Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1917-05-26

Loss Oh Ei;i2iency--DecIares That
Crisis Confronts Country on Account
OF Transportation Situation--Lowest
Freight Rates to Be Found In United
States.
Washington, May 14.-Thnt the Unit
ca states Is face to face with serious
Crisis In Its commercial affairs. due to
the conditions by which its transDorta
ton system Is confronted was the opiu
Ion expressed by w. NJ. Acworth Eng
lands leading authority on railways
before the Newlands Joint committed
on interstate commerce at q sDccial
session held here to enable the com
nittee to hear his views before his de.
parture for London this week. Two
steps are necessary, according to Mr.
Acworth, to avert this crisis and to
solve the threatening railroad problem
confronting the country.
The first is to allow the railroads to
charge freight rates sufficient to meet
the great advance In operating e1
penses which Is taking place and TO
enable them to command the credit
necessary to provide the extensions
ana improvements needed to meet the
growing demands Of business. The sec
ond Is to do away with the mu]tin]e
ana conflicting systems OF regulation
that now hamper railway operation
and to provide one centralized regula-
tory agency with such local subdiyi
s1ons as may be necessary.
Higher Rates a Public Necessity.
Mr.. Acworth's views on the transDor.
tadon 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
ID States
The fundamental factor in the stu.
auon Is very simple" said Mr.. Ac.
worth. "1c lies in the fact that Won
cannot get three quarters OF a cents
worth OF work done for less than three.
quarters OF q cent, no matter whether
the agency performing it IS a govern.
ment or private enterprise. Freight
rates must advance when the cost of
performing the service advances al
1t Is doing at present, just as the price
OF bread or meat OF any other com.
modify increases with increased cost
or production"
IN answer to question Mr.. Ac.
worth said that he thought American
freight rates had been at much too low
level for several years past, that thew
mad 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
DO a tremendous loss to the people of
the whole country through insufficient
cy OF transportation facilities.
Weakness of Government Ownsrship.
On the subject Of government owner
ship of railways MIR. Acworth said:
1T is impossible to obtain satisfac-
tory results ON government railways
IN democratic state unless the man
agement Is cut loose from direct polit-
lcal control. Neither Australia nor
any other country with democrat
&c constitution-perhaSs an exception
ought to be made Of SwitzcrIand-bas
succeeded in maintaining a permanent
severance. In France. in Belgium. in
Italy, parliamentary interference never
has been abandoned for ~ moment
The facts show that government I'm.
reference has meant running the rail
ways not for the bciieht OF the people
at large, but to satisfy local and section,
al and even personal interests.
Prussia. Nj AcwUrth said. was the
BEST example Of an eiiivieut govern.
nent railway system. and he pointed
out that military considera tons were
treated as OF paramount Importance in
ne Prussian railway system. While
American freight rates had been re.
duced nearly 90 per cent in thirty
years, rates in Prussia were nearly az
hiSn as at the beginning Of the period
While the charge for moving a ton of
freight one mile in the United States
was trf1e over three-quarters OF q
cent, the rate in Prussia was Ia
cents.
AS illustrating the difference in rates
between government and private roodo