Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-06-25

II. 1t is not the desire OF New England,
and II is not for the interest of the people
of New England that its railroad sys-
TENS should be owned by the govern
ment. either State or federal.
The owner of valuable property, If per-
mitted to sell what it furnishes, at a
reasonable price, can be trusted to take
| care OF its management and admnistra-
ton with proper sense of the liability
to risks and responsibilities attendant
| upon the business and It should be per-
| n1itted to manage and administer it's
property without political Interference,
and without government intervention, any
further than the interests of the public
require proper. impartial and intelli-
gent regulation and supervision OF the
business If It be affected with a public
| interest"
There should be such n revision of the
rate schedules passenger and freight as
to permit the railroads to have adequate
compensation In that way alone can
the owners of the property devoted to
railroad uses nave fair return upon
their investment without fair return
and If not permitted to earn a fair re-
turn. their property is conhscated. Such
result Is destructive, and an insuper-
able barrier 20 railroad development
The railroad securities commission in
Its report says, THE necessary develop
ment of railroad facilities is now en-
daneered by the reluctance Of investors
to purchase new issues of railroad securi-
ties in the amounts required. This reluc-
lance Is likely to continue until tho
American public understands the essen
| tai community of interest between ship
per and investor, and the folly of at
tempting to protect the one by taking
away the rewards of good management
! from the other"
, AS expressed by the Supreme Court of
! Vermont, with regulation ohtruding it.
self into the place of management, capt.
tai will recede from the channels of pub
lie service, and the industries most use
full to the people at large will dwindle."
The disregard, by regulative bodies. Of
the principle that regulation should not
prevent earning fair return upon the
capital Invested, affects more than the
owners of the property. The companies
cannot keep men at work unless permit
ted to earn the money with which to pay
! them.
Regulation should be directed to the
correction of existing mischiefs present.
~, uninhuenced by political agitators and
unaffected by resentments for past Of
fences cherished for political profit or
animated by personal spite.
LEGISLATION NOT A PANACEA.
Legislation is not panacca The
drug taking habit is not healthful
knowledge that a remedy is available
often obviates the necessity for its ap-
plication. Hypochondriacs and hysteri-
cal patients resort to medical advice and
treatment more frequently than those
who really require it. our public service
doctors. under whatever name, may be
called upon too frequently, and may ex-
ercise their functions so as TO create
mischief with the resulting injury when
no interference was required. There
should not be any opportunity afforded
for the exercise of individual caprice in
the administration of the laws governing
public utilities. To prevent this requires
the appointment upon commissions of
men of intelligence, of courage, of up
rightness and of force, and, If not hay
ing an intimate knowledge of the sub
Il
sense of their own limitations in that
respect, and sufficient resolution and dis
elimination. to employ the necessary tall
ent to give them such knowledge. There
are plenty of New England,rs having
these qualifications who are unbiased by
political or personal considerations Tn
der the administration of such men the
prime requisite of proper regulation can
be attained, to wit knowledge when their
Interference is not required, and courage
to let well enough alone.
The duties of existing commissions are
sufficiently arduous and delicate and
criticism of their action is out of place.
Whenever the energies Of the federal
government are directed in relation to
business toward destruction rather than
construction bad results follow. Success
Is not crime, and the possession of the
rewards of thrift. economy, good man
agement, skill and self-restraint, is not
evidence that the possessor is thief, or
otherwise criminal Combinations of
strong efficient and successful men, or
corporations for the Improvement of our
railways the arteries through which
the commercial life blood of the nation
flows are not, because combinations.
necessarily in restraint Of trade or
menace to the public welfare.
1t is submitted that such a combina-
ton in New England, If let alone by the
federal government and agitators at
home, and permitted to accomplish the
results contemplated by It's present man
ayers, will give New England the kind
of railroad management and service
which Is its due.
Was the Sherman law ever intended to
be applied to railroad systems whose
combination could not affect rate sched-
ules, and whose management had i'm
proved existing conditions?
APATHY NOT APPROVAL.
1t has been urged In Justification of the
destructive policy of the federal govern
ment that stockholders do not complain
of its action. 1t does not follow from
this that the stockholders approve.
Apathy Is not approval nor acquiescence.
Stunned, shocked and Frustrated by the
result 1t Is not surprising that We hear
little from the victims The stockhold-
ers have chosen directors who have chos-
en- officers TO manage the business of the
corporations and protect their interests,
Through their representative, Mr. Elliot,
under duress, the arrangement insisted
upon by the government has been
reached
We respectfully submit, however, that
the arrangement is not just and is harm
full to New England
When the Hoosac tunnel, built by the