White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1912-12-01
BUSINESS FACTS
AND COMMENTS
OPPONENT OF GOVERNMENT
OWNERSHIP. SAYS UNITED
STATES II WORST MANAGED
BUSINESS IN LAND.
by b. {. Forbes. Business Editor
New York Americana

A youthful correspondent writes
that. in a coming debate, he is to
champion government ownership of
railroads. and he wants me TO sup
ply him with some ammunition. I'm
fortunately. any shots ! might fire
would be at him. not for him.
He is TO argue that government
ownership would bring lower freight
and passenger rates. that employees
vii undergo civil service examina-
tons. therefore assuring competent
men and reducing accident possibili-
ties; also that the railroad business
is very profitable and could be a
source of very good results. as it is
at present to the Goulds and others.
The Labor department viii be bene-
fitted under government control.
He is also to fortify his position By
statistics from foreign government
owned railroad systems.
Well my friend deserves credit for
taekling 50 big a subject. There is
need fer debate on this and the
thousand other problems now before
the country. Most questions have
two sides, or rather, many angles.
II is well to study every phase OF a
project, especially when thai project
is complicated beyond ordinary.
Then let US recognize also that there
is room for differences of opinion.
and that the other fellow is entitled
to his until you can convince him
that he is wrong. ] have but faint
hope of accomplishing much in that
direction. yet since my views have
been asked | will give an outline of
them.
First, my correspondent says
freight and passenger rates will be
reduced" VIII they? Has the United
States or any other government dem
onstrated that 1t can u important
businesses more economically than
private persons or stock corporations
can? The United States government
is the worst managed organization
in the whole land. Its finances are
a disgrace. 1t is run on lines that
would bankrupt any corporation ever
conceived. 1t has not even a pre-
tense Of a budget. Ii wallows along
from year to year neck-deep in
financial mire, knowing little of
where IL will land. Its set of
books is a farce-or should | say
it has no set of books? 1t has not
learned ever the rudiments of con-
Quoting its own finances. What
right has any one to assume that it
would do better in managing a bust
ness ten times more important than
anything now under its control.
Are civil servants so very superior
to others? The only government of
flee / ever visited which struck me
as being run at live pressure was the
bureau of engraving in Washington,
where all our paper money is made
The busy-ness there struck me as ex-
traordinary for a government shop
| made inquiries. Lo. the men and
girls were all on piece work. The
mystery was solved.
Is any department of our govern
ment conducted with a skill, with a
foresight, with an economy, I'M
matched in private enterprise? /
know of none such.
Government is a necessary evil.
The less a nation has Of it the better.
Government is a voluntary giving up
of freedom on the part of the gov
erned
The railways run by certain Euro
pean governments are not to be COM
pared with our own ! have trav-
elled over most OF them; | have stu
died their statistics; l know some
thing of their working-and the
more | learn of them the greater is
my admiration for the railroads of
these United States. Our roads can
haul a ton of freight a mile-or a
thousand miles-cheaper than any
aforementioned, or for that mat
ter, stock-owned, railroad in Christ
endom ar heathendom. Does my
young friend know that?
There would have been more ex-
cuse for a goyernment-ownership
agitation five years ago than there
is today. Our railroads are the
most effectively regulated" enter
prises in the country. Indeed, there
was danger that this regulation
would degenerate into strangulation,
although latterly the regulators have
shown some symptoms of awaken
81 pIfUbtnp EfvarV nanny