Railroad Revenues and Expenses; Extract from Hearing Before the Committee on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Sixty-Seventh Congress, First
(This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ...into the territory where the grain was. In the case of the coal it was a question of getting more open-top cars, distributing them to the best advantage, and moving them promptly after loading. Senator La Follette. In other words, in the movement of that coal nothing resulted in diminishing the revenue to the Government? Mr. Mcadoo. No, sir; nothing that I am aware of. We used the facilities in common to get the shipments through. That was, of course, one of the purposes and advantages of Government control. Corporations Relieved or Operating Carriers--Regional Directors APPOINTED. On March 21,1918, Congress passed the Federal control act, which created practically the relation of lessor and lessee between the railroad corporations and the Government; and by the first of May I had become convinced that the management of the railroads by the railroad corporations under the direction of the Director General could no longer be continued. Not only was I dissatisfied with the results of the corporate operation of the roads as above set out, but I realized that under the Federal control act there would inevitably be conflicts between the duty of the railroad executives to their corporations and their duty to the Government, making it impossible for a railroad president to fairly repesent his corpoation and the Government at the same time. Moreover, I become convinced that economy and efficiency could not be secured without the rerouting of traffic by the shortest and most efficient lines which meant the elimination of competition, the abandonment of unnecessary passenger and freight mileage, the elimination of many employees who were required under competitive control and were not needed under unified operation of the railroads. Experience of...
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Leonor Fresnel Loree was an American engineer and railroad executive. He served as a president of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad from 1907 to 1938.
Background
Leonor Fresnel Loree was born on April 23, 1858 in Fulton City, Illinois, United States of New Jersey parents. He was the second son and third of six children of William Mulford Loree, shipbuilder and millwright, and Sarah Elizabeth (Marsh) Loree, and the eldest of their children to survive infancy.
Education
Loree was educated at Rutgers College, where he received the degrees of Bachelor of Science (1877), Master of Science (1880), and honorary Civil Engineering (1896) and Doctor of Laws (1917). He also obtained a Doctor of Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1933.
Career
In 1877 Loree became an assistant in the engineer corps of the Pennsylvania Railroad and followed this work with two years as a transitman with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (1879 - 1881). From 1881 to 1883 he served as leveler, transitman, and topographer in the preliminary survey of the Mexican National Railway between the Rio Grande and Saltillo. Loree's career with the Pennsylvania, which established his reputation as an unusually able railway executive, began in earnest with his appointment in 1883 as assistant engineer of the Chicago division of the Pennsylvania Lines West--the system west of Pittsburgh operated under the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 1884 he became engineer of maintenance of way, Indianapolis and Vincennes division; in 1886 he was shifted to the same post on the Chicago division, and in 1888 to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh division. With its burgeoning traffic in ore and coal, this last division, then chiefly single-track and hampered by heavy grades and many curves, was regarded as the most difficult operating problem on the Pennsylvania Lines West, but Loree did notable work in developing new methods (among them the lap siding), and in 1889 he was made division superintendent. His continued accomplishments led to his appointment as general manager of the Pennsylvania Lines West in 1896 and as fourth vice-president on January 1, 1901.
The "community of interest" plan--a form of railroad consolidation short of outright merger--was at this time being developed in the East under the leadership of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads in an effort to stabilize competition in the area. Early in 1901 the Pennsylvania acquired a controlling interest in the Baltimore & Ohio, and on June 1, 1901, Loree was elected president of the latter. Although his tenure was short, lasting only until the end of 1903, his leadership was vigorous and resulted in a general tightening of performance as well as in numerous innovations. For nine months in 1904 Loree served as president of the Rock Island Company (New Jersey) and chairman of the executive committee of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the St. Louis-San Francisco, and associated lines.
In 1907 Loree became president, chairman of the executive committee, and a member of the board of managers of the Delaware and Hudson Company; and although he served as chairman of the executive committee of the Kansas City Southern, 1906-1936, and after 1909 as chairman of the board, it was the Delaware and Hudson to which his primary energies as an executive were thereafter devoted. His impact upon the company was immediate and lasting. He also took a deep interest in financial and consolidation matters, especially when, in response to the Transportation Act of 1920, the Interstate Commerce Commission undertook to draw up a plan for consolidating the nation's railroads into a limited number of systems. In the eastern district a pattern of four projected major trunk lines soon took shape. Fearing that the Delaware and Hudson might be absorbed into one of these systems or turned over to the joint control of all of them, Loree presented to the Commission in 1925 a "fifth trunk line" plan, under which the D. & H. would have been combined with other lines to form a system linking New York City with Chicago and St. Louis. When, during the boom period of the later 1920's, the eastern roads took the consolidation movement into their own hands, a boisterous competition to win control of strategic properties ensued.
In pursuit of his plan, Loree sought to gain a controlling interest in the Lehigh Valley Railroad and attempted to lease for the D. & H. the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh. Though he and W. H. Williams of the Wabash had together acquired 44 per cent of the Lehigh Valley's stock by 1927, Loree's efforts failed, in part because of the counter-maneuvers of the New York Central, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Cleveland railroad interests of Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen. The financial transactions nevertheless proved to be highly profitable to the D. & H. Other schemes of Loree's, such as a proposed consolidation in the Southwest and a proposed North Atlantic terminal system, failed of consummation, the former because of disapproval by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the latter because of the depression.
Few railroad presidents have been known for their writings. A three weeks' illness in 1920 led Loree to conceive and to begin writing his Railroad Freight Transportation (1922), a book which in the whole English-language literature of railroads comes closest to an analysis of railroad operations. It reveals also his own personality and philosophy, as well as the thoroughness and energy with which he approached the administration of railroads--a principal key to his success. Loree served as a member of the National War Labor Board in World War I. He was a trustee of Rutgers and president (1928 - 1930) of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. In 1926 he led a minority group of railway executives in unsuccessfully opposing the Watson-Parker Bill, which established a board of mediation for railway labor disputes. In 1931-1932 Loree served on the Royal Commission to Inquire into Railways and Transportation in Canada (the so-called Duff Commission) and contributed much to its distinguished report. He retired as president of the Delaware and Hudson in 1938.