Arizona republican., 1918-01-05

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 turbed which it is not necessary to dis turb. We are serving the public in- terest and safeguarding the public safety, but we are also regardful of the interest of those by whom these great properties are owned and glad to avail ourselves of the experience and trained ability of those who have been managing them. It is necessary that the transportation of troops and of war material, of food and of fuel. and of every thing that is necessary for the full mobilization of the energies and resources of the country. should be first considered, but it is clearly in the public interest also that the or dinary activities and the normal in- dividual and commercial life of the country should be interferred with and dislocated as little as possible, and the public may rest assured that the in- terest and convenience of the private shipper will be as carefully served and safeguarded as it is possible to serve and safeguard it in the present ex- traordinary circumstances
 While the present authority of the executive suffices for all purposes of administration, and while, of course all private interests must for the present give way to the public neces- sity, 1t Is, l am sure you will agree with me, right and necessary that the owners and creditors of the railways the holders of their stocks and bonds, should receive from the government an unqualified guarantee that their properties will be maintained through out the period of federal control in as good repair and as complete euuip- ment as at present, and that the sev- eral roads will receive under federal management such compensation as is equitable and just alike to their own CTS and to the general public. I would suggest the average net railway on
 eratlng income of the three years end ing June 30, 1917. I earnestly recon mend that these guarantees be given by appropriate legislation and given as promptly as circumstances permit
 T need not point out the essential justice of such guarantees and their great influence and significance as eIe- ments in the present financial and in- dustrlal situation of the country. In- deed, one Of the strong arguments for assuming control of the railroads at this time is the financial argument. ii IS necessary that the values of railway securities should be justly and fairly protected and that the large financial operations every year necessary in connection with the maintenance. op- eration and development of the roads should, during the period of the war. be wisely related to the financial op, erations of the government. Our first duty is, of course. to conserve the com mon interest and the common safety | and to make certain that nothing stands in the way of the successful prosecution of the great war, for lib- erty and justice, but it is an obligation of public conscience and of public honor that the private interests we disturb should be kept safe from un- just injury and it is of the utmost consequence to the government itself that all great financial operations should be stabilized and co-ordinated with the financial operations of the government. No borrowing should run athwart the borrowings of the federal treasury and no fundamental values should anywhere be unnecessarily i'm. | paired. In the hands of small invest ors in the country, as well as in na- | tional banks, in insurance companies in savings banks, in trust companies