Norwich bulletin., 1918-12-03

how any thoughtful man can have who knows anything of the conlplexity of the problem. It is a problem which must be studied, studied immediately, and studied without bias or prejudice Nothing can be gained of becoming partisans of any particular plan of settlement. It was necessary that the administration of the railways should be taken over by the government so long as the war lasted.
 It would have been impossible other 1 wise to establish and carry through under single direction the necessary l priorities of shipment. It Wouldsl1ave ] been impossible otherwise to combine maximum production at the factories and mines and farms with the maxi mum possible car supply to take the products to the ports and markets; :, impossible to route troop shipments 1 and freight shipments without regard i to the advantage or disadvantage Of 1 the roads employed: impossible to su- l bcrdinate, when necessary, all ques-
 tions of convenience to the public nec-
 essity impossible to give the neces-
 sary 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 public ill the future.
 Exceptional circumstances and ex- ceptionaf methods of admnisf ration were not needed to convince us that the railroads were not equal to the immense task 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 i'm mpossilole
 by law and their competition made
 obligatory, so that it has been ilapos-
 sible to assign to them severally the
 traffic which could best be carried by
 their respective lines in the interest
 of expedition and national economy. We may hope. believe for the for
 nal conclusion of the war by treaty , by the time spring has come. The l twenty-one months to which the pres
 ent control of the railways is limited
 after formal proclamation of peace shall have been made will run at the farthest, I take it for granted, only to ! January of 1921, The full equipment of the railways. which the federal ad- ministration had planned could not
 be completed within any such period The present law does not permit the l use of the revenues of the several roads for the execution of such plans
 except by formal contract with theil s directors, some of whom viii consent
 while some will not, and therefore f does not afford sufficient authority t( f i undertake improvement upon the calt
 upon which it would be necessary tC undertake them. Every approach tC & this difficult subject matter of decis
 ion brings us face to face therefore c with this unanswered question: Wha n is it right that we should do with tn - railroads in the interest or the publi
 and in fairness to their owners? Le !, me say at once that I have no sanswe
 ready.
 The only thing that is perfectly clea
 to me that it is not fair either to tn :. public or to the owners of the rail lit roads to leave the question unanswer 'te ed and that it will presently becom -e my duty to relinquish control or th roads, even before the expiration ( , the statutory period, unless tner <. should appear some clear prospect the meantime of legislative solution
 Their release would at least produc
 one element of solution, namel, = certainty and quick stimulation (
 private initiative.
 [, I believe that 1t will be serviceabl Ill for me to set forth as explicitly as pos
 
 l. open to our choice. We can simpl > release the roads and go. back to u re cid conditions of private management or unrestricted competition and mutt T. form regulation by both state ar ol federal authorities; or we can go le the opposite extreme and estabIis $. complete government control, accon IS panied, if necessary. by actual go1 ne ernment ownership. or we can ado T. an intermediate course of 1nodifit l. private control, under a more unifit T. and affirmative public regulation al 'o under such alterations Of the law
 will permit wasteful competition to r. avoided and a considerable degree It unifcation of administration to be e t. fected, as, for example, l,y region re corporations under which the railwa
 of defnable areas would be in ege he combined ir single systems
 of The one conclusion that I am req, he to state with confidence is that or would be disservice alike to | mt
 ee Continued on Page 3, co;. 4l