Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-01-01
lied by sycophant,c, short-sightsd

press.
Meanwhile, railroad management.
found it increasingly difficult to mar
ket securities. They could not in
crease their facilities because they
could not borrow money to spend FOL
cars. engines, right Of way, steel and
buildings. The very public from
which they sought to borrow money
was prejudiced against them at {
time when cooperation was essential
to the progress Of the country.
Meanwhile, also, those citizens and
newspapers that refused to join in the
historical crusade against railroads
and other corporations were called 70
dictionary stAndpatters. Their warn
ings were ignored; their motives were
impugned; the reformer went gaily
along in his work of destruction with
out regard for the future and without
care beyond that Of present personal
political advantage.
He saw and Easped another pop
ular issue. As he struck at the rail
roads he made plausible bid for the
support Of the farmer and flock OF
class laws became part Of the grist
Of each session of congress and OF
state legislatures. The reformer.
politician judged legislation on the
basis Of the votes it could influence
rather than on the basis Of the good
or harm it might do.
The result is at hand In the sud
den seizure of all the nations rail
road properties by the government
and the sudden overturning of all the
fantastic legislative fabrics-some
good and some merely destructive
which have been built up during q
frenzied period of reform" The
government will furnish the money
In Jumps with which the railroads are
to be improved as they should have
been by gradual stages. The public
which has gloated over the savings it
has made through restrictive legisla-
ton will supply that money TO the
government. The sums involved will
be far greater than they would have
been had there been a tendency on
the part Of law makers and law admin
istrators to enable the railroads to in
crease their facilities instead Of the
open design to cripple and discredit
them.
Government control is necessary
now because that government has per-
mitted itself to prohibit the selfsame
which 1t must make if
the railroads are to become an ef-
fective factor in the prosecution of
the war.
It is wen that these basic facts be
kept in mind now and as the period of
federal direction OF the railroad in
dustry continues. Years ago, when
Americas problems were simpler than
they have become more recently, the
government recognized the necessity
for railroads by financing their con
structon. The Union Pacific and
other western lines were built before
the reformer discovered himself, fortu-
nately. He conceived government
regulation and promptly confused
regulation with destruction. AS a re-
suit his country is facing a serious
crisis today.
The action Of the administration re-
moves the railroad situation from the
realm Of debate. There is no DISPOSE
ton to question the advisabilfty of
government direction now, and there
must be nationwide cooperation on
the part Of the railroads and the pub
lie to make the experiment success
because it is big element in the war
time situation.
But the lesson is one America
should not foregt