The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-03

AtQuAuaSeur put tner lmmeQlate llQul-
 dation will make heavy drains on the
 treasury for the months just ahead of : us
 MUST MAINTAIN FORCE
 The maintenance of our forces On
 the other side of the sea is still nec- | essary A considerable proportion of
 those which are brought home will
 ne transported and demobilized at heavy expense for months to come. The interest on our debt must, of course, De paid and provision made for the re- tirement of the obligations of the gov ernment which represent it. But these demands will. of course, fall much be- low what continuation of military op- erations would have entaiied and $S,- fO00,000,000 would suffice to supply 8 sound foundation for the financial op- erations of the year.
 entirely concur with the Secretary of the Treasury in recommending that the S2,000. 100000 needed in connection with the $4,000, 100000 provided by ex- isting law be taken from the profits which have accrued and shall accrue from war contracts and distinctively war business. but that these taxes pe confined to the war profits accruiEg in 1918 or in 1919 from business orig mating in war contracts. urge your acceptance of his recommendation that provisions be made now, not subse- quently; that the taxes to be paid in 1920 should be reduced from $6,000,000,- 900 to $4.000, 900, ,0o0. Any arrange ments less definite than these would add elements of doubt and confusion to the critical period of industrial re- adjustment through which the country must now immediately pass and which no true friend of the nations essential business interests can afford to be re- sponsfble for creating, or prolonging, clearly determined conditions, clearly and simply charted, are indispensable to the economic revival and rapid in- dustrial development which may confi- dently be expected if we act now and sweep all interrogation points aside.
 I take for granted that the Con- gress will carry out the naval pro- gramme which was undertaken before we entered the war. The Secretary of the Navy has submitted to your com uittee for authorization that part of the programme which covers the build ing plans of the next three years. These plans have been prepared along the lines and in accordance with the poll icy which the Congress established, not under the exceptional conditions of the war, but with the intention of adhering to definite method of de- veloIment of the navy I earnestly recommend the uninterrupted pursuit
 
 unwise for us to attempt to adjust our progress to futureNworld policy as yet undetermined,
 THE RAILROAD QUESTION
 The question which causes me the greatest concern is the question of the policy to be adopted toward the rail- roads. 1 frankly turn to your counsel upoI, it. I have no confident judg- mens of my own. I do not see how any thoughtful man could who knows any, thing of the compltxity of these prob- lems. It is a problem which much be studied, studied immediately, and sud- fed without bias or prejudice. .othinS can be gained by becoming partisans of any particular plan of settlement.
 It was necessary that the adminis- tration of the railways should be talk en over by the government so long as the war lasted, It would have been impossible otherwise to establish and carry through under single direction the necessary priorities of shipment It would have been impossible other wise to combine maximum production at the factories and mines, and farms, with the maximum possible car supply to take the products to the ports ahd markets, impossible to route troop shipments and freight shipments with out regard to the advantage or disad-
  sible to subordinate when necessary all questions of convenience to the public necessity, impossible to give tie necessary financial support to the roads from the public treasury. But all these necessities have now been served and the question is. What is best for the railroads and the public in the fu- ture?
 Exceptional circumstances and excep- tional methods of administration were not needed to convince us that the railroads were not equal to the im- mense tasks of transportation imposed upon them by the' rapid and continu- ous development of the industries of the country. We knew that already. to 1t, partly because their full co-op- eration was rendered impossible by law and their competition made obligatory so that it has been impossible to as- sign to them severally ,-the traffic which could best be carried by their lines in the interest of ex- petition and national economy.
 We may hope, I believe. for the formal conclusion of the war by treaty by the time spring has come. The q months to which the present control of the railways is limited after formal proclamation of peace shall have been made, will run at the farthest, I take 1t for granted. only to the January of 1921.
 .The full equipment of the railways which the federal administration had planned could not be completed within any such period. The present law does not permit the use of the revenues of the several roads for the execution of such plans except by formal contract with their directors, some of whom will consent while some will not, and, there fore, does not afford sufficient authority to undertake improvements upon the scale upon which it would be necessary to undertake them. Every approach to this difficult subject matter of decision brings us face to face, therefore, with this unanswered question:: What Is 1t right that we should0do with the rail- roads, In the interest of the public and In fairness to their owners?
 HAS NO ANSWER
 Let me say at once that I have no answer ready The only thing that is perfectly clear to me Is that 1t is not lair either to the public or to the owners ,f the railroads to leave the question 1nanswersd, and that 1t will apresently become my duty to relinquish control of he roads. even before the expiration of he statutory period, unless there should appear some clear prospect in the mean ime of legislative solution. Their re- ease would at least produce one element ,f a solution. namely, certainty. and a luick stimulation of private initiative T believe that 1t will be serviceable for me to set forth as explicitly as pos- ,ible the alternative courses that lie opei