Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-10-17
NO SUCH THING AS
BUSINESS AS USUAL. "
Hinder War Conditions When To Ex-
pedite Transfer OF important
FREIGHT.


s.nus,ress as usual'' under war condi.
tions in any lire. To meet these
changed conditions there haze Deen
end must continue 70 be important
chances in the character q railroad
service For the Inconvenience and
snnayances which Inevitably follow
thpss changes, the rsilgoads ask the
nstience Of the public in view Of the
important ends to be served
When, to expedite the transfer OF
important freight in order TO furnish
the motive power and the rolling stock
ard the labor the war rate demands,
thev reoaee the number of passenger
trains. extena their schedules, and suo-
nit to delsys. the railroads ask tnat
the public give consideration to the
reasons therefore and not let the irrl-
tation Of the moment interfere WIN
generous judgment.
A late passenger train may easily
mean that right of way has been given
to food or fuel, munitions or troops,
on their way to fight for as on
Europe's far.fiung battle line. the
DELAYED receipt of some household
comfort or some article of desired
merchandise may easily be offset %
the expedition of troops on their way
to protect the home and make safe the
institutions under which We live.
As a Leading Western Eailroad exec.
utive recently said:
tine emergency confronting
the government and the nation is
greater than any emergency that
can confront any private indiyl-
dual or corporation; and we, rep
resenting the transportation inter
ests Of this country, must stand
together and co ordinate al Of cur
activities 10 enc end, the EARLY
AND SUCCESSFUL TERMINA-
| TION OF THE WAR.
The urgent need of The railways for
reasonable, even generous rates. is l
believe, recognized by both state and
national authorities, and / hope we
may look forward with confidence 10
early aud constructive action by these
public authorities.
1t has been suggested thst the Gov
ernment axe large loans to the all.
ways from the public treasury While
SEINE temporary relief OF this sort
might be considered, it would be only
8 court plaster and would not cure tine
real trouble. Why encourage the carr
l riers t. 60 into debt to the Govern
ment when the trouble today is that
their debts are already too lerge
WHAT they need is revenues to enabl
them 10 meet their existing obliga-
tions, not from lending cred tors, but
from shareholders. Why pile up Gov
eminent debt on the already top-heavy
losd of private debt? Ne ought 70
have broader foundation ot capital
from shareholders, and We must have
higher rates, both state snd interstate,
to widen the foundation inst tad Of the
superstructnre. assume railroad
commission will not ignore the faci
that we are living IN an absolutely new
world of credit and that America is
now a financial island
The Great War has brought wildly
before tine country the fact that rsil.
way transportation IS an ind osnssble
arm Of nationsl defense. For the ser
vice of the nation the operation Of ths
railways has been mobilizs0 ia order
that maximum Of tran. portatien may
be produced with the available facili-
ties. Now that we nave modified
operation, there is even greater need
that we mobilize railway credit and
railway regulation, botn Of which are
too much deeentralized.
This is a task to conmsnd the high
est constructive craftsmanship. The
first achievement of the present Wssh
ington Administration was the mobi.
lization Of the banking resources OF
the nation. It bulded better than il
knew, for VINO imagined, when the
Federal Reserve System was inaugu.
rated that we would so g 1on face the
gigatic task of mobilizing banking
credit by the thousands Of millions oil
dollars.
What the Administration did foI
banking, it now mas the opportunity tc
do for transportation. l believe that
the day is near at hand when the mo-
Utilization of our transportation re-
sources will be effected on IS broad
and solid foundation rs was laid 70,
our banking resources