"Trains run on time" (1923)

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TRAINS RUN ON TIME--10,800 Google hits, 7,790 Google Groups hits

Through all this runs the difficult issue of lustration--how and whether ti
bar from power personnel of an ousted evil regime.  On the one hand, you don't
want to reward tyrants with power; on the other, you'd like to see the trains
run on time.
--Michael Barone in the NEW YORK SUN, 1 June 2004, pg. 9, col. 3.


   This is a classic line about dictatorship.  You want Amtrak to be on time?
 Thing again!   It's not worth it!
   Snopes.com (below) gives the names of people who used this expression, but
they probably didn't coin it.


(GOOGLE)
Urban Legends Reference Pages: History (Loco Motive)
Loco Motive. Click here. Claim: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini made
the trains run on time. Status: False. Origins: Every political ...
www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.htm - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
The myth of Mussolini's punctual trains lives on, albeit with a different
slant: rather than serving as a fictitious symbol of the benefits of fascism, it
is now offered as a sardonic example that something good can result even from
the worst of circumstances. As Montagu and Darling wrote:
>
> Mussolini may have done many brutal and tyrannical things; he may have
> destroyed human freedom in Italy; he may have murdered and tortured citizens whose
> only crime was to oppose Mussolini; but 'one had to admit' one thing about
> the Dictator: he 'made the trains run on time.'
>


(GOOGLE GROUPS)
Re: Make the trains run on time?
... Bollocks. Ever since, the phrase "Mussolini made the trains run on time"
meant that sort of draconian attempt to force your will on people. ...
alt.folklore.urban - Oct 24, 1997 by mitcho - View Thread (9 articles)

Giuliani makes the trains run on time (Fascism in New York)
Giuliani Makes The Trains Run On Time by Robert Lederman Flushed with victory
after
crushing the economic aspirations of 30,000 transit workers New York City ...

alt.music.rage-machine - Dec 17, 1999 by EXVandals - View Thread (1 article)


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
    Punctuality Marking Train Service in Italy
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Aug 10, 1923. p. 8 (1
page):
   Rome, July 20.--The spirit of discipline which the Mussolini government
brought in with it is no more concretely illustrated than on the railroads and
in the telegraph service of Italy.  Italian trains are now run on time--one can
even set one's watch by them--and the time of transmission on internal and
foreign telegrams has been reduced to one-fourth of what it was before the
advent of Italy's young fictator to power.

    SPREADING FASCISM
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 9, 1925. p.
A4 (1 page) :
   The situation before the Fascist government came into power almost
amounted to a negation of government; there was, ine might say, no government and no
law. (...) Trains did not run on time or did not run at all;...

    ITALY FOUND PROSPERING; Bevani Tells City Club Mussolini Has Wrought Many
Benefits, But Freedom Gone
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Sep 22, 1927. p.
A2 (1 page):
   There are no beggars in all Italy, he found, the railroads, under military
control, tun on time and the trains are clean, municipal government has been
entirely abolished and there are no elections, mayors or councils, prices for
all of the necessities of life are regulated by the dictator to prevent
profiteering, there is no crime wave, everywhere there is great demonstration of
force and compulsion, the papers are lacking in tales of robberies, hold-ups and
similar crimes, tipping is discouraged and there is practically no night life.

    What Women are Doing
MYRA NYE. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Jan 10,
1928. p. A6 (1 page) :
   "Because Italy has been galvanized into action a new Italy is arising,"
said (Paul--ed.) Harvey.  "And because business is good, trains run on time,
hotels and food are better, and there are no unemployed. the traveler, who gets
only a superficial report, says that conditions in Italy are good."

     AMERICANS IN ITALY.
Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Jun 24, 1928. p. 10 (1
page) :
   Italians liberals remark sarcastically upon the complaisancy not to say
admiring approval shown by American travelers in Italy toward the Fascist
regime.  All they say, protest the liberals bitterly, is that the trains run on
time.
   We must admit the American traaveler's approval of the regime of Fascism
tends to be rather selfish and superficial.  It does please him that trains run
on schedule and are clean and comfortable, and he dismisses rather lightly
the Italian liberals' objections, though they are founded on principles an
American is supposed to accept as "self-evident."


(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
Decatur Daily Review - 7/13/1923
...telegraph of ITALY. Italian TRAINS now RUN ON TIME ONe can even set ONes
wntch.....be dispONdent. ITALIAN TRAINS ON GOOD TIME [By tha Associated Prrss]
Home..
Decatur, Illinois Friday, July 13, 1923  714 k

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune - 7/24/1923
...of ITALY. Italian TRAINS are now RUN ON TIME ONe can even set ONes
watch.....Mrs. JaspersON will 'visit here for a TIME AND Miss GRUNdeen, who has
been..
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Tuesday, July 24, 1923  823 k

Morning Call - 9/14/1929
...has made Italian railroad TRAINS RUN ON TIME. But for these
material.....thought of by all except ITALY, AND ITALY has not been permitted to think..
Laurel, Mississippi Saturday, September 14, 1929  458 k

Lima News - 12/5/1930
...almost legendary Fascist TRAINS which RUN ON TIME. Rumor has it that
the.....There is an ever-growing rumor in ITALY that Costanzo Ciano. Count, of is..
Lima, Ohio Friday, December 05, 1930  761 k