The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-01-12


it is clearly in the public interest also
that the ordinary activities and the
normal Industrial and commercial life
of the country should be interfered
with and disIocated as little as pos
sible and the public may rest assured
that the interest and convenience of
the private shipper will be as careful
ly served and safeguarded as it is
possible to serve and safeguard it in
the present extraordinary circum-
stances.
Should Be Fair to Owners.
'fWhiIe the present authority of the
executive sufficed for all purposes of
administration, and while, of course,
all private interests must for the pres
ent give way to the particular neces-
Sity, it is, / am sure you will agree,
right and necessary that the owners
and creditors of the railways, the hold
ers of their stocks and bonds should
receive from the government an IN
qualified guarantee that their proper
ties will be maintained throughout the
period of federal control in as good
repair and as complete equipment as
at present, and that the several roads
will receive under federal manage
ment such compensation as is equit-
able and just aIikt to the owners and
to the general public.
Il would suggest the average net
| railway operating income of the three
years ending June 80, 1917.
Compensation Should Be Prompt.
81 earnestly recommend that these
guarantees be given by appropriate
legislation, and given as promptly as
circumstances permit.
81 need not point out the essential
justice of such guarantees and their
great influence and significance as e1e-
ments in the present financial and in
dustrial situation of the country. In
deed, one of the strong arguments for
assuming control of the railroads at
this time is the financial argument
ut is necessary that the values of
railway securities should be justly
and fairly paid and that the large fl
nancial operations every year neces-
sary in connection with the mainten-
ance, operation and development of
the roads should, during the period of
the war, be wisely related to the fl
nancial operations of the government.
Our first duty is, of course, 20 con-
serve the common interest and the
common safety and to make certain
that nothing stands in the way of the
successful prosecution of the great
war for liberty and justice, but it is
! oil OOlISdIIOu VI pUO11C CO1SClSnCS dilO
of public honor that the private inter-
ests we disturb should be kept safe
from unjust injury, and it is of the
utmost consequence to the govern
ment itself that all great financial
| operations should be stabilized and CO.
ordinated with the financial opera
! tions of the government. No borrow
ing should run athwart the borrow
| ings of the federal treasury, and no
! fundamental industrial values should
anywhere be unnecessarily impaired.
| I'm the hands of many small invest
ors in the country, as well as in ma
| tionaI banks, in insurance companies,
| in savings banks, in trust companies,
| in financial agencies of every kind
railway securities, the sum total of
which runs up to some ten or eleven
! thousand million dollars, constitute a
vital part of the structure of credit,
and the unquestioned solidity of that
| structure must be maintained.
McAdoo the Right Man.
1.-THE Secretary of War and I easily
agreed that, in view of the many COM
plex interests which must be safe
! guarded and ,harmonized, as well as
/ because of his exceptional experience
and ability in this new field of gov
! ernmentaI action, Mr.. William G. Nc
AdoO was the right man to assume di-
rect administrative control of this new
executive task. At our request, he
| consented to assume the authority and
duties of organizer and director gen
eral of the new railway administration.
He has assumed those duties and his
work is in active progress.
cit is probably too much to expect
that even under the unified railway
administration which will now hn nos
sible, sufficient economies can be eff
fected in the operation of the railways
to make it possible to add to their
equipment and extend their operative
facilities as much as the present ex-
traordinary demands upon their use
will render desirable without resorting
to the national treasury for the funds.
Nation Must Aid Financially.
eff it is not possible it will, of
course, be necessary to resort to the
Congress for grants of money for that
purpose. The Secretary of the Treas
ury will advise with your committees
with regard to this very practical as
pect of the matter.
For the present, I suggest only the
guarantees l have indicated and such
appropriations as are necessary at the
outset of this task. l take the liberty
of expressing the hope that the Con
gress may grant these promptly and
ungrudgingly. We are dealing with
great matters and will, am sure, deal
with them greatly.
John Paul Jones Was Scotch.
John Paul Jones was Scotch by birth
and a very enterprising person. Dur
ing the Revolutionary war he com
manded an American privateer and
made successful attacks on British
commerce. In 1873 the Dutch permit
ted him to enter their ports with two
British ships of war, which he had
taken and which the local authorities
fatty refused to deliver up. He dice
at Paris in 1892, and his remains were
: brought to this country a few years
ago for burial.
How Could There Be?