Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-12-11

war business, but that these taxes De
confined to the war profits accruing in
1913. OF In 1919, from business origi-
| mating III war contracts.
Asks Aid for Belgium.
May / not say special word about
the needs of Belgium and northern
France? No sums of money paid by
the way of indemnity will serve of
themselves to save them from hopeless
! disadvantage for years to come. Some
thing more must be done than merely
find the money. If they had money
and raw materials in abundance to-
| morrow they could not resume their
place in the industry of the world to-
morrow-the very important place
they held before the flame of war
swept across them. Many of their
| factories are RACED to the ground.
| Much OF their machinery is destroyed
| or has been taken away. Their
people are scattered and many of
| their markets will be taken by others.
| if they are not in some special way
assisted to rebuild their factories and
| replace their lost instruments of man.
ufaeture. They should not be left TO
| the vicissitudes of the sharp compe-
| tition for materials and for industrial
| facilities which is now to set in. /
| hope, therefore, that the congress will
| not be unwilling, if 1t should become
necessary, TO grant to some such
| agency as the war trade board the
| right to establish priority of export
| and supply for the benefit of these
people whom we have been so happy
| to assist in saving from the German
| terror and whom we must not now
| thoughtlessly leave to shift for them
selves in pitiless competitive market.
Worried About Railroads.
| 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 conf
| dent Judgment Of my own. I do not
see how any thoughtful man can have
who knows anything of the COM
| plexity of the problem. It is a prob
| lem which must be studied, studied i'm
or prejudice.
1t was necessary that the admins
| tration of the railways should be
| taken over by the government so long
| as the war lasted. It would have
| been impossible otherwise to estab-
lish anG carry through under a single
direction the necessary priorities of
IT,
| sible otherwise 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 troops shipments and freight
| shipments without regard to the adj
vantage of the roads employed; i'm
possible to subordinate, when neces-
sary, 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.
hoadS COuIo MOT cooperate
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 knew that they were
| unequal to it partly because their full
cooperation was rendered impossible
| by law and their competition made OBJ
| ligatory, so that it has been impOSsi-
| BILE to assign to them Severally the
| traffic which could best be carried by
their respective lines in the interest Of
expedition and national economy.
The full equipment of the railways
which the federal administration had
| planned could not be completed with
| in any such period. The present law
| does not permit the use of the reve-
nueS of the several roads for the exc
cution of such plans except by formal
/ contract with their directors, some of
whom vii! consent, while some will
not, and therefore does not afford suf
ficient authority to undertake improve
ments upon the scale upon which it
would be necessary to undertake them.
Every approach to this difficult sub
| ject matter of decision brings US face
| to face, therefore, with this unan-
swered question, What is right that
we should do with the railroads in the
| interest of the public and in fairness
| to their owners?
Several Plans Possible.
l 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 re-
| lease the roads and go back to the old
conditions of private management, I'M
restricted competition and multiform
regulation by both state and federal
authorities; CIR we can go to the oppo-
site extreme and establish complete
Tod z