On the whole,
however, public opinion decided that the government acted wisely.
Certain inconveniences to the traveling public were easily excused when
it was realized that the movement of troops throughout the country to
the camps, or from the camps to the ports which were to take them across
the sea, from "Texas to Toul," was being accomplished with great
success; that the movement of war material was now possible, and that
the gigantic railroad system was working without a hitch.
Many details, in connection with the railroad management, were not at
once worked out, and many months passed without complete agreements
regarding the railway operating contracts. But this was a matter of
greater interest to the owners than it was to patriotic citizens,
anxious for the winning of the war. Governmental control of the
railroads, was only a beginning. On July 16th President Wilson took
control, for the period of the war, of all telegraph, telephone, cable
and radio lines, signing a bill on that day passed by Congress
authorizing such action.
The transportation of the American army across the ocean was the
greatest military feat of its kind ever accomplished in history. The
transportation of English troops during the Boer War meant a longer
journey, but the number of troops sent on that journey was but a small
fraction of America's army.
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