I need a summary of the forming, organization and activites of the
short lived United States Railroad Police which was establised by the
US goverment during World War I. At the same time they took over all
the nation's railroads for the durarion of the hostilities. Several
badges have been found and the first Chief was N. J. Fynn, an active
U.S. Secret Service agent. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
12 Apr 2004 15:56 PDT
Can you tell us a bit more about where you learned about the Railroad
Police, and what you know about them? Any additional information will
be a help in being able to focus our search.
Thanks.
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Clarification of Question by
hawkshaw-ga
on
13 Apr 2004 13:39 PDT
I am a railroad Special Agent - all of the major and some of the
smaller railroads have railroad police departments. The United States
Railroad Police was formed by the United States government after the
outbreak of World War I. It took the exsisting railroad police
departments and all of their agents and put them under the government
control. Similar to Homeland Security taking over several
pre-exsisting departments under one umbrella. However, by the time
the goverment got its act together on this, the war was almost over.
Once the war ended, the control of the individual departments and its
agents went back to the railroad companies. Information on this might
be found with the American Association of Railroads in Washington, DC
or the wartime records of the U.S. Government, especially the
consolidation of all the U.S. railroads under federal control during
the war. Individual railroads, having been merged repeatedly over the
decades into larger and larger companies, have lost most information
on this particular subject. I am only looking for information on this
wartime take-over.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
13 Apr 2004 15:12 PDT
What I've found so far is that the United States Railroad
Administration nationalized the railroads in 1917, and was disbanded
in 1920. However, I haven't yet found anything on their police force.
Perhaps another researcher can use this information to conduct a more
in-depth search than I have thus far been able to. But if I learn
anything more, I'll be sure to get back to you.
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Request for Question Clarification by
tutuzdad-ga
on
13 Apr 2004 18:57 PDT
I found a source for extensive information related to the federal
governement take-over of the railway system from 1918-1921 but no
mention of the railway police.
Would you like this source as an answer?
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
tutuzdad-ga
on
14 Apr 2004 20:06 PDT
I now have in my posession two documents (one of which is still
partially censored for some reason) that effectively gave the orders
to establish the US Railroad Police and to make Mr. Flynn the overseer
of the organization. The name of the person giving the order the the
name of the person to whom Mr Flynn would ultimatley answer are both
given. The documents are both dated 1918.
I can post these online for you TEMPORARILY to examine or save to your
own computer for future reference. Information concerning this
organization appears to be remarkably elusive and I doubt anyone will
find ANY documents from a period earlier than these or any documents
bearing such original authority over the creation of the department.
These documents do not describe everything you had hoped to learn in
your question but they do indeed definitively mark the initial
formation of the organization. Having said that, if you would like me
to post these for you as an answer to your question please let me know
and I will be happy to do so.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
tutuzdad-ga
on
14 Apr 2004 20:13 PDT
In the interest of accuracy, I should have said:
"I now have in my posession [JPEG COPIES OF] two documents...that
effectively gave the orders to establish the US Railroad Police and to
make Mr. Flynn the overseer of the organization."
These are images of two seperate documents in jpeg format that you
will be able to view on your computer once I provide you with the
links.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
|
Dear hawkshaw-ga;
I?m going to go ahead and post this as an answer because frankly I am
convinced that nothing more applicable CAN be found and that this is
by far the most informative series of documents related to the
earliest orders, formation and activities of the organization:
In this first document dated September 7, 1918, a ?Mr. Hines?
(presumably Walker D. Hines, W. G. McAdoo?s Assistant Director
General) is being told, via a memorandum on official government
stationery, of a meeting between United States Railroad Administration
Director General, William Gibbs McAdoo and ?Judge Payne? (believed to
be Judge John Barton Payne, who would eventually become Director
General himself before aspiring to the position of Secretary of the
Interior) in which Mr. McAdoo appointed ?W. J. Flynn of New York,
former Chief of the Secret Service Bureau of the Treasury Department,
to have charge of the police work of the Railroad Administration under
Judge Payne?.
http://www.dawnsimmons.com/letter1.jpg
In this second document dated October 22, 1918, we see a proposal for
the creation of the Railroad police force herein referred to as ?The
Secret Service of the Section of Claims and Property Protection,
Division of Law?. The document goes on to establish William J. Flynn
Chief of the organization and places the central office in the
Southern Railway Building in Washington DC. Further down, the document
outlines how agents, officers and guards will receive their
certifications and authority by way of a two-stage personal reference,
one from the ?Chief Special Agent or Superintendent of Police?, and
the other from ?some responsible managing agent of said Railroad
line?. In order to receive their commissions and their badges, the
potential officers? personal references were to be filed with the
?Chief of the Secret Service of the United States Railroad
Administration in Washington DC?, presumably Flynn.
http://www.dawnsimmons.com/letter2.jpg
This document tells the story of a number of conflicts the Railroad
Administration eventually had with the Secret Service, the FBI, and
others and details some of the problems Flynn had both personally and
professionally with the obligations placed upon him. First and
foremost, Flynn had other more important things to do having been
charged with the responsibilities of suppressing anarchists and
overseeing covert operations sprying on Germans. At the very least
Flynn felt that the method used to recruit agents and officers into
the Secret Service for the purposes of enforcing the laws and
protecting the domestic railroads was tremendously lacking, and
dramatically affected the integrity of the Service. It is an
interesting an informative read to be sure.
COREL VENTURA
http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/books/0-253-34009-8.pdf
Here are some brief professional biographies of William J. Flynn:
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/flynn.htm
WILLIAM J. FLYNN
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/cache/fbi_napoleon/flynn.htm
Here is a brief biography of United States Railroad Administration
Director General William Gibbs McAdoo, former Senator from California,
former Secretary of the Treasury, and son-in-law of President Woodrow
Wilson (his biographies are relatively plentiful):
BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000293
More documents related to the early formation of the Railroad
Administration can be found in THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH ROOM:
Records of the United States Railroad Administration [USRA]
(Record Group 14)
1917-38
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/federal_records_guide/us_railroad_administration_rg014.html
As I said, the documents that I have provided for you are online
TEMPORARILY so if you will let me know when you have had a chance to
examine them and/or save them to your own computer for future
reference I would greatly appreciate it.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
Defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
McAdoo
Flynn
Hines
Payne
Railroad
Police
Secret service
FBI
Treasury department |
Request for Answer Clarification by
hawkshaw-ga
on
15 Apr 2004 20:33 PDT
Although I knew of the United States Railroad Police as organized by
the government, I had little direct information on it. The two
documents you referred to are what first peaked my interest in
learning more and posting this question. That is also where I got the
name Flynn, and hoped research connected with his name would lead to
more. So far, this is little more than I had before. I was asking
for something more comprehensive about how the organization was
intended, or did, work and their activities. A government organization
that existed for three years and involved every railroad in the
country and literally thousands of railroad police officers during a
time the country is involved in a world, had to have left some type of
record of its being. At bare minimum would be articles in newspapers
and railroad journals and magazines, which where abundant after the
turn of the century. Also, this was one of the most significant events
to happen to all the railroads in history, in which the government
takes over all of their activities, including policing. At minimum
the American Association of Railroads must have a great deal of
information of this, from which the railroad police departments'
take-overs could be extrapolated.
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Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
16 Apr 2004 06:51 PDT
I believe the question was answered fairly well under the
circumstances. Had I known what you say you already "knew" about the
topic it might have saved us both some time and allowed me or another
researcher probe in a different direction. I have made an inquiry of
the Editors for an opinion or assistance on the matter.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
hawkshaw-ga
on
22 Apr 2004 20:09 PDT
I need a summary of the forming, organization and activites of the
short lived United States Railroad Police which was establised by the
US goverment during World War I. At the same time they took over all
the nation's railroads for the durarion of the hostilities. Several
badges have been found and the first Chief was N. J. Fynn, an active
U.S. Secret Service agent.
The above was the orginal inquiry: You did find some information of
the forming of that organization based on the information that I gave
- which was esentially given back to me. I have no problem with that.
However, the is nothing about the organization itself or any of its
activities of any kind. I do not feel that this inquiry is anywhere
near answered. All the information about the Railroad Administration,
McAdoo, Judge Payne and all, is interesting but not really an answer
about the U.S.Railroad Police. It is like asking about the Memphis
Police Department and getting a lot of information about the City of
Memphis, the mayor, city council and maybe the first chief of police,
but nothing about the department, its operations or organization.
Thanks, Jim.
|
Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
23 Apr 2004 07:50 PDT
Dear hawkshaw-ga;
The United States Railroad Administration?s law enforcement agents?
mission seems so elusive because its members had much the same as the
mission of the United States Railroad Administration itself. In fact,
the nationalization of railroads in the United States during this
period was a modified act of martial law in and of itself so the
entire department of United States Railroad Administration was
synonymous with Federal law enforcement in that regard.
?The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was founded on
December 28, 1917. It was created with the authority to oversee the
nationalization of the privately owned American railroads. Obviously,
there was much controversy created by the USRA.?
Here you will find a list of railroads that fell under the guidelines
of the nationalization:
INITIAL USRA LOCOMOTIVE ALLOCATIONS
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/usra.html
The purpose of the USRA was to standardize the customization and use
of railroads, railway cars and locomotives for optimum production. The
law enforcement aspect of this agency merely supervised the
government-mandated changes to ensure that railroads were in
compliance. The is evidenced in many instances, as seen in these
excerpts:
?While the coal was moving, so were airplane parts. Solid trains of
parts and fir for the East were assembled and sent east from Auburn,
all under the watchful eyes of government agents.?
"From Railway to Railroad..."
http://home.netcom.com/~whstlpnk/torailroad.html
?Congress passed the Priority Law in August 1917, authorizing the
President to direct carriers to give preferences to traffic necessary
to the defense of the nation. A system of "tags" was instituted to
provide for the implementation of the priority policy. All government
agents were supplied with these tags to designate freight shipped on
government account.?
?Wilson made his official declaration on 26 December 1917. Later,
Director-General McAdoo would appoint all railroad men to official
administrative positions: Walker D. Hines; Edward Chambers, the Vice
President of the Santa Fe; Henry Walters, Atlantic Coast Line Board
Chairman; Hale Holden of the Railroads' War Board; A. H. Smith,
President of the New York Central; and Treasury department officials,
John S. Williams and John Barton Payne, who had past connections with
private railroad management. W. S. Carter of the Brotherhood of
Firemen and Enginemen headed the Labor Division, and Carl R. Gray,
President of Western Maryland Railroad, headed the Division of
Operation.
The Railroad Administration divided the country into seven regions,
with each assigned a regional director. Districts were created with
federal managers who were all usually chosen from the very roads that
they would direct.?
GOVERNMENT AND THE RAILROADS DURING WORLD WAR I: POLITICAL CAPITALISM
AND THE DEATH OF ENTERPRISE
http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/histn/histn045.htm
From this same source we get an idea as to the daily functions and
responsibilities of USRA agents:
?Shippers were denied the right to specify freight routes (i.e., the
cheapest shipping routes). Freight cars were ordered to remain in
terminals until filled, sharply curtailing service to small-town
shippers. In addition, the burden of proof for damaged shipment (for
which the railroads were liable) was shifted to the shippers?
GOVERNMENT AND THE RAILROADS DURING WORLD WAR I: POLITICAL CAPITALISM
AND THE DEATH OF ENTERPRISE
http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/histn/histn045.htm
The US Railroad Police then were actually special agents under the
Direction of the United States Railroad Administration give then
authority by the Federal Government to enforce compliance, contracts,
schedules, shipping, shipping routes and all other aspects of the
Federal railway system.
The University of Southern Mississippi (McCain Library and Archives)
has documents and manuscripts related to the United States Railroad
Administration?s (1917-1920) operation of the railroad during and
after World War I.
http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/m169.htm?m169text.htm~mainFrame
I hope this adds significantly to what has already been discussed.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
23 Apr 2004 07:52 PDT
And again, as I mentioned earlier, the Chief "N J Flynn" that you were
referring to was actually one "William J Flynn" and not N J Flynn.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
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