The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-06-09
Favoring Government Owner
ship of Transportation Lines.
SITUATION CANNOT CONTINUE
1t Is Now Federal ManagerSnlp
without Responsibility.
Too Much Mixing of Business
and Politics, Ripley Says.

lev. president of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad, one OF the 1ore-
most railroad men in America has
given out the following statement why
he regards government ownership OF
railroads as inevitable:
1.-THE present condition of things can
not stand. 1t is bound to 1al.
'.The condition under which private
individuals furnish all the cash, all the
money and the government assumes all
the managership -yithout any respon-
sibility-that arrangement cannot last.
, "What else is there left but govern
ment ownership?
THAT is my conclusion. And l am
able, 1 think, to take an impartial view
of the outlook, of the trend.
Il am getting on in years. am not
a large holder of railroad securities. 1
am not a candidate for office OF any
kind political or railroad. My business
life Is pretty well spent. may stay
around a few years more but not many.
I have. as every good citizen has. the
interest of the country, its prosperity
and it's future at heart.
I'VE have never in this country been
able to keep our politics and business
separate.
''The only case where the government
did anything well was the dlgglng Oh
the Panama canal. And the first step
was to take the control of the whole
district and absolutely divorce 1t from
politics. -
IF congress had anything to do with
the finishing Of the ditch 1t would have
much as it did; in all probability 1t
would have been badly done and be-
sides would have led to all kind OF cor
rupticn. heartaches and political ras-
cality.
The Only Job Well Done.
This is the only case where the
United States government has done e
thing well and the reason was that 1t
made the power Of one man absolute
in the district. Our government mas
never done that anywhere else.
THE only other big thing the govern
ment is engaged in now Is the postonace
and it's business Is not done we'll, not
done cheaply.
1T is run by taxing all the people for
the benefit of a part of the people.
No, 1 do not mean only the carrying
of certain classes of mall matter pe-
low cost. The government makes the
same price for carrying letter or
package to a mining camp in Arizona
or Nevada, entailing a journey OF 40
miles by wagon, that it makes for car
rying a letter between Washington and
Baltimore, or from one part OF New
York city to another. I am not OBJ
jecting to that, only it is not business
1T has never made correct state
ment of it's actual receipts and dis
bursements-it is not obliged to make
reports as the railroads are and no.
body can criticize its operations for
that reason but everybody knows it
does not pay expenses
"Therefore 1 say the first requisite
for any reasonable measure of success
in government ownership Is its divorce
ment from politics.
But what reason have we to sup
pose that we can divorce it from poll
tics since We have been unable to di-
vorce our consumer service from poll
tics our custom house from politics and
everything we ever attempted except
the one piece Of work, digging the Pan
anna canal.
Newman Erb's Statement.
London. June 9.-Probably the
most important and significant-cer-
tainly the most comprehensive and
frank statements yet made by Unit
ed States railway magnate has been
given out by Newman Erb, president
of the Minneapolis and st. Louis. Dem
yer and Salt Lake. Ann Arbor, Ten
nessee, Alabama and Georgia rail-
roads Mr.. Erb, for the past thirty
years has been prominent in the rail-
way enterprises of the United States.
The fact that he is in close touch
with President Wilson, an intimate
friend of ex-President Roosevelt and
a frequent witness at sessions Of the
interstate commerce commission lends
a peculiar interest to the statement
he gives here, which includes three
vital points:
1. N tion ization government
ownership of railways in the United
States is inevitable.
2 The prime trouble of the rail-
ways as at present constituted is the
fact that the actual owners no longer
control them but are forced to bow to
the dictates of the great banks upon
which they are dependent.
8. The business of the country is
at standstill and will continue SO
because OF and until there is an end
to the administration's policy of in
action in Mexico. the rates question
and the tariff.
What 1 am going to say here
Mr.. Erb began, Il have already told
President Wilson. And when I ad-
dressed the president / spoke for and
tical railroad man in the United States
that is to say. every man interested
in the ownership of railroads.
AS Sure as Taxes.
1.-The naturalization OF railroads is
as sure now as taxes. l was greatly
interested in Mellen's statement last
week but the only trouble with that
SIat01lSHl DIS 1lSO Will oil OtucT Sldtc-
ments given out by interested persons
is that it only scratches the surface
of the whole truth.
1T is my greatest hope and know
there is not q man OF my acquaintance
in the railroad world who does not
share my views. that the administra-
ton will act promptly. The longer
the roads are compelled to continue
under private ownership the greater
must become the difference between