Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-13
THE RAILROAD MIDDLE

CECRETARY McADOO'S recommendation
~ that Federal control OF the railroads
continue for five years from next January
processes to be made in order that the ma
ton may have time to develop a railroad
| policy. The return OF the railroads to their
! owners at once, he says, would produce
confusion: their continuance under Federal
control for twenty-one months after peace
Is declared Is impossible. for the time is not
| long enough for the Government to effect
any genuine reforms; but in his opinion 1t
would be better for the Government to
withdraw at once than to attempt to con-
ttnue in control under the present arrange
ments.
Railroad managers are not agreed on
what should be done. Some Of them would
like the Government to take It's hands Off
at once, and others would prefer that the
withdrawal should be made gradually.
At best the railroad situation IS unsatis-
factory. The pre-war system Of railroad
regulation was a demonstrated failure"
as the committee of the Investment Bank.
ers Association reported at Atlantic City
the other day. The railroads have been
hampered for years. They have been for
hidden by the courts to pool their issues.
Adequate freight rates have been denied
them by the Interstate Commission. They
have been forced to increase the pay Of
their employees by the awards Of arbitration
boards and the pressure OF public senti-
ment. Between reduction Of rates and in
crease Of wages they have found them
selves unable to raise the money needed
o., LatA a,1 nxta Tvsyar ~
years ago the late j. ]. Hill said that the
railroads needed a billion dollars irnme-
diately for necessary improvements. Mr..
McAdoo now says that they need two and
half billions within the next five years.
This Is a conservative estimate.
The injustice OF the pre-war treatment
Of the railroads by the Government ager-
cies was demonstrated as soon as the Gov
crnment took them over for It imme-
diately found it necessary to do those
things for which the railroads had been
vainiy pet!tioning for years. 1t pooled the
lines and routed trains over the shortest
routes Il raised passenger and freight
rates much higher than the private owners
had dared to ask. It ordered common use
of terminals and in general freed the roads
from the hampering restrictions under
which they had been compelled to operate.
It would, indeed, be calamity to con-
| denim the railroads TO return to the old
conditions. The nation ought to have
learned through what its Government
| found necessary to do when it undertook
| to operate the roads that the hArnstringing
laws are outgrown and must be repealed
and that the hamperlng policy Of the IN
! terstate Commerce Commission has pre-
vented the roads from serving the public
to the best advantage. 1t remains to be
! seen whether the nation has learned its
lesson or whether It will be necessary to
| continue Federal control under unified di-
rect!on to work out the problem OF rail-
road management in the best way for the
| country.
In the meantime the advisory committee
OF the railway executives is considering
| the whole question and will make 4 report
at some time in the future. Until that
report is made the public will do we'll 10
suspend judgment.