Some light was shed on the railroad situation in Russia by the
report made on June 2 to the Central Executive Committee of the
Soviets by the Assistant Commissioner of Railroads. The percentage of
disabled locomotives, he stated, was about 30, that of crippled cars
being higher. In 1917 Russia had 560,000 cars and upward of 20,000
locomotives. The Germans seized a large number of cars and locomotives.
Nevertheless, there was no scarcity of rolling stock, for the mileage
had been reduced from 45,000 to 35,000. The general conclusion of the
report was that the situation had slightly improved, especially in
Siberia.
On April 22, Leon Trotzky made a report to the Central Executive
Committee of the Soviets on the newly organized Russian Army. He
defended the employment of officers of the old army on the ground
that they were just as valuable as the military property taken over
by the Soviet Government, and pointed out the eventual necessity
of conscription. According to a London dispatch, dated June 8, the
Soviet Government decided to introduce conscription. "One of the most
promising things," said a Bolshevist diplomat in an interview on June
5, "is the steady growth of the new Red army. Its discipline already is
better than that of the old one. Its members have so far been recruited
from town and factory workers. * * * We take measures to provide for
military training in villages and towns and all necessary steps toward
raising the fighting capacity of our new army, which already is by no
means negligible."