New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-19
Public Opinion Won a Big Victor!
in the Rate Decision.

tn. Interstate Commerce Commissions psch"
d,,, g., the railroad rate case is notable Victory
for nublic opinion. The commission reversed IL
self because it realized that 1t had loSt the conn
dance Of the country. It's decision OF August
last refusing the request OF the Eastern ran
roads for an advance of per cent IN lrelen'
rates was gigantic blunder. 1t came az mo
rent when the economic disturbances OF the great
,,or IN Europe were accentuating the difficulties
% Tho railroads. already hard hit by the oppres-
sive policies Of the commission. Unlike the COM
mission. the public had changed its MIND ABOUT
the desirability Of starving the common carrlers'
I. saw that general prosperity could not DC won
baek II governmental action continued 70 depreS0
md disable a basic national industry like trans
ror+enor Apart from the aggravations OF the
European war, sufficient case had been mace
ont in the popular judgment for an increase IN
revenues which would revive the earning power
efficiency and credit Of the railroads.
The commission, misled by pride Of opinion and
the evil counsel of professional railroad baiters'
could not see this. 1t could not even see 1t when
the crash of war came, making the plight OF the
railroads as borrowers of capital even more oes-
perate. On the very day when Germany declared
war on Russia the commission published its rate
decision. blandly ignoring all the obvious effects
Of that declaration. Although all the stock ex-
changes of the world had closed in panic, the ma
;oritv Of the commission waved that fact aside
80 - M consequence to the immediate future Of
the railroads.
Such a mockery of decision could not last
Within a few weeks demand for reconsidera-
ton was made, and after sc ne delay the COM
mission graciously announced that it would take
cognizance of the fact that war existed and was
affecting economic conditions the world over.
Once il had consented to come out of its bomb
proof of self-delusion its decision was never in
doubt, 1t simply could not resist the pressure Of
public opinion, grounded on unassailable facts.
In trying to palliate its bunder of August
the commission weakly says: when these cases
were originally submitted, also aOhen the
original report iOas prepared, the revenue and
expenditure account for June, 1914, and the prop
erty investment account of the fiscal year were
not available, the war was unforeseen and the
results of our order WERE of course, yet to come
Collectively they present new situation"
Yet the railroads had been on a semi-starvation
.llowance for more than year. and the monthly
reports up to June, 1914, had shown that condi-
lions were steadily growing worse. The same
newspapers which printed the decision of August
1 carried accounts of the outbreak of the war,
which had been threatened all through the pre-
ceding week. And at the hearings in September
various commissioners expressed through their
questions the nonchalsnt view that the European
war was an accident entirely outside the sphere
Of American economics and should not be taken
into account in the regulation of our railroad
rates. The most reactionary members Of the
commission, Mr.. Harlan and Mr. Clements, still
cling obstinately to that parochial view.
The main point on which the country can con-
graduate itself is that the majority of the com
mission has now broken away from the letters
Of an obsolete policy. When it says that "if we
are to set rates that will afford reasonable re-
Enumeration TO these carriers we must give con
liberation to the increased hire Of capital wei
a TO other increased COSTS" it has turned bach
into new path of economic sanity. Its old rate
\programme was punitive and destructive It's new
programme shows signs of constructiveness.
II the railroads are TO be restored to norma
condition of prosperity and efficiency (Which viii
be to the interest of the community at large as
well as 20 their own interest) the commission
cannot afford TO stop short with yesterdays de
cision. More aid will be needed to put the com
ION carriers on their feet Every other great
;,d,strv will have To adjust its credit to the high
G. interest rates Of the near future. The govern
ment would be unjust and tyrannical if it tried
10 make the railroads shoulder more than their
fair share Of the general burdens and losses OF
the war. Transportation facilities must be i'm
proved year by year, and the only way to i'm
rrove them is 10 give the railroads the revenue
they actually need in order to maintain their
financial stability and to do their work