to know that, instead of their goods being banged about whilst shunting, and smashed to pieces by angry men wheeling hand-trucks, it will be possible, so smoothly does this machinery work, for a glass of water to pass automatically from any one spot in the Clearing House to any other spot, to be transferred and retransferred from trucker to trucker without a drop of the water being spilt. This is not a theory, but a fact which has been demonstrated, as has indeed the whole working of the machinery. The phase of experiment is over.

The point which it is of profound importance for the public to appreciate is the enormous economic advantage of a reform which would reduce the cost of transport to-accepting Mr. Harper's estimate-onehalf of the present figure;1 and if we accept Mr. A. W. Gattie's statement made to the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, to one-third of the present figure. There are many, and no mean authorities, who contend that both these figures greatly understate the case. The author agrees with these latter, and attributes the figures given by the two gentlemen named to a desire that the dawn may break gently for those too long accustomed to darkness.

By Clearing House methods it will be possible to do the necessary work five hundred times more quickly than, in some instances, it is done at present.

There are also humane considerations in this matter, which will carry their full weight with the British public.

The reduction in the number of slaughter-houses, and their replacement by a properly organised abattoir in communication with the Clearing House, would be a beneficial result of the scheme.

Nothing could be more brutal and cruel than railway methods in taking beasts to slaughter. The shunting of truck loads of tortured cattle, thirsty, and terrified by

1 See Appendix.

the succession of violent shocks they receive, is a sight degrading to our civilisation. When one of these poor wretches is thrown down, it cannot get up, and it is trampled upon by its fellows.

It is contended that the railways are not responsible for this state of things. This view cannot be accepted. The railway officials are in immediate contact with the facts, and are vividly cognisant of the cruelty practised in the matter of shunting cattle, whereas the public is only vaguely aware of the abominable condition prevailing.

There were, until recently, in the County of London, over 300 licensed slaughter-houses. Some of these are insanitary and unsuitable. Animals are driven into a disused stable and are done to death under circumstances which show no consideration for the victims. 77111

By Clearing House methods all this wasteful brutality would be put an end to.

To begin with, the cattle would not be shunted. Hours of suffering, involving detriment to the value of stock, would be eliminated.

Secondly, the speed with which railway goods traffic would be conducted under the new scheme would make it an economic possibility to carry cattle in containers scientifically adapted to requirements.

The animals would be brought from their point of departure to the Clearing House without delay. If it were necessary to detain them, ample provision could be made for their comfort on the latest lines of efficiency and cleanliness. Above all, the large abattoir mentioned could be erected, where the animals could be slaughtered in a manner involving a great reduction in inspection, and, by very reason of its centralisation, immediately amenable to every improvement in slaughter-house methods.

To conclude, it is undeniable that the hauling machine called the locomotive has increased the

wealth of the world by thousands of millions of pounds per annum.

It is also beyond question that the difficulties which exist are caused by the problems of sorting, loading, and unloading of goods.

This is the "terminal" difficulty.

Can there be any doubt that the introduction of efficient terminal machinery would result in profits even more stupendous than those achieved by the locomotive ?

To continue to do this terminal work by hand, now that the problem of efficient machinery has been overcome, is as unreasonable as it would have been to have continued horse-haulage for railway work in the presence of the locomotive.

The really great epoch-making reforms, scientific and humanitarian, spring from this country. The inventor of the locomotive, and the suppression of the slave-trade, belong to England. The Englishman is often disappointing, where the supreme effort is not demanded; the English are a race of brilliant exceptions. This railway difficulty is a case where the supreme effort is needed. Once the English people grasps the gigantic issue at stake, it will with one of its mighty and irresistible impulses set free another of those gigantic forces which must, if humanity be true to itself, end in the final triumph and liberation of Democracy.

The late Professor Ayrton said of the suggestions contained in this chapter :

"I cannot see the end of them. No man can see the end of them."

CHAPTER IV

THE OPPOSITION

THE Objections which have delayed the adoption of the reforms detailed in the last chapter were crystallised by the late Sir William White, formerly Chief Constructor to the Navy, in the following words which he addressed to the originator of the Clearing House Scheme: "You have proved railway managers to be a pack of fools, and they will never forgive you and it looks as though they never would.

It will not be necessary to discuss at this point the predatory interests which stand in the way. They are disclosed by the general argument of the book.

No man of the world will ignore the peculiar potency of wounded vanity in delaying much-needed reform.

It is difficult to induce individuals, whose natural and very human egotism identifies them with those methods for which they are responsible, to treat suggestions of radical change impartially.

Another difficulty lies in dealing with the British public.

England is the home of snobbery.

Just as it is no easy task to show the public that a lord is necessarily, by very reason of his title, a person of smaller consequence than the man who moves in dignified freedom from this ridiculous appendage, so is it difficult to persuade the public that those names which figure at the head of great public institutions and undertakings are, as often as not, owned by stuffed-out automata of convention and routine. Real national progress will be obstructed until these

facts are appreciated. If a title there must be, then, to find its true value, it must be multiplied by the man who bears it. For instance, Sir W. H. Lever is a great master of commerce. He cannot be other than consummately able, for he must, and does, know all about soap, and how to sell it—and, incidentally, how to treat his work-people.

On the other hand, a Cabinet Minister may be, and often is, a vote-catching incompetent, possessing the bastard intelligence which enables him to measure the ignorance of the larger crowd, and the cunning to pander to it.

Here lies the difficulty of the regeneration of our public institutions. It is a case of stupidity enthroned. To be able to judge of men at their true value, however highly placed they may be, is the rarest gift of all.

An occasional autocrat with a sure instinct, like Queen Elizabeth, may be a blessing.

Vanity and snobbery, therefore, as always, have their place in the opposition which sours at the mention of railway reform.

However, it must not be supposed that all railway officials are against the proposed changes. Far from it; the mass, who have risen to their positions by hard work, are whole-heartedly in favour of them. It is not always safe, however, for them to give expression to their approval.

The following will show how favourably the suggested Clearing House methods may impress an experienced railway official:

Copy

DEAR SIR,

JUNE 26, 1915.

I was very pleased yesterday to have the opportunity of having explained to me and seeing your system of dealing with Railway Traffic in operation, and must again thank you for the pleasure it afforded me.