The Elbert County tribune., 1918-12-06

not under the exceptional cOuuilions
of the war. but with the intention OF
adhering to definite method OF devel-
opment of the navy. / earnestly rec
ommend the uninterrupted pursuit OF
that policy 1t would clearly be un-
wise for us to attempt to adjust our
programs to a future world policy as
yet undetermined.
Railroad Problem OF Great Moment.
''The question which causes me the
greatest concern is the question of the
policy to be adopted toward the rail-
roads. frankly turn to you for coun-
sci upon it. have no confident judg-
ment of my own. l do not see how any
thoughtful man can have who knows
anything of the complexity OF the
problem It is problem which must
be studied, studied Immediately and
studied without bias or prejudice.
Nothing can be gained by becoming
partisans of any particular plan of set
tlement
1T was necessary that the admins
tration of the railways should be TAX
en- over by the government so long as
the war lasted II would have been I'M
possible otherwise to establish and
carry through under a single direction
the necessary priorities of shipments.
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 and
markets: impossible to route troop
shipments and freight shipments with
out regard to the advantage or disad-
vantage of the roads employed; impos-
sible to subordinate, when necessary,
all questions 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 pub
lie in the future.
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 inn
posed upon them by the rapid and
continuous development of the indus
tries of the country. We knew that
already, and we knew that they were
unequal to it partly because their full
cooperation was rendered impossible
by law and their competition made
obligatory. so that it has been impos
sible to assign to them severally the
traffic which best could be carried by
their respective lines in the interest
of expedition and national economy
Treaty by Spring.
I'VE may hope, | believe, for the
formal conclusion of the war by
treaty by the time spring has come.
The twenty-five months to which the
present control of the railways is lin
tied after formal proclamation OF
peace shall have been made will run
at the farthest take it 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
therefore 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 un-
answered question: What is it right
that we should do with the railroads.
in the interest of the public, and in
fairness to their owners?
Let me say at once that | have no
acswer ready. The only thing that is
perfectly clear to me is that it is not
fair either to the public or to the own
ers of the railroads to leave the ques-
ton unanswered, and that it will pres
emily become my duty to relinQuish
control of the roads, even before the
statutory period, unless there should
appear some clear prospect in the
meantime of legitimate solution,
Their release would at least pro-
| duce one element of solution.
namely, certainty and quick stimu-
lation of private initiative.
81 believe that it will be serviceable
for me to set forth as explicitly as pos
sible the alternative courses that lie
open to our choice. We can simply
release the roads and go back to the
old conditions of private management.
unrestricted competition and multi
form regulation by both state and fed
eral authorities, or we can go to the
opposite extreme and establish COM
plete government control, accompanied
IL necessary by actual government
ownership; or we can adopt an inter
mediate course of modified private