Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-14
Senator MeLean's Views
(c0ntinued from Page one)

taken from the public more than a dollar has been returned. Is it not time to quit visiting upon the rail-. roads the sins of the nineteenth cen tury and do to them as we would be done by?
 If we want to get a fairly definite idea of the value of the railroads to to imagine what would be the effect of their removal.
 { 43,0o0 Own Stock in N. H., Road. !, Our total wealth is estimated at s2405O00, ,9OO,0 Of that total the railroad investment is said to be about s29, 900 100000 or about nine per cent. Is there anyone bold enough to be- lieve that the United States would be worth half what it is today if the railroads were removed? Moreover, the railroads are owned by somebody. There are 49.000 women who own stock in the New Haven road alone. Thirty-three per cent. of the assets of the savings banks in Connecticut are invested in railroad bonds and stocks, and probably more than ten per cent. of, the assets of the insurance com panies.
 There are more than a million men and women who own stock in the nail roads of the country, and the railroads employ directly nearly 2,000 000 men and women. Assuming that the stock holders and employees are heads of families, we have at feast i5, 900 ,000 of people directly interested in the pros rerity of the railroads, to say nothing about the thirteen millions of people who have deposits in .ouT savings banks. and the forty million life in surance policies in the country in the Isafety and security <of which railroad stocks and bonds are very import ant item. ** sS*
 In 1909 Net Return Was 4.o7 Per Gent
 In 1909 the average net, return from railroad operations was 4.07 per cent and the met income from nanufa ctur- ing industries was 1906 per cent. Railway supplies and equipment new cars, engines, and nearly, every l thing that is required to sustain the i roads and meet the increased demands Eupon their. carrying capacity, costs nearly three times today what it did three years ago. Congress and the 1 Interstate Commerce Commission have
 stu'bbornly refused to authorize or
 permit the railroads to charGA- sGif i sustaining rates, or to fun;fv and ccr- 1 solidate control in the interests oi 1 economy. No business ou earth could
 survive such treatment. Tie farmer
 for want of hay, put green goggles or i his horse and fed him shavings Has ] a magicisn- iii the; solution of trans portation problems compared with tite !; American congress. l Distorted Public ooinien. '-' ! And. after ail has ,it been tha. fault of congress or the fault Of g d.stortet public opinion which has sllsta7net ] congress in it's efforts tG ta2 ch etht ! railroads, to live without etst:ng?5 If tne l American, people wifi demand. an in ! teliige,st regulation of, railway rate: when peace is restored, the carriers twill meet every need st constantly de Ecreasing comparative cost. -
 Why should the government assume this colossal burden, a burden that vii ; constantly increase in weight and fl lnallye result in constantly increasing cost of transportation. *s
 i; Folly of Federal Regulation. The minority report submitted b. enator Roindexter cites the New Ha ven road as a shining example o the folly of attempting Federal reg ulation under private ownership. 1 does not follow that because. goot and much needed bank is badly man aged, for a time, that all the bank i should be owned and run by the gov i ernment. The way. the New Have , road has served the public, in spit of it's misfortunes, :, is little short 0 miraculous, and the senator who say i that the present coal shortage in NeS England is the fault of the New Eng
 land railroads is badly misinfornee
 The New York, New Haven & Hart
 ford, the Boston & Albany, and tn s Boston & Maine roads the three road
 serving New England, transporte'
 2,817,0 900 tons more of anthracite am
 bituminous coal into New. England il i1S17 than they did in 1S1S. Tn
 scarcity of coal, and it's grave conse
 ouences, is largely due to the fac 's that the government impressed tn
 tugs which had customarily lowed Cos l barges4 plying between New Yorl Philadelphia, Baltimore and HamptO Roads to New England ports.
 Startling Increase in Labor. Cost. Il 1The wonder is that { in view of tn startling increase in labor cost. an . cost. of equipment, the great trun lines of the country are not all in tn hands of receivers. ,.
 l < Increased Cost of Equipment.
 FIIeS nave FlncrSdSS4 lnf pFtco 6GS De cent Since 1SS7;s steel rails 213 pc cent; bar iron, 3or per cent; ca
 brasses, 261 per cent; bridge timber
 | and stringers, 157 per. cent. Freigf cars that cost a thousand and eleve :, hundred dollars each in August, 19l have donbled in price. Freight CT 3 zines that cost from $2S, 1000 to t$32, ,0t each prior to August 1, 1914, no cost from $60,000 to 5000, and thi ,, Notwithstanding E the government hs greatly reduced the pEice of steel. The average freight rates per ter
 mile, which in 1897 was ,126 cent
 was, in 1910, .s77 cents. = ,, In 1901. the government receive l s100, GO for every $34.1S it paid th i, New, Haven road for transporting th [ mails, and by 1911 the governmer reduced this sum to s21.26. Il 4-s. Breakdown of B. 6 M. !, ], I4desire now to quote from the rt r port of the Interstate. Commerce Con
 mission the following statennent of Ftr
 cause of the breakdown of the Bos T ton & Maine: 6t,r 7N-f 4sThe financial strength of the Bos ton & Maine, which has been 1naf [ 1 manifest for more than haIf a cer tury, was converted into a firfanci ] weakness in half a decade after pass Z ing into the control of men who ha 5. the reputation of being eminent fir } l ancierse
 There is reason for belief that tn . =