are interested in the broad philosophical discussion of accounting principles and in the analogy between railroad accounting and industrial accounting. The style is somewhat labored. In many places throughout the volume the meaning would be clearer and the message would be more effective were the thought stated in less involved phraseology.

In one respect the book may be disappointing to railroad accountants who may expect to find something more than the volume contains. Knowing of Professor Adams' intimate connection with the development of the accounting classifications, they may look for a more personal tone than the author has assumed, or for interesting historical sidelights on many moot points and for reasons for reversal of policy and practice. For example there is no reference to the subject of a division of expenses between the freight and passenger services, altho such a division was required by the first classification of operating expenses issued by Professor Adams. After an experience of a few years the requirement was withdrawn, to be renewed after Professor Adams had left the Commission. His opinion on the advisability of charging out depreciation on physical structures as well as on units of rolling stock is not given, and there are some troublesome points in connection with accounting for additions and betterments (such as the Kansas City Southern case) which the railroad accountant would like to see discussed.

The book contains 465 pages of which 273 are devoted to reprints of existing classifications which are, or should be, in the hands of all of the three classes of reader mentioned in the preface. These classifications are public documents obtainable at nominal prices, and there appears to be little justification for reprinting them in this volume. The same criticism, however, applies to other volumes on the same subject Eaton, Hooper, and Sykes. The majority of readers would be more interested if the pages devoted to the lengthy appendices were used to throw further light on obscure or controversial points in the individual accounts.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

W. J. CUNNINGHAM.

NOTES AND MEMORANDA

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS
UNDER GOVERNMENT CONTROL

ON December 31, 1916, there were 2905 railroad companies in the United States, operating 185 major systems, 221 switching and terminal companies, 1434 plant facility roads, and 765 so-called "short line "railroads. A momentous era in the organization of the principal lines opened on December 26, 1917, when the President took control and placed under the authority of Director General McAdoo the roads considered an essential part of the transportation system of the nation. Since that time, many of the plant facility and short line railroads have been released from federal control. The roads retained are being operated as one system, a method impossible under laws governing the railroads when they were under private control.

Changes by which this new order has brought about, have been far-reaching in character, but have been put into effect with such consideration for existing organizations that there has been no confusion. Every change has been made with due regard to actual conditions and has been brought about to effect practical reforms rather than to carry out theoretical preconceptions. The results already achieved have proved that most of them were to the advantage of the railroad themselves, as well as to the shipping and traveling public.

The disadvantages of the competitive operation of the railroads, at least in war times, are self-evident. Take the question of the routing of freight and passengers alone. Where it was to the financial advantage of every road to carry as much traffic as possible, it was manifestly impossible to always haul freight by the shortest routes or to take advantage of the best

grades. In many cases, because of competition, passenger trains of competing roads, each frequently but partially filled, left the same point at the same time and arrived at the same destination at the same time, altho economy and efficiency of operation would naturally require that each train carry a full load and leave at a different time. The same is true of terminals and ticket offices. Plainly it is in the public welfare to have consolidated terminals and consolidated ticket offices wherever possible.

The first act of the Director General of Railroads, after taking control of the railroad systems of the United States under order of the President, was to issue instructions that all officers and employees should continue in the performance of their regular duties, reporting to the same offices as previously. The railroads were placed under federal control in the midst of unusually severe weather conditions, and the primary duty facing the Railroad Administration was to meet this situation. Until the severity of the winter abated every energy of the Railroad Administration was directed to the sole object of moving coal and other necessary war material.

On January 18 the Director General divided the country, from a railroad standpoint, into regions—namely, the Eastern, Southern, and Western Regions, placing an experienced railroad man in charge of each, and giving instructions that "orders issued by the gentlemen named in their capacity or Regional Directors, will be issued by authority of the Director General, and will be respected accordingly." Since that time, and for the purpose of better administration, four additional regions have been added, and at the present time the railroad mileage of the country has been divided as follows:

1. The Eastern Region, A. H. Smith, Regional Director, New York, comprises the lines located chiefly in the New England States, in New York State, in the northwestern portion of Pennsylvania, and in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

Some of the more important lines included in this region are the New York, New Haven and Hartford; the Boston and Maine; the Boston and Albany; the New York Central; the Nickel Plate, the West Shore, the Delaware and Hudson; the Lehigh Valley; the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western; the Baltimore and Ohio west of Pittsburgh; the Pennsylvania west of Pittsburgh, and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh.

2. The Allegheny Region, C. H. Markham, Regional Director, Philadelphia, comprises the lines located chiefly in the state of Pennsylvania, the northern part of West Virginia, and some of the lines traversing Maryland and New Jersey. It also includes the Long Island lines as an extension of the Pennsylvania road east of Pittsburgh.

Among the more important lines in this region are the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Pennsylvania lines east of the Ohio River; the Bessemer and Lake Erie; the Central of New Jersey; the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk; the Philadelphia and Reading, and the Western Maryland.

3. The Pocahontas Region, N. D. Maher, Regional Director, Roanoke, Va., contains most of the east and west lines traversing Virginia and West Virginia and a certain portion of the mileage penetrating the coal fields of Kentucky and southern Ohio.

Among the more important lines in this region are the Chesapeake and Ohio east of Louisville, Columbus, and Cincinnati; the Norfolk and Western, and the Virginian, including the terminals of all railways at Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News, Va., and the Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt lines.

4. The Southern Region, B. L. Winchell, Regional Director, Atlanta, Ga., includes most of the north and south lines, traversing the territory south of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers and east of the Mississippi River.

Among the more important lines in this region are the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, the Southern, the Norfolk Southern, the Louisville and Nashville, the Florida East Coast, the Central of Georgia, the Alabama Great Southern, and the Illinois Central lines south of Cairo, Ill.

5. The Northwestern Region, R. H. Aishton, Regional Director, Chicago, contains most of the mileage running west and northwest of Chicago and Kansas City to and toward the Pacific coast. Generally this mileage traverses northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Iowa, northern Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Among the more important lines included in the Northwestern region are the Chicago and Northwestern; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; the Chicago Great Western; the Great Northern; the Minneapolis and St. Louis; the Northern Pacific; the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie; the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company, and the Southern Pacific lines north of Ashland, Oregon.

6. The Central Western Region, Hale Holden, Regional Director, Chicago, comprises the lines running in a southwesterly direction from Chicago and Kansas City to and toward the Pacific coast. The mileage of this district traverses the states of Illinois, southern Iowa, northern Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, southern Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

Among the more important lines in the Central Western region are the Union Pacific; the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe; the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, excepting that portion of its lines that are included in the Southwestern District; the Chicago and Alton; Chicago and Eastern Illinois; the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; Colorado and Southern; the Northwestern Pacific; the Oregon Short Line; the Southern Pacific lines west of El Paso and Ogden except north of Ashland, Oregon; the Western Pacific; and the El Paso and Southwestern.

7. The Southwestern Region, B. F. Bush, Regional Director, St. Louis, includes most of the lines south of the Missouri River running generally southwest and traversing the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi. Among the more important lines in this region are the International and Great Northern; the Kansas City Southern; the Missouri Pacific System; the Missouri, Kansas and Texas; a certain portion of the Rock Island lines; the St. Louis and San Francisco; the Texas and Pacific; the Wabash lines from St. Louis to Kansas City and Omaha; the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe; the Fort Worth and Denver City; the Southern Pacific lines east of El Paso; and the Texas and New Orleans lines.

Under these Regional Directors have been appointed District Directors in charge of subdivisions of the Regional Districts.

In the division of the country into regions, little attention has been paid to state lines. The controlling idea has been to assemble under the management of one Regional Director the larger portion of the railroad mileage serving his territory. As a result of this arrangement, parts of several of the largest systems have been put in different regions. Since the regional division of the country and the allocation of lines and Federal Managers, there have been a few changes, once it has been decided that efficiency would be increased thereby. The system is in the process of evolution and probably there will be more changes later, altho, generally speaking, it seems likely that the present division is practical, and is achieving the desired results.