Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-11-14


tion now under way. This Il one gem
orally shared II r. too narrow view,
however. This valuation has great
aeniflcance in the possibilities u Of
fers OF allowing an end TO be made
OF the anomaly OF government regula-
ton OF competing agencies. Regula-
ton and competition In the long run
are lncomparabie
To Eliminate Waste.
II Is a lnudable ambition to elm
mate the known waste and inefficiency
Of competition In transportation. But
competition will continue until the
government acquires the strength ade-
quately TO regulate actual monopoly.
This strength Will not be counte-
nanced until the rule Of value Ii
reached and generally accepted which
viii amply protect bona fide Invest
ment without imposing on the public
unjust tnxes for transportation"
President Ripley Emphatic.
KILLED by government Interior
ence.' might be the Inscription on
the tombstone Of the American rail-
roads the best system the world has
ever known. IL present conditions
continued too long, was the opinion
expressed at tonlghts session py
President Il. p. Ripley. OF the Santa
&c railroad. He declared that our
present laws regulatory OF railroads
ere a hodge-podge, Incapable of IN
telligent administration" President
Ripley said he was IN favor Of gov
ernmentai restraint, but that present
conditions could not continue and
thai the public would righnully re-
fuse TO make investments which the
Gets Of the government have made
uncertain" lie deprecated the phys
zeal valuation Of railroads as a use
less expenditure Of probably $25, 000,-
900 by the government and half as
much more by the roads. He said II
was difficult 10 see what good pur-
pose the valuation would serve, ex-
cept that It probably would stop talk
about capitalization. He con-
tinued;
tnwise Legislation.
lowing mainly, though not entire
ly. 10 unlnteIligent legislation, the
railroads rs a whole find themselves
unable to meet the demands made on
them: and II is not possible for the
best Of them TO raise money at rates
which they cannot AFFORD to pay, This
is not a development OF the European
war. The attack OF the muek-raker
and the agitator had done the work
before any war was declared; and the
government, needing these attacks
and ignoring the actual conditions,
had In effect, declared railroad in
vestments unsafe.
1T will be said that mismanage-
ment Of certain properties has helped
to bring about this condition. and this
Is very likely. | am not apologizing
for these cases. but they nearly all
occurred under your laws and were
by advice of counsel
Rates Unremuncrativc.
"The simple truth is that rates are
unremunerative; that the end of the
rope has been reached for some of
the railroads, and is not far off for
others. All the talk that has been Civ
en- us about extravaganza In opera
tlon, about facilities granted free to
favored individuals and about mis-
takes of railroad management may
be allowed for all il Is worth and
even more, and the stubborn fact re-
mains that the ,pubIic does not pay
enough to warrant first-class service,
and that II will have nothing less;
also that much of our trouble comes
from laws that are fundamentally
wrong and that altogether our vari-
Gus governments state and national,
are responsible for these conditions.
Laws inconsistent.
Il could go on at length on the
inconsistencies Of our present laws;
as to the impracticable character Of
regulation by forty-nine local COM
missions. plus one, general commits
sion; about that impossible condition
created by the duties of the Inter-
state Commerce commission, an or
ganization said to contain 10000 men
largely engaged in spying on the rail-
roads and not so much interested in
lettering conditions as in getting
convictions.
Even admitting the fairness and
ability of the commission, there does
not exist a body of seven men which
could, by any human possibility.
transact the business of 100000 miles
OF road, or which could act as an I'M
biased judge on cases which they had
themselves developed and on which
the members or their subordinates
had already passed.