The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-29
Applied In the

away from it's subject. It was like
Judge on The bench: 1t did not
share In the consequences of its act !;
its responsibility was an academic
one. The railroad interest, according
to Mr.. Thornton, divides itself into
four distinct parts.
1. The interest Of the shippers.
2. The railway STAFF, including
labor and all employees.
3. The proprietors. including the
shareholders. tondholders. and gen
eral financing.
4. The government (Which in Eu-
rope already has and in America will
come to have military interest).
These various interests are diverse
and often in sharp opposition. The
shippers always want low rates and
care nothing about the other inter-
ests; the sharers look to dividends:
the employees want more wages and
do not worry themselves about the
other points of view: the govern
ment has many-sided interest which
may be one thing today and quite
another thing tomorrow. Its main
interest, of course, il to represent
the general public. from which all
railway revenue must be derived.
"The problem Is to bring all these
factors together" Std Mr.. Thornton.
$50 that they will appreciate tho
different points of view instead of
always standing each for It's own. My
study of the american problem has
carried me almost to the conviction
that instead OF the interstate COM
merce commission there should be a
body composed OF men representing
the four interests to which I have
referred.
1T might he well to carry the
scheme even nearer to government
control. Assuming some form OF
financial participation on the part OF
the government, there IL at once q
stabilizing Of railway securities. They
are taken ont Of the helS cs .cec:.:-
lation, the raising of capital becomes
easy and its lire cheap. The gov
eminent in turn has then stake IN
the proposition. Moreover. each OF
the interests involved in the propo-
sition watches the other and sees
that no interest gets more than It's
SHARE"
What about the general public In
this scheme of control and manage.
ment?" Mr.. Thornton was asked.
The public is represented by the
government, and that ought to be
adequate In g democracy. What !
have outlined in the way OF pos
sible solution CT the railway problem
in America may not fit when laid
down on the Eiound, but 1t seems to
me that you have got to devise some
- Ii tie In va III,
way management. or else you VII!
have a breakdown somewhere that
will be very serious In its effects on
the whole country.
"Our problem In England - much
easier, because 1t 10 simpler here 70
concentrate authority than It II In
America. have no doubt that II the
re reorganization of the interstate com.
merce commission were ATTEMPTED.
there would be general demand to
have local bodies with subordinate
authority in tie various sections.
That would have its advantages, but
/. would interfere with concentration
of authority End ease of control.
1.-THE big thing, it seems to me, g
that the Interstate commerce coE'-
mission should have real and ora :
ticaI interest in the administration.
For example, In the labor fight re-
Gently neither the president nor con-
gress was directly interested in what
happened after the settlement was
secured: what they wanted was to
get from under the difficulty. A con-
tinuing body, charged with perma-
nent responsibility. would hav. nm
entirely different outlook on the
question.
"a body composed ct the best
available men. appointed for life and
adequately paid, would be in a posi-
ton to get the best results. For
example, a labor leader tand there
arc MANY good one. /. A-:e:.c::tt
might 20 into this body prejudiced,
but his association with the others
would broaden and mellow him. Pre-
cisely the same thing could be said
oe the repres antative of capital.
at has worked that way In Eng
lard. Never anywhere has there
existed such severe competition. as
there was here among the rail- .sd,.
and yet the ten general managers,
when brought together to operate the
railroads of England, have all come
L, see each others point Of view, and
ae a matter Of practical experience
every decision reached by them has
been found helpful"