Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-12
MELLEN PREDICTS FEDERAL
CONTROL OF THE RAILROADS
AND WIRES IN NEAR FUTURE
Will Own Telephone and TEL
egraph Lines, Says For
mer New Haven Head.
BY w. n. Auburn
copyrighted, 1913, by the Newspaper

OpitllOH iudue an eA-TdllIodu pTSSlufill
has finally broken his silence. To-
day he submitted to an interview for
the Evening Star at the Vanderbilt
Hotel, in New York.
Yes, am monopolist-the thing
I have been so charged With" said
the just deposed head of the New
York, New Haven and Hartford 81
sincerely believe in monopoly-not
monopoly as most people conceive the
meaning of the word. the power to OPP
press or to obtain unfair advantage,
for with railroads 1t no longer means
anything of the kind since a patented
government has taken from them all
power except to pay their bills!
Believes I'm Monopoly.
81 believe in monopoly because
competition spells waste. A railroad
system must monopolize traffic to at
tain the highest economy and eff
cheney. That Is the principle ] fol-
lowed in building up the New Haven.
1.-THE government now seeks to dis
solve the New Haven system, and
the public demands 1t, as 1t demand
ed that ] be made a scapegoat. Such
dissolution, believe, would be an
economic crime.
"Why, the whole tendency of the
times is toward greater consolida-
ton. And do you know where it will
end?
IT say this soberly. speaking as a
spectator. with no interests at stake
any longer, in the reflective calm
that follows forty-four years strenu-
GUS railroading:
within my own lifetime I expect
to see all the railroads OF the United
States one great monopoly--owned
and controlled by the United States
government. 1t Is inevitable.
First the government will take
over the telephone and telegraph sys-
TENS. That may occur In five or six
years. After that-the railroads."
1t was an amazing statement, COM
ing from a man of Mellen's expert
ence and caIibre-former president of
the New Haven and one OF the big
gest Captains of industry of gen.
Grafton OF big railroad men.
''Why is government ownership in
evitable?' / asked.
Private Power Destroyed.
well, there is no longer any real
monopoly in the old sense Private
monopolistic power-which | admit is
liable to abuse-has been destroyed by
the growing authority of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, with Its
grip on rates and service. That COM
mission will possess greater and
greater powers. Congress will confer
them at the demand of the public.
Then, when the railroads can do moth
ing without federal permission, 1t Will
be but a step. The public will de-
mand government ownership-and get
it,
"And, as monopolist, do you favor
that?"
Government ownership" said Mr..
Mellen, "Will. have its good and bad
features. 1t will be good-for the
railroad employees. And I have been
one and sympathize with them very
muci--more than they suspect. There
are about 100000 of them now.
There will be more then. With their
votes, and the votes of allied unions.
they Will control everything. We
shall have a government of railroad
employees. -
The had Features.
"And the bad features"
"They follow naturally When Rus
STA, even with it's vast army and auto
cratic power, sees st. Petersburg sud
denly deprived of light, power and
transportation; when France, with its
government-owned railroads, faces
strikes that paralyze traffic, you can
foresee the result here.
More than that, there will be the
waste of inefficlency. The govern
ment cannot run enterprises SO well
as private corporations. All expe-
rience proves it. 1t multiplies en-
ployees and swells expenses. And 1t
cannot get the ablest men.
1.-The New Haven now pays its
president as much as the president of
the United States Is paid. SWould
the public tolerate that? No. Then
lesser ability will rule.
Moreover, the shippers and the
general public will lose what the rail-
road employees gain. But economic
forces adjust themselves. Even the
railroad employees will gain little in
the end; higher prices VIII discount
their benefits"
Tells OF His Work.
Then Mellen turned from the future
to the recent past.
81 have done what l thought was
right" he said. 81 saw that a unfit
cation of transportation Lines in New
England was needed for our highest
success and for the best service for
New England. l started in to build
up the New Haven system We have
spent s130,O00,000 developing 1t. To
Justify that we had to make sure OF
the sources of business. So we bought
subsidiary roads and trolley lines. /
wanted the company to sell It's steam
ship lines and reported to that effect
years ago. but the directors did not
agree with me-"
"You have been accused of corrup-
tlon," he was reminded.
THAT is ali rot" said Mellen, with
a smile. You can't corrupt a whole
Legislature. or tWo-thirds of one.
People get what they want in the
end. The use of money may delay,
but cannot stop them. l got what
/ did because | had the right on my
side-the economic right, the legal
right.
Received Corrupt Proposals.
And, speaking of corruption, the
stories | might tell would indicate
less disposition on my part to COR
rupt than on the par, of others to be
corrupted.
Massachusetts / love the State.
But never in the West did receive
the sordid, crooked proposals that |
have there. And they point their
fingers at me!
There is more indigestion, physi-
cal and mental in Boston than in
any other city IN, America. Boston
eats endless dinners, gets endless at.
tackS oil dyspepsia ana passes enuleSS
resolutions that end in nothing. And
/ sometimes wish that Boston would
stop trying 10 reform the rest of the
country and turn her attention home
ward.
Massachusetts could at any time
have controlled the New Haven sys-
tenn. But Massachusetts stockholders
gave New York their proxies. They
thought to make more money that
way"
How about Brandeis?"