The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-12-12
Government Owner
ship of Railroads
CONTINUED on Page -

politics came to be a factor in the ad-
ministration and the cost OF operations
Increased vastly. (The net revenue,
for example, Of the Western railway
of France in the worst year of private
ownership was s13,750,000, in the
fourth year of government operation
It fell to $5,350,OOO) He quotes the
eminent French economist Leroy
Beaulieu, as follows;
.'One may readily see how danger
Gus to the liberty of citizens the ex-
tension of the industrial regime Oh
the state would be, where the number
of functionaries would be indefinitely
multiplied. From all points Oh
view the experience of state railways
in France Is unfavorable as was fore
seen by all those who had reflected
upon the bad results given by the
other industrial undertakings OF the
state. The state, above all, UNI
der an elective governments can not
be good commercial manager
The experience which we have recent
n ~ gained has provoked very livery
movement not only against acqulsl-
ton of the railways by the state, put
against all extension of state INDUS
try. hope -. that not only we,
but our neighbors also may profit by
the lesson of these facts
Mr.. Acworth mentions as a ehar-
acteristic indication that after years
of sad experience with governmental
ly owned and operated railways, the
Italian government, just before the
war, started on the new departure Cor
rather returned to the old SYSTEM or
granting a concession to private en-
terprise which was to take over a
portion Of the existing state railway,
build an extension with the aid OF
state subsidies, and then work on It's
own account both sections as one UNI
dertaking under private management
may add, as a fact within my own
knowledge, that shortly before the
outbreak of the war the Belgian gov
eminent was studying the question of
returning its state railways to pri-
yate enterprise and management
Mr.. Acworth relates a resolution
unanimously passed by the French
senate a few years after the state had
taken over certain lines. beginning.
"The deplorable situation of the state
system, the insecurity and irregular
ity of its workings" He gives figures
demonstrating the invariably greater
efficiency economy and superiority OF
service of private management as
compared to state management In the
countries where these two systems are
in operation side by side. He treats
of the effect of the conflicting inter-
ests, sectional and otherwise, which
necessarily come into play under gov
eminent control when the question
arises where new lines are to be built
and what extensions to be made OF
existing lines.
He asks: "Can it be expected that
they (these questions) will be decid-
ed rightly by a minister responsible
to democratic legislature, each mem
Der Of which, naturally and rightly
makes the best case he can for his
own constituents. while he is quite
ignorant, even If not careless, of the
interests, not only of his neighbor';
Ngti tttn hut NT
large?" And he replied THE answe
is written large in railway history
The facts show that parlia
mentary interference has meant run
ming the railways, not for the bench
of the people at large, but to satisfy
local and sectional or even persona
interests" He maintains that in {
country governed on the Prussiar
principles railroad operation and plan
ming may be conducted by the govern
ment with a fair degree of success, al
an executive function, but in demo
cratic countries, he points out that II
normal times tit is the Legislative
branch of the government which mo-
only decides policy but dictates al
ways in main outline, often down to
the detail of a particular appoint
ment or a special rate, how the pol
icy shall be carried out
For corroborati ton of this latter
statement we need only turn to the
array of statutes in our own states
which not only fix certain railroad
rates by legislative enactment, bu
deal with such details as the repair
OF equipment, the minimum move.
ment of freight cars, the kind o.
headlights to be used on locomotives
the safety appliances to be installed
etc.--and all this in the face of th1
fact that these states have public ser.
vice commissions whose function II
is to supervise and regulate the rail-
roads.
The reason why the system of state
railways in Germany was largely free
from most, though by no means all
OF the unfavorable features and re-
suits produced by government owner
ship and operation elsewhere, is in
herent in the habits and conditions
created in that country by generations
of autocratc and bureaucratic gov
eminent. But Mr.. Acworth points out
very acutely that while German man