The Washington times., 1918-01-22
By w. v. BYARS.

II, after the close Of the war. there
Is to be Monopoly Ownership Of the
railroads, WHO IS TO OWN THE
MONOPOLY?
This Is the question Of the Thir-
teenth and last section Of the Rail-
road Control and Relief bill, as it
was presented to Director General
McAdoo before the Senate Inter-
state Commerce Committee yester-
day.
Il has not yet been answered. But
the situation has been considerably
clarified" Director General McAdoo
clarified It in his own way.
He Is in favor Of Section Thir-
teet, as 1t continues Government
possession and control during the
war and until Congress shall direct
otherwise after the close Of the war.
Otherwise, as he explained, pos
session and control, as now exist
Ing, might be ended at the pleasure
Of the President.
II Section Thirteen is adopted the
President will no longer have this
power. The railroads will remain
In possession and control OF the
Government until Congress orders
otherwise, and provides a new sys-
tenn under which either TO return
them or keep them.
The Director General explained
that the Government will make large
investments in betterments. which
will remain Government property;
the Half Billion Revolving Fund Is
to be used chiefly for this purpose
and only incidentally to refund
bonded debt of railroads which can.
rot meet maturing obligations" ="
Thus "a new status" must result,
differing from the old competitive
status"
In changing from the "old COM
petitive status" to the new, he
thought it highly desirable that
Congress should not be under the
"pressure Of stop-watch or n time
limit" compelling. hasty action, but
should have ample time to device .
new and better system. He would
not undertake to say what the new
system ought to be.
In three years the director gen
eral thought that the Government
might have to invest from a billion
TO a billion and a half. He did not
conclude that in taking over the
main trunk lines the Government
had taken over their cash assets.
He thought the three-year average,
making their yearly payment about
1896, ,000, 900 j "fair trade" calcu-
lated to save the Government about
a hundred millions on their 1917
operating income. He would rather
"err on the side of liberality," and
he kept in view the fact that pos
session and control were not per-
manent and fixed, but temporary
possession with the option of turn-
ing the roads back" to their pres
ent owners. And he hoped to make
the railroads earn all that is to be
paid them.
When asked if he favored perma-
nent Government ownership, the
director general said: 81 do not,
but he did believe in some form of
Government regulation and control
"far more intelligent than has been
worked out" He believed that this,
and also the repeal Of the Sherman
law, il 1t was to be repealed, were
matters for the decision of Con-
gress. He referred the repeal of the
Sherman law back to the commit
tee when asked if he favored it.
Members of the committee as
sumed that the director general did
not approve the "old competitive
system" The question OF owner
ship required, and the director gen.
eral considered it "a mere specter.
The chairman said it would "have
to be confronted" Senator La Fol-
lette broke silence to say that il
was not a specter but a reality.
Bearing on the doubt Senator
lORens introduced q bill yesterday,