The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1918-01-10
REASONS FOR
GOVERNMENT
CONTROL
President Wilson i'm Address to Con-
gress Explains Purpose in Taking
Control of Railways.

mendations for carrying out govern |
ment operation of railroads.
Bills to carry out the presidents |
ideas already had been prepared und |
er the supervision Of the department
of justice and were Immediately in
troduced with plans for prompt con-
sideration in both house and senate.
To guarantee proper returns to the
roads during the period of govern
ment operation the president recon-
mended that congress provide COM
pensation at the rate of the same net
operating income as the roads have
received for the three preceding fiscal
years.
To provide for proper maintenance
of the roads and their return to own
ers in the same order as the govern
ment takes them over, tn president
recommended legislation to authorize
their upkeep and betterment during
the period Of federal operation.
Legislation to this effect is all con-
tanned in the administration bills,
which would appropriate a 100000,
600 fund for government operation.
Only by government operation, the
president told congress, could the
unity necessary to the country be OBJ
tanned, and he added that existing Or
CARNATIONS of the railroads should be
disturbed as little as possible.
The president laid special stress ON
the guarantees to the roads and their
stockholders. The president spoke in
full as follows:
Text of Presidents Address.
Gentlemen of the Congress: have
asked the privilege Of addressing you
in order to report that on the 2Sth
Of December last, during the recess
of congress, acting through the sec
rotary of war and under the authority
conferred upon me by the act Of con-
gress approved August 20, 1916,
took possession and assumed control
of the railway lines of the country
and the systems of water transporta-
ton under their control. This step
seemed to be imperatively necessary
In the interest of the public welfare,
in the presence of the great tasks of
war with which we are now dealing
As our experience develops difficulties
and makes it Gear what they are, I
have deemed 1t my duty to remove
those difficulties wherever l have the
legal power to do so. To assume con-
troll of the vast railway systems Of the
country is, l realize, a very heavy re-
sponsibility, but to fail to do so in the
existing circumstances would have
been much greater l assumed the
less responsibility rather than the
weightier l assume that / am speak
ing the mind of all thoughtful Ameri-
cans when l say that it is our duty as
the representatives of the nation to
do everything that is necessary to
do to secure their complete mobiliza-
ton of the whole resources of Amer
lea by as rapid and effective a means
as can be found. Transportation sup
plies all the arteries of mobilization.
Unless it be under single and unified
direction the whole process of the ma
TONS action is embarrassed
ut was in the true spirit of Ameri-
ca and it was right, that we should
first try to effect the necessary unfit
cation under the voluntary action of
those who were in charge of the great
railway properties, and we did try it.
The group of railway executives who
were charged with the task of actual
coordination and general direction
have performed their task with patri-
otto zeal and marked ability, as was
to have been expected, and did. I be
lieve, everything that was possible for
them to do in the circumstances. If /
have taken the task out of their hands,
it has not been because of any derelic-
ton or failure on their part, but only
because there were some things which
the government can do and the
present management cannot. We
shall continue to value most highly
the advice and assistance of these
gentlemen, and l am sure we shall not
find them Withholding it.
1T has become Enthusiastically plain
that only under government admin
1stration can the entire equipment of
lAe several systems of transportation
be fully and unreservedly thrown into
common service without injurious dis
elimination against particular proper
ties. Only under government admin
istration can an absolutely unrestrict-
ed and unembarrassed common use
be made of all tracks, terminals term
1nal facilities and equipment of every
kind. Only under that authority can
new terminals be constructed and de
veloped without regard to the require
mentS' of limitations of particular
roads. But under government admin
istration all these things will be pos
sible, not instantly but as fast as prac
tical difficulties, which cannot be
merely conjured away, give way before
the new management.
The common administration will
be carried out with as little disturb
ance Of the present operating organi-
cations and personnel Of the railways
as possible. Nothing will be altered
or disturbed which It is not necessary
to disturb. We are serving the public
interest and safeguarding the public
safety, but we are also regardful of
the interest of those by whom these
great properties are owned and glad
to avail ourselves of the experience
and trained ability of those who have
been managing them. 1t is necessary
that the transportation of troops and
of war materials, of food and of fuel
and Of everything that is necessary
for the full mobilization of the energ
les and resources of the country
should be first considered, but 1t is
clearly In the public interest also that
the ordinary activities and the normal
industrial and mnaorcial life of the