John had thought that Randolph had come to him to talk about arms procurement. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Unexpectedly, Randolph asked him about logistics and transportation management.

Come to think of it, the situation in Europe has developed to such a point that the game over arms exports has long since risen to the national level. Although John is in charge of the approval of arms exports in the Army General Staff, he is only a specific executor, and he really does not have much say in the general direction.

Moreover, in the eyes of outsiders, John is just a new recruit in the army, and even at the practical level, it is difficult to say how much role he can play. So it's not unusual for Randolph not to talk to him about arms purchases at all.

Randolph approached John this time mainly to ask this "transport tycoon" how to reverse the current chaos in the British transport industry.

Members of Britain's wartime cabinet, including Winston Churchill, are now very unhappy with the state of the British transport industry. Randolph's visit to the United States to study and learn from the management experience of the American transportation industry was also one of the tasks assigned to him by Churchill. John, an "old friend", was undoubtedly the best person for Randolph to consult.

In the United States, the surname Vanderbilt is almost synonymous with railroads. FedEx's take-off in the past two years has given John the halo of a "pioneer in the new era" in the logistics and transportation industry. John still had a lot to say on these issues.

Randolph gave John a detailed overview of the current problems facing the UK transport industry. On the maritime side, a new type of magnetic mine alone has disrupted Britain's maritime supply lines. Over the past few months, Britain has lost nearly 300,000 tons of materiel to these mines.

The situation is even worse for domestic rail transport. The UK rail network now has a staggering 70% miss rate. Although this number is affected by the recent abnormal weather, it is also scary enough.

"John, if we don't solve the problem of transportation, we can't win the war at all." Randolph said eagerly, "You know, when I left London, food rationing began to be in place. ”

"The housewives had to bring their ration books to the retailers they registered with to buy butter, sugar and bacon. Adults have only 4 ounces of butter, 12 ounces of sugar, and 4 ounces of bacon or raw ham per week. ”

John drank coffee with two pieces of sugar and sympathized with it, but in his heart he despised the Brits for being too pretentious. The Germans, however, have been rationed in kind since August last year, with only 3 ounces of butter and 8 ounces of sugar per person per week.

Randolph continued to pour bitter water: "Now even if I go out for afternoon tea, I can only buy 1/7 ounce of sugar and 1/6 ounce of butter per person each time. 1/6 ounce of butter, which is a small round just 3 pence thick. For this purpose, many restaurants have also installed special weighing equipment. ”

John kindly handed Randolph a freshly baked cookie: "Don't worry, Randolph, the difficulties will pass." Things are much better now than they were in 1915, aren't they? ”

"The worst thing right now is not the shortage of food. No marmalade ~ uh ~ This cookie tastes really good. The point is that many factories have had to cut working hours or shut down due to the shortage of raw materials. ”

John couldn't understand why the British loved marmalade so much. Historically, the British government spent a lot of effort to import citrus from Seville every year during World War II, and there was a special regulation that allowed housewives to get extra sugar to make marmalade.

Randolph finally swallowed the cookie and continued: "The Germans were negotiating with the Soviets because of labor shortages, hoping that they would allow the Germanic people living in eastern Poland, western Ukraine, and eastern Galicia to return home. As for us, the number of unemployed rose by 1.6 million last month because of the shutdown of businesses, which is 120,000 more than in the same period last year. Especially because of the shortage of building materials such as wood, the entire civil construction industry is laying off workers, with 250,000 construction workers laid off last month alone. ”

"So, how can I help?" John asked.

"We already have a solution to the problem of magnetic mines. The Admiralty ordered a batch of buoyant cables, which they were going to hang behind the wooden trawlers and detonate the mines by the magnetic field formed by the electric current in the cables. "Now the problem is rail transport," says Randolph. John, you Vanderbilt are experts in this, can you help us think of any good ideas? ”

"Is there anything the railroad company has to say about the delay?" John hesitated, but decided to do this favor anyway, and it would be good to get Churchill to owe him some favors.

"The explanation given by the railway company is: First, because of the light control, the loading and unloading time of the wagons has been greatly extended. Second, because it is impossible to predict when the ships carrying fresh food will arrive at the port, they often urgently adjust the transportation plan in order to transport the food, delaying the transportation of other goods. Another is that the movement of the army has also affected the normal operation of ordinary passenger and freight trains. ”

As soon as John heard it, he knew that these reasons seemed plausible on the surface, but in fact they were just excuses for the railroad operating companies.

As in the United States, ownership of the UK's rail network is in the hands of private companies. When the government suffers from the demands of the war to the detriment of the interests of these railroad owners, it will naturally encounter a backlash. Even if these railroad bosses do not openly confront the government due to legal and moral pressure, they will do everything they can to ensure that their interests are not compromised in the first place.

"What is the opinion of the railway regulator?" John continued.

"They hope that the wartime cabinet will come forward to negotiate with the railway companies to temporarily take over the operation of the railway network." Randolph thought for a moment, and then whispered: "There is also an opinion to simply nationalize all inland and coastal transport, and the Minister of War, Mr. Belisha, is more in favor of the latter. John, what do you think, can it be successful? ”

John almost squirted Randolph with the coffee in his mouth. Did this guy drink too much at night, I wonder if he is also the owner of a private transport business. He was also asked what he thought of nationalization. What can he think, of course, whoever proposes will kill whomever it is, what else is there to say.

As a qualified capitalist, he can be patriotic, but only if the country is able to protect his interests. When necessary, they can give up some of their personal interests for the sake of the country, and some can even sacrifice their lives for the country. But when the country wants to take away their core industries, do you see that they are still patriotic.

Historically, MPs have introduced bills in the House of Commons to nationalise inland and coastal transport enterprises. At that time, it was unanimously opposed by almost all the big capitalists. Even if some capitalist companies are suffering from the chaos of the railway system, they are not willing to let the government take the lead.

In the end, the House of Commons rejected the bill, and even the Minister of War Belisha, who supported the bill, was forced to resign voluntarily. In exchange, the railroads agreed to submit to stricter government regulation, allowing the government to exercise control over railway tolls. But the government must also guarantee the ownership and operation of the network by the railway companies and ensure that the railway companies do not suffer financial losses by supporting the war effort.