Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-12-14

control of the railroads until January
1894. would simply lead TO delay and
confusion, decentralization Of the or
ganization of the roads, both on their
corporate and operating side, and de-
fer indefinitely a satisfactory settle
ment" of the railroad problem.
The judgment of these experienced
railroad men should have as much
weight with Congress. as has the
conviction of Mr.. Mc-.foo. They he
lieve there is sufficient time Under
the terms of the present act TO fully
consider the railroad situation in all
it's aspects and arrive at a plan that
would be just to the country without
experiment in socialistic fields.
w. G. Besler. president and general
manager Of the Central Railroad CT
New Jersey, at Newark, Wednesday
night, challenged President Wilson's
statement that the roads had lot
measured up to the tasks of the war,
and also minimized the work of the
railroad administration
After quoting from the Presidents
message to Congress on the eve Of
his departure for the Peace Confer
ence that part of the document in
which Mr.. Wilson referred 10 the
railroads inability to cope with the
emergenc. situation Of the war, Mr..
Bcsler sad:
some Of us are not re2ared to admit
that 1t was Impossible to route trooD
shipments and freight shipments with
out regard TO the advantage or disad-
vantage of the roads concerned. Nor
do we admit that the railroads were
not equal to the immense tasks imposed
upon them The only cause of what
ever congestion began to develop in the
latter part of last year was occas,one |
by the nischeVouS activities Of certain
government departments and agencies
which brought about such a hopeless
snarl and tansle III the movement OF
traffic as to well nigh paralyZe trans
portation.
Mr. McAdoo has done practically
nothing which the railroad executives
had not planned and set in motion be-
fore he took hold. The same executive $
and employees have been working for
Mr. McAdoo; t. only difference is that
which the railroad executives were not
permitted to do was made the order of
things and they were directed to do
Mr.. Besler criticised the Railroad Adj
ministrat!on for stating that upward 5
of half a billion OF dollars has been adj
vanced to the various railroads since
the first of last April. In this connec-
ton Mr.. Besier said:
Many people suppose from this state
ment that the railroads are so hard up
that the Government has had to lend
them this large amount in order to keep
them going. The fact is that these adj
vances are nothing more or less than
partial payments on account of rent
due the railroads for the use of their
lines.
IF all the money tflat was due since
the LIST of April had been paid the sum
would have been close to three-quarters
ton to the fact that for the eight
months period the railroads are still
1920, 405.4l7 below the operating income
of the same period in 1917. when the
ership. this Notwithstanding IS per cent
and % per cent increases in rates which
have been made and which amount to
an increase of revenue totaling $i4o,-
sO5,54o
I'VE were disinclined to challenge the
statement of one high in authority, but
manifestly such person is not neces-
sarily omniscient.'
In closing his remarks, Mr.. Besler
said he believed it was the opinion
of most railroad managers that "the
properties should not be returned
under existing conditions" He &C.
clared that Congressional action rlust
deal with the question of return SO
that rates sufficient to meet existing
costs of operation would be assured.
He also expressed the hope that Con-
gress would make the railroad mans
wage high enough so that young lnen
would be attracted to the railro Ids
and that provision would be made SO
that the roads could give the ouhlic
service as high as the traffic income
would permit.