New-York tribune., 1918-05-27
Continued from Page 10

said: "They (the railroads) do not
ask one billion dollars from the gov
ernment for anybody else at the mo-
ment. They could not Immediately
invest it in plant and equipment if
they had it, because of the difficulty
in getting materials and labor. That
figure represents in round figures
what ought to be spent in every year
for several years to bring the Ameri
can railroad plant up to capacity to
handle efficiently the growing traffic.
About $600,000,000 per annum on
the avearge has been spent for a.
number of years for road and equip
ment, which at present prices would
be equivalent to about $1,000, 900, 900
for road and equipment.
The Standard of
James J. Hill
Thus, railroad executives con-
slider that $1,O00,O0O, 900 is a fair
amount to spend this year, and,
while it is considerably more than
they have been able to spend for
several years, it does not represent
any extraordinarily large sum in
comparison with the needs of the
railroads and is not big enough to
take up any very great amount Of
the slack created by too small ex-
penditures in former years. In
other words, it should be considered
as nothing more than should be
normally expected to enable the
railroads to keep pace with the
growth Of the country, and if that
amount had been spent every year
since James j. Hill made his esti-
mate the railroads would have
been in a condition to handle the
traffic thrown upon them by the
war much better than they have
been able to do.
In the same letter to Senator
Newlands the War Board stated
that approximately 1000 locomo-
tives and 10000 cars, in addition
to those now on order, were neces-
sary to meet the requirements of
the year. The government has thus
far only ordered 1000 locomotives
and 100000 cars, although it prob
ably would have ordered more if it
had not been informed by the War
Industries Board that it could not
have any more steel for the pres
ent, the steel being required for
ships and other needs.
Undoubtedly the fact that one
central authority was able to say
where the available capital, materi-
ais and labor should be expended in
view Of the needs of the railroads
as a whole rather than in view of
the interests of the individual rail-
road has resulted in much more
scientific disposition than would
have resulted if each road followed
it's own ideas. For example, a West
ern railroad which, by reason of it's
location, is not bearing any great
extra burden Of traffic on account
of the war might be in a financial
position to go ahead and improve it's
road, whereas some other road
which, under present conditions,
ought to have money spent on it
might not be able to finance the i'm
provements. Under centralized
supervision the improvements not in
the interest Of the railways as a sys-
TEN could be held up and the money
be spent where it will do the most
good.
There seems to be no plan of
finance for these expenditures, as to
how much should be loaned by the
government, how much should be
loaned by the banks and how much
offered to the public. This will
doubtless depend more on what can
be done than on what ought to be
done. Some roads undoubtedly still
have sufrrient ;ndividra1 crndst fn