The Washington times., 1914-04-02
Starve the Railroads and We Starve Ourselves

labor, for bettement, and Tor new undertak-
ings? The railroads must have new rails,
new cars, new engines, new ties, new bridges,
new stations, better roadbeds, and a thousand
other things. They must add to their sidings,
double their trackage, and extend their roads
into new territory. All this means work for
idle men and full envelopes on Saturday
nights.
Indeed, the railroads would begin buying
on 50 tremendous scale that our steel mills
and other concerns having to do directly and
indirectly with railroad supplies would be
taxed to their capacity and beyond their ca
.pacity And the high pressure activity in
these lines would electrify the whole country
and set every spindle spinning and every
wheel of industry bounding into action. And
there would be no idle men, no idle cars, no
suffered factories, no depression, no blues
Activity and enterprise and achievement
would grip the country from ocean to
ocean and from the Gulf to the Northern
border.
This is not an idle fancy. 1t is the very
thing that wouH happen, and such happen
ing is the very thing we all want. And if we
all want it, why shouldn't we have it? We
are the Government; the Government is the
thing of our creation, the servant to do our
bidding.
The question, then, is this: Shall we give
the railroads square deal, or shall we con-
tinue to punish them for the sins of former
Period, when the relations of railroads to the
public we're not understood as they are now?
In the old days people held to ~ idea as a
matter of course that railroads, owned by
private capital, we're private property. We
didn't know much about public service con-
cerns them. We accepted the theory as a
matter of course that the biggest shippers
should get the lowest rates. WholesalJs
bought at lower prices than retailers, so why
not wholesale rates to big shippers?
But once the public service conception
was fixed in our minds we saw the railroads
in an entirely different light. Naturally rail-
road managements fought for the independ-
ence they had always had, and doubtless
fought honestly, influenced by their interests.
But all this has changed now. Ten years OF
discussion has brought capitalists and public.
the fair-sninded men among each, to a COM
mon understanding of the relations Of capital
TO the people, of trusts to the people, Of the
railroads to the people, and of the relation Of
telegraph, telephone, and all other common
carriers to the people.
We ought to have, and am satisfied that
the American people demand, the best and
safest railroads in the world. 1t is a Ger
tainty that We cannot have them without pay
ing the price-railroads with every new de-
vice, every improvement that means safety
and better service. And we can we'll afford to
pay the price when the failure to do so means
inferior railroads, dangerous railroads.
Forcing railroad managements into posi-
tion where they have been compelled to
squeeze paltry dividends out of half-fed, half
nourished properties that they might keep
their roads out of bankruptcy is rotten
policy.
Legitimate economies are fundamentally
necessary to honest, able management, and
whatever the Government has accomplished
in the way of cutting out waste and introduc-
ing frst-rate standards of economy is, Of
course. very much worth while. But to starve
railroads into other economies, such, for in
stance, as skimping on roadbeds, skmping on
bridges, skimping on rails, skimping on roll
ing stock, >kimping on safety devices, and
skimping all along the line, is quite another
matter They are costing savings to the peo-
pie, dearly bought savings.
hold no brief for the railroads; l am not
speaking for myself, as hold no railroad
stocks. and don't wish to hold any under pres
ent condaIons Neither am speaking for
those who do hold railroad stocks. am
speaking for idle men, speaking in the m:er-
est of better business, speak::a: :or a SQUARE
deal fer the railroads, for safs: rail oacs
sound railro;os.