Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1918-12-07
policy as yet undetermined.
Railroads uruent Problem.

policy as yet undetermined.
Railroads Urgent Problem.
r. The Question which causes me the
greatest concern is the question OF
| the policy to be adopted toward the
railroads. frankly turn to you for
counsel upon it. / have no confident
judgment of my own. do not see
how any thoughtful man can have
who knows anything o. the complex
ity of the problem. 1t is a problem
which must be studied-studied i'm
mediately, and studied without bias
or prejudice. Nothing can be gained
by becoming partisans of any par
ticular plan of settlement.
1t was necessary that the admins
tration of the railways should be
taken over by the Government so long
4; as the war lasted. 1t would have
been impossible otherwise to estab-
lish and carry through under single
direction the necessary priorities Of
shipment. 1t would have been i'm
possible otherwise to combine maxi
mum production at the factories and
mines and farms with the maximum
possible car supply to take the prod
ucts to the ports and markets! i'm
possible to route troop shipments and
freight shipments without regard to
the advantage or disadvantage of the
roads employed; impossible to SUBJ
ordinate, when necessary, all Ques-
lions of convenience to the public
necessity; impossible to give the
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 for the
public in the future.
Were Unequal To Their Task.
Exceptional circumstances and ex-
ceptional methods of administration
were not needed to convince us that
the railroads were not equal to the
immense tasks of transportation i'm
posed upon them by the rapid and
continuous development of the indus
tries of the country. We knew that
already. And we know that they
were unequaled to it partly because
their full cooperation was rendered
impossible By law and their COM
petition made obligatory so that it
has been impossible to assign to them
severally the traffic which could best
be carried by their respective lines in
the interest of expedition and nation
al economy.
Peace Treaty Signed Ely Spring.
We may hope. l believe, for the
formal conclusion Of the war by
treaty by the time spring has come.
The II months to which the present
control of the railways is limited after
formal proclamation of peace shall
have been made will run at the farth-
est, take it for granted, only to the
January of 1921. The full equip
ment of the railways which the Fed
eral 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 therefore
does not afford sufficient authority to
improvements upon The
scale upon which il would be neces-
sary to undertake them. Every ap-
proach to this difficult subject-mat-
ter of decision brings us face to face,
therefore, with this unanswered Ques-
ton: What is it right that we should
do with the railroads. in the interest
of tile public and in fairness to their
owners?
Has Nc Answer Ready.
Let me say at once that I have no
answer ready. The only thing that |
is perfectly clear to me is that ii is
not fair either to the public or 20 the !!
owners of the railroads to leave the
questions unanswered and that it will
presently become my (lty to re- ;
inQuish control of the roads, even I
before the expiration of the statutory /
period. unless there should appear /,
some clear prospect in the mean
line CT a legislative solution Their !
release would at least produce one !
element OF Z solution, namely, GER !
ainty and & quick stimulation of !
private initiative.
I believe that it will be service
,ble for me to set forth as explicitly
Is possible the alternative courses
hat lie open to our choice. We can
simply release the roads and go back
o the old conditions of private man.
lgement. unrestricted competition :,
md mult;form regulation by Goth
State and Federal authorities; or we
an go to the opposite extreme and
establish complete Government con-
rol, accompanied, if necessary, by {.
Ictual Government ownership; or we
an adopt an intermediate course of j,
modified private control under
more unified and affirmative public
equation anG under such alterations
f the law as will permit wasteful |
tc be avoided and a con-
iderable degree of unifcation of adj !,
to be effected, as, for .
by regional corporations un- -,
Ter which the railways OF definable =
reas would be in effect combined in ! :
ingle systems. :
Would Avoid Dissension. $
Thn hot q