quite simple: indeed, the romance of all industry is eternal. The average man is quite capable of judging whether this business of railways is carried on properly. In the interest of the whole community, the question he should ask himself is this: Do we obtain the full benefit of the locomotive and the steel road; and if we do not, what is the explanation?

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The importance of this question lies in the fact that the locomotive is the mainspring of the machinery of

commerce.

It is as well to have a formula on which to base the argument of this work, and that formula is this:

1. PRESENT RAILWAY METHODS DO NOT ADMIT OF ECONOMIC EXPANSION.

2. EXPANSION HAS BEEN, IS, AND MUST CONTINUE TO BE, A NECESSITY.

If it is proved that the present system does not admit of economic expansion, no business man can contend that this system is sound, or that it should be continued.

The locomotive is the greatest money-earning machine ever invented, and at the present time it hardly earns its upkeep.

The locomotive has been in use for over seventy years, but only a mere fraction of the advantage to be derived from its vast powers has been realised.

This is a surprising statement, but it will be shown to be true.

It is a machine which under favourable circumstances can haul one ton of goods one hundred miles for one penny. The actual average cost paid for that service is 16s. Let the reader compare this with the freight rates he is called upon to pay, and let him earnestly consider the matter.

In the course of this book it will be shown why there is such a discrepancy between the capabilities of a locomotive and its performance.

George Stephenson, in inventing the locomotive, probably imagined that he was replacing equine haulage, Pickfords and the rest of them. He was, however, doing nothing of the kind. He had underrated the human obtuseness which was destined almost to wreck his great gift to humanity. The triumph

of this obtuseness is undoubtedly due to the indifference of the average man to railway affairs.

The man in the street is unfortunately under the impression that goods transport does not greatly concern him. This is an error which if persisted in by the many must very materially damage the prosperity of the whole country.

Sir Henry Trueman Wood, secretary of the Royal Society of Arts, in a letter on the subject of transport reform, and with reference to a scheme which had been brought to his notice, wrote:

"It would be a very costly undertaking, and I do not think people would be inclined to put money into it without some sort of guarantee that it would be supported by the only people affected—the railways."

In penning the last few words Sir Henry Trueman Wood was not more foolish than most people, and he reveals the fatal lack of knowledge of the ordinary man towards this all-important subject.

It would be easy to show any individual whatsoever that economic transport must be his immediate and intimate concern.

On the average, more than half the cost of everything we eat, drink, wear, or use in any way, consists of transport charges.

Therefore it is quite clear that every man, woman, and child is interested to know whether this book is true or not.

How little the problem is understood is shown by the opinion which was expressed by a well-to-do citizen, that transport was a matter of no personal concern to himself, and that goods transport did not cost him 5s. a year. It was an easy matter, however, to show him that he had paid, in goods-transport charges, more than twice that sum for the number of carryings involved in the production and manufacture of the coat he wore.

To the housekeeper it will be as well to point out