McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1917-01-05

lowed to Exclude Exercise of State
Authority, He Contends-Thinks Rail-
road Stocks Should Represent Actual
Value and Be Stable as Government
| Bonds.
Washington, Dec. II. - William ].
| Bryan, who startled the country ten
years ago by advocating government
ownership of railroads, appeared be-
fore the Newlands Joint Committee on
| Interstate Commerce last week In sup
port of the claim that the states should
be allowed to retain authority over the
regulation of all transportation lines
within their borders. Mr.. Bryan ex-
plained that he had long regarded gov
ernment ownership as inevitable. but
only because of railroad opposition to
effective regulation.
Against Government Ownership.
Personally / cannot say that | de-
sire government ownership" he ex-
planned, because | lean to the indi.
vidual idea rather than to the collec.
tive idea; that is, l believe that gov
ernment ownership is desirable only
where competition is impossible"
Alfred p Thorn, counsel to the Rail
way Executives Advisory Committee,
previously had presented before the
| members of the Newlands Committee
as one Of his reasons for urging bet
| ter balanced and more systematic reg
uaation of railroads the argument that
| this Is the only alternative to govern
ment ownership. Calling attention to
the restrictions imposed upon the
transportation lines by conflicting state
laws and regulations, to the practical
| cessation of new construction and to the
! impossibility under existing conditions
of securing the new capital needed for
extensions and betterments of railway
that unless they provided fair and
reasonable system of regulation that
would enable the railroads to meet the
growing needs of the country's busi-
ness the national government would
| be compelled to take over the owner
| ship of the lines with all the evils at
tendant upon such system.
Preservation of Competition.
Mr.. Bryan, ON the other hand, holds
that the further extension of federal
| authority over the railroads would be
step in the direction of government
ownership, He advanced the view that
! the Capitalization of control in the
hands Of the national government
would impose too great a burden upon
the regulating body, would offer strong
| temptation to railroads to interfere in
politics and would encourage the gen
eral movement toward Capitalization
of power in the federal government at
| the expense of the states. He said that
| he did not object to consultations of
railroad lines so long as they did not
destroy competition, that he knew of
no complaint against great railway.
systems because Of their size and that
he believed that the preservation of
competition was the test to be applied
to all consultations.
| Regulation Of Securities.
| Mr.. Bryan declared himself in favor
| of national regulation of railway stock
and bond issues, but added that he saw
| no reason why that should exclude the
states from acting on the same sub
| ject as to state corporations. II would
| like to see the stock Of a railroad, as
long as it is in private hands, made as
substantial and as unvarying as the
value of government bond" he as
| serted.
He suggested that railroad capitalf-
zation be readjusted to equalize 1t with
| actual valuation of the property rep
resented, making due allowance for
| equities. and that when this was done
the roads should be allowed to earn
sufficient income to keep their stock
ut par and to create surplus. The
latter, he tentatively proposed, might
be allowed to amount to 25 per cent
of the capital.
Railway Earnings Low.
This subject of railroad capitalization
and the amount of railroad earnings
received further attention from the
committee during its recent sessions.
In answer to questions by Senator
Cummins, Mr.. Thorn submitted figures
showing the net earnings of the roads
In recent years. These figures show
that during the five years from 1905
to 1910 the average net earnings were
5.25 per cent OF the net capitalization
while for the five years from 1910 to
1915 the average was only 4.56 per
cent. The total earnings ON the stock,
computed by adding to the net oper,
ating income the income from the &C.
curities owned and deducting bond in
terest, were for 1910, 100 per cent;
for 1911, 617 per cent: for 1912, 4.97
per cent; for 1913, 5.94 per cent; for
1914, 4O6 per cent; for 1915, 3.44 pei
cent thus showing an almost contin.
uous decrease throughout this six year
period 1t was announced that Hal
ford Erickson, formerly chairman OF
the Wisconsin Railroad Commission
would submit more complete informa
ton on TINS subject to the COMMITTEES
at later date.