Excerpt from General Transport Situation in 1921, Vol. 2: Statements Submitted by the States Which Took Part in the First General Conference on Communications and Transit, Held in March-April 1921 A comparison between transport in the German Empire before and after the war shows that the situation in Germany has developed since the war in an entirely different way from that in other countries. As a result of the cession of large areas in the west and in the east, the railway system has been reduced by 4, 819 kms. By the terms of the Armistice, Germany was compelled to hand over to her enemies 5,000 locomotives, 140,000 goods wagons and 10,000 passenger carriages. As in all countries which were affected by the war, traffic has suffered from the increased use of the permanent way, buildings and materials. The whole transport system has felt the effect of the sudden introduction of the eight-hour day, the resulting increase of employees (whose capacity and willingness to work was diminished by the privations of war), and the marked increase in salaries and wages, and also in the cost of all materials. The depreciation in the value of money has had considerable influence on the financial situation; the increased expenditure could not be entirely off-set by raising the passenger and goods rates. Another consideration, which affects Germany, was the taking over of the State railways by the Imperial Government on April 1st, 1920; this necessitated a vast amount of re-organisation, which also had its effect on traffic. Complete returns regarding the State operation of the lines are not yet available for the administrative year beginning on April 1st, 1920, so that, in most cases, the only positive data which can be used for purposes of comparison are those of the year 1919/20. In certain cases reliable data regarding the present situation and possible future developments are not yet obtainable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.