The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-12-28

standardize equipment and methods for very
la &c mileage of line, and to large extent to pool
the faci tiles of this large mileage, thereby making
them available at any given time wherever they are
most needed while keeping the total investment in
them lower than it could have been kept without
this pooling of facilities. Destruction of this splen-
did operating organization must have tendency to
render it impossible to operate these roads with
rapidly increased economy and efficiency as has
been the in the past. Therefore, the tendency
of the decision is increase the cost that the rail
ways must incur in rendering their transportation
and to increase, interfere with the reduction OF,
the rates that the public must pay. On the whole,
therefore, it is impossible to imagine single dol.
lsrs worth of benefit that will accrue from the de-
cison of the public, and 1t is easy to see how 1t
may tend to injure the public
One Of the interesting points in the decision is
that in which the court indicates that the Union
Pacific may retain the line of the Central Pacific
from Ogden to San Francisco. This shows that
the courts conception Of competition is that it is
restricted to railways paralle,ing each other and
reaching the same points. Evidently the
preme court mods in while in considering
points of railway economies.
The question naturally arises, if tde Union Pa
cifc and Southern Pacific combination is Illegal and
must be broken up, what must be done about sew
eral other combinations between railways, which 1t
would be held to be even more active
competitors than the Hartman lines? 1t would seem
that either all combinations of parallel railways be-
tween which there is might be substantial COM
petition must be broken up, that the Sherman
Act as it applies to railways must be amended. If
all these combinations between parallel lines
to be dissolved the railway lines will still exist
and will be operated after the dissolutions have
been effected The constitution will not permit rea
sonaby well managed railways to be deprived of
fair return II, therefore, the effect Of dissolution
OF the various combinations is to increase oper
ating expenses to impair the capacity of the
roads to get reasonable net earnings nothing
prevent them from readjusting their rates to
get fair returns Therefore there is nothing in the
decision to unduly alarm railway security holders
The harm, II harm there is, ultimately will be suf-
fered mainly by the public.
Meantime dual plan of, first adopting legs-
ation for the regulation of railways which makes
competition in rate making impossible and creating
state and interstate commissions to enforce these
laws, and, second, passing enforcing other laws
to compel the competition which the former class
of legislation has abolished, will continue to make
us the laughing stock of ether nations In every
other civilized country the principle has been
ognzed by statesmen and economists and acted up
on in legislation that enforced railway competition
and railway regulation are Incompatible, and the
regulation is preferable competition. We enjoy
alone the questionable distinction of following two
policies of regulation either of which, just to the
extent that it succeeds tends to nullify the other
-Pocatello Tribune