The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-28
THE RAILROAD oMELET.

posed to congress the continuance of
government operation of the railroads
for a period of five years. He takes
the position that under the present
law, which provides for such opera
ton for period of a year and nine
months after the conclusion of peace,
the time is too short and the finan-
cial provisions are insufficient for any
real test of the value of government
operation. Improvements necessary
for efficient operation could not be
completed in that time and he holds
that neither officials nor employees,
facing an almost immediate change
in methods of operation, would de-
vote the proper attention to their
work. He believes that an extension
of time will give such composure as
is necessary to efficiency and prepare
the public mind for an intelligent de-
cision in 1928 as to whether or not
any other plan for the roads should
be adopted.
Substantial benefit should result
from Director General McAdoo's pro-
posal regarding the railroads. A con-
dition approaching crisis has been
precipitated, and this. in itself, is
bound to lead to an early definition
of a permanent policy.
With public intelligence so sharply
aroused, it should be possible to reach
at a much earlier date the solution
of a problem which Mr.. McAdoo
wishes to defer for five years. If it
were possible to put into the scale and
weigh the elements responsible for
our railroad fiasco, impartial opinion
probably would divide the blame on
a fifty-fifty basis. 1t would say that
the mistakes of railway management,
thereby including operation. admins
tration and financing. are about equal
ly at fault with political errors con-
sisting of adverse legislation, hamper
| ing regulation and short-sighted rate
restrictions.
| 1t might be claimed that most of
these mistakes were the natural out
come of our railroad evolution. In
the early stages of our transportation
development little thought was given
to the obligation of public service. 1t
was merely a case of enterprise TAX
ing a risk in an untried field, and the
primary purpose in most cases was to
make these ventures pay. Railroads
were private enterprises, and the most
powerful interests obtained control
and got the profits. Sometimes, as in
the case of Commodore Vanderbilt,
Hartman, Hill and Huntington, this
power was used to build up a great
property. On other occasions it was
employed for purely personal ends.
/ 1t was but natural that abuses
should arise. The dazzling rewards
from the flotation of securities proved
too strong a temptation to be resisted
by railroad promoters. and excessive
capitalization frequently resulted.
great game of speculation. Banking
directors placed ON boards to safe
guard financing, also took advantage
of their influence. Some roads were
weakened by a diversion of earnings to
subsidiaries controlled by inside groups.
Vast sums were spent on non-revenue
producing improvements; ambitious
expansion extended mileage without
due regard to earning power.
The swelling protests reached the
ever-ready ears of the politician.
Party lines were drawn in a score of
states on the railroad ISSUE" So
called reforms were instituted. Some
of them may have been well-inten-
: toned. Most of them were the work
of inexperience and merely made bad
{ matters worse. The moving impulse
, in the flood of railroad legislation was
{ political opportunism, and the impas-
, stoned rhetoric that had done service
) for Civil war questions and the tariff
was refurnished for the solution of the
transportation tangle. Forty-eight
{ state commissions and the interstate
l commerce commission WED with one
j another in the issuance OF hamperine
and contradictory regulations. The
net result was climax of bureau
E cratic ineptitude, which refused to &C.
3 cord full appreciation either to the
public service or the dire necessitie:
of the railroads.
It's possible to accept past mis-
" takes as the natural outcome of ear
lier conditions. 1t is Impossible t.
. permit their continuance as either
lHcCcSSdTy Vt lIcNlldbic just DIS pun
l. lie protest called for a correction o
!, the abuses inherent to the old type o
railroad administration, SO impera
i. tive economic necessities of the coun
try demand the end of former regula
;, tory methods.
:. The time is ripe for constructive
action. Our country is too big, an,
public interest is too sharply arouse,
: to permit a backward step. The prob
o lem is crying for immediate consider
= alton.
d At last we have realized, says tn
e wollman Review. that this is the PEG
q pies problem. 1t is bigger than poll
n tics. No partisan issue is involved