The Railroads' War Board was a committee of US railroad executives, created voluntarily by the railroad industry in early 1917, in an attempt to improve railroad operations as the United States entered
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Following the declaration of war by the United States on April 6, 1917,
the railroad companies organized the war board on April 11, 1917 to support the war effort. The board comprised five members, chaired by
Fairfax Harrison
Fairfax Harrison (March 13, 1869 – February 2, 1938) was an American lawyer, businessman, and writer. The son of the secretary to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Harrison studied law at Yale University and Columbia University befor ...
, president of the
Southern Railway. The additional members were:
*
Howard Elliott, chairman,
Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...
*
Hale Holden
Hale Holden (August 11, 1869 – September 23, 1940) was president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) from 1914 to 1918 and 1920 to 1929, and chairman of the board of directors for Southern Pacific Railroad from 1932 to 1939. H ...
, president,
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...
*
Julius Kruttschnitt
Julius Kruttschnitt (July 30, 1854 – June 15, 1925) was a German American railroad executive.
Biography
He was born on July 30, 1854 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1873 and worked briefly as a s ...
, chairman,
Southern Pacific Railway
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
*
Samuel Rea
Samuel Rea (September 21, 1855 – March 24, 1929) was an American engineer and the ninth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, serving from 1913 to 1925. He joined the PRR in 1871, when the railroad had hardly outgrown its 1846 charter to bu ...
, president,
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
.
The board had limited success and in late 1917 supported the decision by President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
to
nationalize
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
the railroads to support the war effort. Wilson established the
United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalisation, nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and ...
, to nationalize the railroads, on December 26, 1917.
[
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References
American railroad executives
History of rail transportation in the United States
United States home front during World War I
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