Evening journal., 1917-04-07
Progress in Starving the Railroads Info
InefficiencY
How the Impotence by
suliciency Revenues.

President in Charge Of Operation Of the
road Company.
ident Clark of the Lackawanna Steel
Company these remarks:
The failure of the railroads to pro-
vide equipment necessary for ade-
quate service, while due in some part
to.the agitation of their employees for
increased wages and to the increased
cost of all supplies that they use, was
fundamentally due to the fact that
they have been unable TO secure in
creased rates for transportation and
thus to secure such earnings as would ,
provide a reasonable margin for inn
The losses to the various
producers and shippers Of this coun-
try due to failure to receive materials
on time, lost output and increased !
labor charges through enforced idle
ness because of congestion at termi-
nails and railroad embargoes prob /
ably greatly exceed the amount they
would pay under rates which would (
enable the railroads to provide prop
er equipment and terminal facilities
This is plain and forcible language
from a man who gets the most out OF
every dollar his company spends.
Let me quote also from a paper
much read by shippers, the Manufac-
urers Record Of Baltimore. On March
/, 1917, that paper read:
I'VE may rail against the roads TO
our hearts contept. we may denounce
their managers because they cannot
do the impossible thing. but for years
we have been trying to compel the
railroads 10 make bricks without
straw to build new lines and enlarge
their facilities. while at the same time
passing legislation when made it inn
possible for them to secure the money
with which TO do this work"
There is hut one remedy for the
problem Of the railroads, and that is
To allow them higher rates, rates
commensurate with the cost OF rem
dering service and with the added
demands that are daily imposed upon
the carriers.
It is to the best interests Of ship
pers and the general public alike that
railroad rates be advanced. What the
public most needs, as the president Of
the Lackawanna Steel Company so
ably says is adequate service.
Is there single large shipper in
the Pittsburgh district who would not
more than once in the last year or So
have gladly paid large increases over
the established rates to have had his
freight moved promptly, if it hadbeen
legal TO do so? Yet had the rates been
compensatory in recent years, facili-
ties would have already been provid-
ed and the movement of freight would
have been more prompt
ParadOXical as it may seem, an ad-
vance in freight rates would lower the
cost of living rather than raise it,
Will one OF YOU question the statement
that the price of food products, fuel
supplies. &c. has been materially in
creased through the local shortage OF
equipment or our inability TO move?
Had rates been high enough in the
last few years to have permitted the
additional railroad improvements that
YOU all now recognize are so badly
needed. foods, fuel. and other neces-
sites would now be moving to market
/ freely. in greater quantity. and the
normal law OF supply and demand
would not be upset by a failure OF
transportation.
In short, freight rates play such a
small part in the cost OF nearly all
the daily necessities of life that an
advance would if apparent at all. be
offset by normal supply.
On the bther hand, the efficiency OF
/ the railroads would be so greatly in
creased that the ultimate effect might
well be a general lowering of prices
as a result Of the improved machin-
( cry Of distribution and exchange that
/ the country would possess.
/ Now, briefly, additional facilities re-
Quire money; money can only be OBJ
tanned il your credit is good; credit
can only be established by ample in
come. and ample income only by adj
vanced rates.
Now, do you want increased facili-
ties?
I believe you do.
This belief gives me courage to close
my talk by an appeal to you to do
something that, to the best of my
knowledge. shippers have never been
known to do before. l have asked you
not to place stumbling blocks in the
way Of our efforts to obtain adequate
rates. I now venture to go one step
further and ask you to aid us in this
effort.
When the time comes, will you 20
before the AuitihldNt AbAAlAANANN Inn
mission and say, not only that you dc
not object to an advance in rates hut
that you actively favor such an adj
vance because you believe it to be es-
sential to the continuing prosperity
OF the country?
II you do this, it will mark the be-
} ginning of a new era in the CONNER
= cial progress of America, an era in
3 which selfishness and distrust shall
give way to cooperation and conf
b dence. an era in which our railroads
7 strengthened financially and physical
7 ~ fit, shall give you such service as
! will enable the products of your grea
industries. the results of your geniu!
, and energy, successfully to compete il
. the markets of the world in the grea
: commercial worlds war that is IN
q evitable.