Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-03
WOULD LESSEN COST
Alternative to Increase of
Rates by the Railways.
DISCUSSION OF SYSTEMS
Argument for Commercial Interests
by L. D. Brandeis.
OFFERS COOPERATIVE POLICY
Counsel for Traffic Committee of At
lantic Seaboard Business Organi-
cations Before I. G. G.

las an alternative to the railroads
practice Of combining to increase rates,
we offer cooperation to reduce costs.
Instead of a dangerous makeshift, we
offer a constructive policy-scientific
management. under which, as costs fall,
wages rise"
Louis d. Brandeis Of Boston. counsel
for the traffic committee of commercial
organizations of the Atlantic seaboard,
so argues in his brief just filed with
the interstate commerce commission in
the investigation by the commission of
the proposed advances in freight rates
by carriers in official classification ter
rftory-that part of the country east
OF the Mississippi river and north of
the Ohio and Potomac rivers. Then he
goes on to explain just what is meant
by constructive policy" by which he
has previously declared that the rail-
roads could save 100000
Tendency Is Upward.
MIR. Brandeis indicates that he consid-
ers the great question involved in the
investigation to be the statement of
president Willard of the Baltimore and
Ohio. that 1.-The tendency Of rates will
be to continue upward'-that is, that
there will be a progressive increase i'm
rates. The consumer, he points out,
should beware of the vicious circle of
ever-increasing freight rates and ever
increasing cost Of living. The law places
the burden Of proof Of the reasonabieness
or the proposed advances upon the rail-
roads,
Mr.. Brandeis maintains that the roads
have failed utterly to sustain their
burden OF proof; have failed SO COM
pletely that the application Of the rail-
roads for approval Of the new tariff
should be denied
Science in Management.
In a discussion of scientific manage
ment," it is maintained that the conten-
ton of the railways that the possibili-
ties of economy in railroading have been
practically exhausted is contrary to all
human experience in other lines of activ-
ity Advances in the art of transporta-
ton have been relatively few he sug-
gests, and some of those have been
forced by law against strenuous opposi-
ton.
1t is indicated that scientific manage
ment demands the separation of plan
ming from performing: changes the rela-
tons of the management of labor: de-
mands preparedness, analytical study.
records of Industrial performance and
standardized methods and equipment. 1t
increases the efficiency Of the individual.
OF the plant. and equipment and of ma
terial. 1t also increases the emoluments
Second. In some railroads any existing
need Of additional income is due to causes
other than wage increases or acts OF
Congress.
Third. Every railroad which is prop
erly undertaken and financed can meet
any existing needs without rate increases
through the Introduction of scientific
management
Quotes From Official Reports.
In support OF these propositions facts
and figures from official reports of the
railroads themselves are cited by Mr.
Brandeis as taken from the testimony
submitted. The roads which he believes
need no additional income are the Della
ware. Lackawanna and Western: the
Philadelphia and Reading; the Pittsburg
and Lake Erie; the Lake Shore and Michi-
gan Southern; the Lehigh Valley: the
Delaware and Hudson, and the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company. Those lines
which may need additional income for
reasons other than necessary increases in
operating expenses are put in the brief
as the New York. New Haven and Hart
ford: the New York Central,s and the
Baltimore and Ohio. These are given
merely as examples Of this class of
roads.