The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1917-06-07

Il Would aess" Political cs~trsi en-
Lees 81 EMeis"ey-oseisrss ms
csisis ce~frsnss Country - Asesva
Of Transportation Sitvstis~-ls~,es,
Frs;sht Rstss - D FsvaI IL Uaias.
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Washington, D. c., June 6.-The
~ States u eace to nee VII. Q .-r.ou,
crisis In its commercial s6airs. due h
the eoaditions BY which Ns transports
doo system 10 confronted. vas the opia
Ion expressed BY W. n. Acwoeth. Eng
lands leading authority on railways
before the Sewlands joint COMMITTEES
on interstate commerce at q special
session held here to enable the com,
nittee to bear his views before bis de.
parturs for London this week. Two
steps are necessary. according to Mr.
Acworth. to avert this crisis and Ia
solve the threatening railroad problem
confronting the country.
The nrst IL to allow the railroads to
charge freight rates suthcient to meet
the great advance In operating ex.
penses which 10 taking place and to
enable them to command the credit
nscessary to provide the extensions
and Improvements needed to meet the
growing demands Of business. The SCI
ond Is to do away With the multiple
and conflicting systems OF regulation
that now hamper railway operation
and to provide one centralized reguia
tory agency with such local subdivi
sions AZ may be Necessary.
Higher Rates . Public Necessity.
Mr.. Acworths views on the transpor.
tatiOn situation In the United States
were expressed In answer to questions
By members Of the committee. who
asked him to apply his knowledge
Of railway conditions throughout the
world and Of the experience Of other
countries with government ownership
to the present problem before the Unit.
ed States.
The funda MENTAL factor in the sit.
uation II very simple" said Mr. Ac,
worth. 1T lies In the fact that you
cannot get three-quarters Of . cents
worth Of work done for less than three.
quarters Of a cent. no matter whether
the agency performing 1t 10 q govern.
ment or private enterprise. Freight
rates must advance when the cost Of
performing the service advances AZ
It Is doing at present, Just as the price
Of bread or meat or any other com.
modify increases with increased cost
Of production"
In answer to q question Mr. Ac.
worth said that he thought American
freight rates had been at much too low
level for several years past, that they
had reached this low point during the
period Of cutthroat competition among
the roads and had since been held
there by regulating bodies. Unless re-
lief were afforded to the carriers very
promptly. he said. the result would
he a tremendous loss to the people of
the whole country through insufficient
cy Of transportation facilities.
Weakness Of Government Ownership.
On the subject of government owner
ship Of railways Mr.. Acworth said:
1T il impossible to obtain satisfac.
tory results on government railways
in . democratic state unless the man.
agement is cut loose from direct polit-
ical control. Neither Australia nor
any other country with 4 democrat.
ic cOnstitutiOn-perhap an exception
ought to be made Of Switzerland-ha
succeeded in maintaining a permanent
severance. In France. in Belgium. in
italy. parliamentary interference never
has been abandoned Tor moment.
The facts show that government in.
terferehce has meant running the rail
ways not for the benefit of the people
at large. but to satisfy local and sec.
tiOnal and even personal interests
Prussia. Mr.. Acworth said. was the
best example Of an efficient govern.
ment railway system. and he pointed
out that military considera tons were
treated as Of paramount importance In
the Prussian railway system. While
American freight rates had been re-
duced nearly 70 per cent in thirty
years. rates in Prussia were nearly as
high as at the beginning OF the period
While the charge for moving ton OF
freight one mile in the United States
was 4 trife over three-quarters Of q
cent the rate in Prussia was la
cents.
As illustrating the difference in rates
between government and private roads
Mr.. Acworh compared the railways
Of New South Wales, Australia. with
those Of Texas. While the amount o.
traffic to each mile Of line was about
the same in both cases. he pointed out
the Texas railways performed for the
public four times as much service as
the government owned roads Of New
South Wales. The charge in Texas
for hauling 4 ton OF freight one mile
was less than cent, while in the Aus
tralian state it was well over 9 cents.
american railways lead the world
said Mr. Acworth. NOWADAYS when
men In any other part Of the world