Republican farmer., 1918-12-06

1918, or in 1913 from business originat- ing in war contracts. urge your ac- ceptance of his reconmendation that provision be made now. not subse- quently, that the taxes to be paid in 1AO should be reduced from six to four billions. Any arrangements less definite than these would add ele- ments of doubt and confusion to the critical period of industrial readjust- ment through which ~ untry must now immediately pass, and which no true friend of the nations essential business interests can afford to be re- sponsible for creating or prolonging. Clearly determined conditions, clearly and simply charted, are indispensable to the economic revival and rapid in- dustrial development which may con- fidently be expected if we act now and sweep all Interrogation points away.
 I take 1t for granted that the Con- gress will carry out the naval pro gram which was undertaken before we entered the war. The Secretary ot the Navy has submitted to your com mittees for authorization that part of the program which covers the building plans of the next three years. These plans have been prepared along the lines and in accordance with the policy and in accordance with the policy which the Congress established, not under the exceptional conditions of the war, but with the intention of a tn 6afC nf velopment for the navy. I earnestly recommend the uninterrupted pursuit of that policy. It would clearly be | unwise for us to attempt to adjust our programs to future world policy as yet undetermined.
 The question which causes me the l greatest concern Is the question of the | policy to be adopted toward the rail- roads. I frankly turn to you for 1 counsel upon it. I have no confident | judgment of my own. I do not see | how any thoughtful man can have 1 who knows anything of the com- plexity of the problem. It is a prob 1 lem which must be studied, studied i immediately and studied without bias or prejudice. Nothing can be gained by becoming partisans of any particu- lar plan of settlement.
 l Problem of Railroads
 l It was necessary that the admins tration of the railways should be taken ever by the government so long as the war lasted. It would have been | impossible otherwise to establish and i carry through under a single direc- 1 tion the necessary priorities of ship ment. It would have been impossi- ble otherwise to combine maximum | production at the factories and mines and farms with the maximum possi- ble car supply to take the products to the ports and markets; impossible to route troop shipments and freight shipments without regard to the ad- vantage or disadvantage of the roads l employed; impossible to subordinate, when necessary, all questions of con venience to the public necessity; inn
 possible to give the necessary finan- | cial support to the roads from the public treasury. But all these neces- | sities have now been served, and the question is, what is best for the rail-
 roads and for the public in the future Exceptional circumstances and ex- | cepiopal methods of administration l were not needed to convince us that
 the railroads were not equal to the
 immense tasks of transportation inn
 posed upon them by the rapid an6
 continuous development of the indus
 tries of the country. We knew that
 already. And we knew that they were
 unequal to it partly because their full
 cooperation was rendered impossible
 by law and their competition made
 obligatory, so that it has been impossi.
 ble to assign to them severally tn, traffic which could best be carried by , their respective lines in the interes l of expedition and national economy. , We may hope, I believe, for thu : formal conclusion of the war b,
 treaty by the tinfe spring has come The twenty-one months to whicI ; the present control of the railway
 is limited after formal proclamation of peace shall have been made vii
 run at the farthest, I take it fol granted, only to the January of 1921
 The full equipment of the railway
 which the Federal Administration hac planned could not be completed with
 in any such period. The present law
 
 ues of the several roads for the exc cution of such plans except by forma contract with their directors, some O. whom will consent while some will no and therefore does not afford sufn
 cient authority to undertake improve
 ments upon the scale which it would
 be necessary to undertake them Every approach to this difficult sub | ma of hri1 fo
 to face, therefore, with this unanswer ed question: What is it right that WI f should do with the railroads, in tn, interest of the public and in fairness to their owners? Let me say at one, 1 that I have no answer ready. Tn, , only thing that is perfectly clear to m,
 is that it is not fair either to tn, public or to the owners Or rae ran /, roads to leave the question unans , wered and that it will presently be / come my duty to relinquish control o ] the roads, even before the expiration of the statutory period, unless ther should appear some clear prospect il
 the meantime of legislative solution Their release would at least produc one element of a solution, namei,
 certainty and a quick stimulation o
 prlvate initiative.
 I believe that it will be serviceabI for me to set forth as explicitly a , possible the alternative courses tha : lie open to our choice. We can srm ply release the roads and go back {
 the old conditions of private manage ment, unrestricted competition an
 multtform regulation by both Stat and Federal authorities: or we can g
 to the opposite extreme and establisl complete Government control, accom- panied, if necessary, by actual Govern rnent ownership OF we can adopt al