The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-27
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE RAIL
RnAnS


ROADS.
Robert Mather was one OF the wit
nesses before the Railroad seouritie
Commission last week He was for
merry prominent in railroad manage
b ment, was called because of his knowl
edge of the subject, ana he said some
thing that has arrested the attention
Of the thinking people of the country
namely. that as Federal regulation
has put the railroads of this country
IN lie position of not having got suf-
fcient means or credit to go ahead
with their work of development, and
in view of such Impairment of credit,
IT is urgently essential that something
should be done. When such a
condition is brought about. and when
tho great mass of second-class Sc
curities are made undesirable by rcd
eral regulations, ] say it is time that
the Government should extend it's
credit to the railroads in order to
assist them in thoir dihic4lties."
That is remarkable proposition,
truly, and there is not the least iikeli-
hood that it will be accepted by the
GoVernment-the New York Evening
Post counts it only as "a sort OF re-
ductio ad absurdum of the rate-regula
tion policy: but it cannot be whistled
down the wind so easily. and will have
the effect. it is hoped, of making the
men in authority think. even if 1t do
not persuade them to act on what our
contemporary comedies 10 be the alb
stract logic of the case" II the Gov
eminent owned the railroads 1t would
be compelled to do one of two things
finance them when they were in
straits or raise the rates so that they
would be able to go ahead with their
development. The Government cannot.
in equity, cut their revenue now with
out making itself responsible for such
development. which is held to he es-
sential 10 the welfare of the country.
without providing such assistance as
they may require for the conservation
OF the commercial and business in
- 'tio Country Having in Il |
sense, as the Evening Post para
phrases the statement of Mr.. Mather
put a limit on profits it Cthe Govern
ment ought TO guarantee that the re-
sources necessary for successful oncra
ton and maintenance shall be pro-
Nided.' If mere logic says our con-
temporary, declares the next stem
after regulation of rates TO be Govern
ment guarantee of securities. much
more emphatically does it declare that
the next step after that-and a stem
that must follow much more swiftly
is Government ownership" We agree
mat the business should be settled "hy
considerations of practical wisdom and
eNpediency' but there must be "practj-
cal wisdom and expediencyn on both
sides. on the SIDE oe.'the Government
MOI. less thar on the side of the rail
roads, and unless the Government IN.
tehd TO take over the railroad prop.
critics 1t must not make it Impossible
by punitive restrictions for the rail.
roads TO manage their own affairs as
other business enterprises are man.
aged There ought to be no half
man and NATURALIZATION" policy in the
control of these public utilities There
is wide difference between regulation
and control. !
We assume. now thar it has gone a
into the question of rates, the Sc
curities Commission VIII go a step fur t
tAer and put the shippers through a
severe examination as to their special Q
interest in requiring the railroads 10 g
carry the whole load, ana also into g
the question of the rates as they arc o
now and as they We're say twenty five t
years ago, and further. into a close Il
aomparison of tie rates on the Ameri- u
can roads with the rates that obtain n
On the roads In foreign countries ana h
in the countries where the "
roads are owned by the government. b
The suggestions made by Mr.. Nather a
were never made before we believe, &
md whether they be practical and ex. y
'edient or not, they have opened at 81
east new field for speculation as 10
he rights of the Government and the t.
lights of the roads. q
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