receiving, as it does, a large measure of political support. Such a reform should be of the very essence of that national awakening, without which this war will have been waged in vain. A sound system of transport is essential to national efficiency. PREFACE WHEN some years ago my attention was first drawn to the conditions of our English railways, I had not the remotest idea that a further study of the subject would reveal such utter chaos and corruption as I found to exist. It seemed a state of things almost beyond remedy. At this period I happened to renew my acquaintance with Mr. A. W. Gattie, whom I had not seen except in the most fleeting manner for over twenty years. He informed me that he had invented a terminal machine which had in it the possibilities of a railway revolution. I, at the time, attached small importance to the statement, as I had heard of many wondrous cures for railways evils. A closer examination of the scheme, and a further acquaintance with Mr. A. W. Gattie's extraordinary erudition on the subject of railway difficulties, convinced me that here, at any rate, was a man who was absolutely master of his subject; and I am of the opinion that his scheme for railway reform will endow English commerce with new life, and put us in a position to compete on equal, indeed on superior, terms with Germany, our great continental rival. I am indebted to him for much of my education in this intricate subject, and for the free use of his lectures and diagrams. I am also under the deepest obligation to the authorities listed at the end of the book, to those with whom I differ equally with those with whom I am in agreement. It has been necessary to use harsh words, but at such a time plain patriotism demands the truth. I am not afraid of hard blows in return. |