I am sure that I am speaking the mind of all thoughtful Americans
when I say that it is our duty as the representatives of the nation
to do everything that it is necessary to do to secure the complete
mobilization of the whole resources of America by as rapid and
effective a means as can be found. Transportation supplies all the
arteries of mobilization. Unless it be under a single and unified
direction, the whole process of the nation's action is embarrassed.
It was in the true spirit of America, and it was right, that we
should first try to effect the necessary unification under the
voluntary action of those who were in charge of the great railway
properties, and we did try it. The directors of the railways
responded to the need promptly and generously. The group of railway
executives who were charged with the task of actual co-ordination and
general direction performed their difficult duties with patriotic
zeal and marked ability, as was to have been expected, and did, I
believe, everything that it was possible for them to do in the
circumstances. If I have taken the task out of their hands, it has
not been because of any dereliction or failure on their part, but
only because there were some things which the Government can do, and
private management cannot. We shall continue to value most highly the
advice and assistance of these gentlemen, and I am sure we shall not
find them withholding it.
It had become unmistakably plain that only under Government
administration can the entire equipment of the several systems of
transportation be fully and unreservedly thrown into a common service
without injurious discrimination against particular properties; only
under Government administration can absolutely unrestricted and
unembarrassed common use be made of all tracks, terminal facilities
and equipment of every kind. Only under that authority can new
terminals be constructed and developed without regard to the
requirements or limitations of particular roads. But under Government
administration all these things will be possible--not instantly, but
as fast as practical difficulties, which cannot be merely conjured
away, give way before the new management.