New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-18

must face this question OF trans
portation credit and earnings and
seek to find the cause underneath the
difficulties they face. Dollars can
not be coerced into railroad service;
they must be won. Either private
capital must be provided and pro-
tected or public capital must be
sought.
The railroads of this country are
to-day worth much more than their
Capitalization, and there is no water
in their stock, as a whole. Their
property account exceeds their capi-
taIization by more than a billion dol
lars. They are furnishing trans
portation at the lowest rates in the
world. They are paying the highest
wages in the world. They were built
at the lowest cost per mile of any
railroads in the world. And yet, in
spite of all these facts, they are the
victims of unsound political and eco
nomic theories which seriously mem
ace their very existence as private
property.
Dodging
the Facts
One Of the serious phases Of the
railroad problem is the difficulty
which is always encountered in get
ting the facts about it before the
public. When the railroad execu-
tives presented their case for in
creased rates before the Interstate
Commerce Commission last spring,
showing the rapid increase in the
cost of transportation and the press
ing need for additional revenue to
meet the high charges for labor and
supplies, as well as to provide addi-
tional facilities, they were criticised
far and wide as calamity howlers,"
Chronic pessimists," and accused OF
crying wolf" without warrant and
iniuring railroad credit.
Yet the sober fact is that they not
only did not overstate their case at
that time, but, in the light of events,
clearly understated it.
If railroad executives are not to
be permitted to analyze the prob
lens they face or to state the facts
about their business as basis for
action on the part Of the governing
todies how they can ever hope to
receive fair treatment from these
governing bodies and from the pub
lie, which creates the political at
mosphere surrounding such bodies
by which their acts are influenced;
or how can increased rates be OBJ
tained without showing the neces-
sity for them?
Many solutions for the situation
are being offered to-day, and the
would-be saviors of the railroads
are legion. Centralized Federal
control, with Federal financial re-
sponsibility. regional ownership
and operation, profit sharing above
a fixed return, and many other
plans providing for government
cooperation in various ways, and as
Stunning that where the government
imposes regulation and limits earn
ings it must also accept responsible
ity. are heard from many quarters.
1t seems certain that after q taste
of the efficiency demonstrated by
the Railroads War Board from cen
tralized and co0rdinated operation
the public will never be satisfied TO
go back to the archaic state Of en-
forced competition which is still
compelled by the statute books.
What is demanded primarily as a
Fundamental solution of the difieui-
tics Of the sitHatioH Is a permanent,
sane and efficient system OF rezula-
ton under ore responsible euthori-
ty, removed as far as possible from
political considerations. Obviously
that authority must be the Federal
government.
The railroads, through their exec
utives, have offered before the Joint