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Who Gets the Railroad Dollar by Jules Backman 1949 soft cover
Who Gets the Railroad Dollar by Jules Backman Distributed by Eastern, Western and Southeastern Railroads. Copyright 1949. 29 pages
THE war dramatized the vital role of railroads as a part of the nation's network of transportation. All forms of transportation contributed to the war effort to the hilt. The railroads, nevertheless, hauled 70% of all freight, 90% of all military freight, and 97% of the military personnel. A sound railroad system is therefore a prerequisite for the continued safety of this country in any future emergency.
The railroads perform a role equally vital to every businessman, worker or housewife. In 1948, for example, the railroads carried 643,000,000 passengers, or an average of about 41/2 trips for each person in the country. These passengers traveled 41 billion miles. Included among the regular railroad customers were millions of commuters who traveled nearly 6 billion miles by rail to get to their places of business and to return to their suburban homes.
In 1948 the railroads carried 64% of all freight, or about the same proportion as in 1939. During the war years, the proportion was considerably higher. Most of the mail, other than local in destination, is moved by rail. Before the war, other transportation agencies made steady inroads on the volume of freight hauled. This trend was reversed during the war years, but in the postwar years it has once more been resumed. In 1948, for example, the volume of freight traffic handled by the railroads declined, while that handled by trucks and various water carriers increased.
Railroads are the source, directly or indirectly, of one in every 20 to 25 jobs today. In 1948, for example, as a source of direct employment they carried on their payrolls 1.3 million employees, or more than 21/2% of the total civilian employment in nonagricultural industries. Nearly a quarter of a million white collar workers-stenographers, typists, clerks, etc.-are employed in this industry.
The railroads also create a large volume of indirect employment through their expenditures for materials and supplies, and for additions and betterments. In 1948, this spending approximated $3,500 million. Thus, in purchasing about a fourth of all bituminous coal, the railroads indirectly account for a significant proportion of employment in that industry. This is also true for fuel oil, timber, and iron and steel. Many thousands of other items also are bought. Without the movement of farm crops, particularly perishables, the dimensions of agricultural production and employment would be sharply reduced.
The importance of railroad service to the entire economy in peacetime was brought home to every citizen when the trains ground to a halt during the strike in May, 1946. Within that short period of two days many parts of our economy were reduced to little more than a self-subsistence basis. Each community rapidly developed plans to rely upon its stocks or upon goods produced within a narrow radius. Without railroads our complicated system of specialization and exchange could not function, and the standard of living of all of us would fall sharply.
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