Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-12-05

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war business. but that these taxes be
confined to the war profits accruing in
l191S, OF in 1919, from business origi-
mating iii war contracts. y.
Asks Aid for Belgium.
May ] not say a special word about
the needs of Belgium and northern
France? No sums of money paid by
the way Of indemnity will serve OF
themselves to save them from hopeless
disadvantage for years to come. Some
thing more must be done than merely
find the money. If they had money
and raw materials in abundance to-
morrow they could not resume their
place in the industry of the world to-
morrow-the very important place
they held before the flame of war
swept across them. Many of their
factories are razed to the ground.
Much OF their machinery is destroyed
Tor has been taken away. Their
people are scattered and many Of
their markets will be taken by others,
If they are not ip some special way
assisted to rebuild their factories and
replace their lost instruments of.man-
ufacture. They should not be left to.
the vicissitudes of the sharp compe-
| tition for materials and for Industrial
facilities which is now to set in. /
hope, therefore, that the congress will
not be unwilling, if 1t should become
necessary, to grant to some such
agency as the war. trade.s board: the
right to establish priority Of export
and supply for the benefit Of these
people whom we have been so happy
to assist In saving from the German
terror and whom we ni,tst in6tt.n6w
thoughtlessly leave; to shift for Them
selves in a pitiless competitive market.
Worried About Railroads.
The question which causes me the
greatest concern is the question of
the policy to be adopted toward the
railroads. 1. frankly. Eeto;. .xs,g for
counsel upon it, have no conf.
dent Judgment of my own. I do NOT
see how any thoughtful niiii1.a cab hAWg
who knows anything of the COM
plexity Of the problemtt It is;,a ,ps..oe prob. b
lem which must be stifdftd, = Studied lid I'LL
mediately and studied without bias
or prejudice.
1t was necessary that the admins
tration of the 'rail&i7atyas 'ss4toaniNl !. ba
| taken over by the government so long
as the war lasted. 1t would, have
been impossible otherwise to estab-
lish anG carry, tlifoIghr iIadef: a.singleS
direction the:ssnseessary.,n y.,npiorlties of.
shipments Il would have been lmposs..
| sihle otherwise to combine maximum
production at the factories and mines
and farms with the maximum possible
Car supply to take the products to the
ports and markets :, ,ippossibless to
route troops Shipments aid freight.
shipments without regard to ostka .snAs
vantage of the roads employed; i'm.
possible to subordinate, when necess
,sary, all questions Of .convenienee-.to
the public necessity; impossible to give
the necessary financial support to the
roads from tile public treasury a But
all these neees ties have. d iAx ;;sslsaEk&k Ek&
/
hest for the railroads mn, for .the pubt
lie in the future. !. 3. !. ~ ., .s..i. b
Roads Could Not Cooperate. s@,,
Exceptional circumstances and ekq
ceptional :amethods Of. administrator
were not Needed to convince us that
the railroads We're not equal to tile
immense tasks of transportation in
posed upon them bys'the rapid and
continuous development of the indus
tries of the. country. We knew that
talready. and we knew that they were
unequal to it partly because their full
cooperation was rendered impossible
by law and their competition made OBJ
ligatory, so that it has been impossi-
Bile to. assign to them severally the
| traffic which could best be carried by
their respective lines in the interest Of
expedition and national economy.
The full equipment of the railways
which the. federal administration had
| planned could not be completed with
in any such period. The present law
| does not permit the use Of the reve-
| nues of the several roads for the exc
| cutionaof such plans except by formal
contract with their directors, some s.of
| whom will consent while some will
not, and therefore does not afford suf.
ficient authority to undertake improve
ments upon the scale upon which;sit
| would be necessary to undertake thdnn.
Every approach to this difficult sub
| iect matteE of decision brings us face
to face. ti,ereforeH with this unafit.
swered question. What is right that
we should do with the railroads in tile
interest of the public and in fairness
to their owners 2.G.. - 4yr:. ], NJ;
Several Plans Possible.
believe that. it will be serviceaiile
for me to set fortfi5ds explicitly as:iws-
sible the alternative. courses thaESsIie
| open to our choice. We can simplN:re-
lease the roads and sgo back to th6. Did
conditions of private managementiin-
restricted competition and multi E3rln
regulation by both state and federal
authorities or we can go to the dpi)0-
site extreme and establish cOmiSlete
government control, accompanieats:if
necessary, by actual government DMn-
efship; or we can adopt an interiDe-
date course of modified private .cdn-
troll. under Il more unified and affif3ala-
five public regulation and under such
alterations of the law as will permit
wasteful competition to be av0jaed
and considerable degree of unHfea-
tion of administration TO he t,ffaSStpd