Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-11
STATE LOSES IF
U.S.TAKES ROADS
Chairman Ainey Says 1t Will
Cost Commonwealth Ten
Million Dollars Yearly


Ten million dollars annually will
be the direct loss to the State of
Pennsylvania under Government
ownership of the railroads." said
Chairman Ainey of The Public Ser
vice Commission of Pennsylvania.
speaking last night at Greensburg
in the interest of the Red Cross He
stated that similar loss was al
most sure to follow If railroads are
to be federally incorporated For
the years 1S15-16 the railroads paid
into the State Treasury nearly nine
million dollars, and that amount has
been increased until it now reaches
the enormous sum of about ten mill
lions. The loss of such an amount
would seriously affect the revenues
of the state and could only he met
by imposing a larger burden of taxa
lion upon the available sources, to-
wit: the agricultural, utility and
manufacturing interests of the Com
monwealth.
Peace will present its problems
scarcely less important than the
problems of war;" said Chairman
-Ainey, and as we were unprepared
for war let us not ignore and there
fore be unprepared to meet the new
economic conditions which war
brought about and which are bound
10 follow it."
The world will travel in a new
orbit, and the man who thinks that
civilization will automatically read
just itself to former conditions is
blind to the conditions which will
grasp the world, this nation. and our
state. A readjuStment of our polit-
ical, social and economic concep-
lions must be made. II we postpone
consideration of these until they
are thrust upon us, a chaos of re-
Sponsibility will be ours"
In order to carry on the war the
Federal Government has been
obliged to take over the operation
of the railroads. Their operation
extent, necessarily strike down COR
porate barriers with consequent in
termingling of property and money
To unscramble the egg after the
war, and to restore the status of
the several railroad elements, will
present difficulties in proportion to
the length of time they are Gov
ernmentally operated, making it easy
TO revive the plan of Government
ownership as a quick remedy, the
consequences of which would be so
serious to Pennsylvania as to call
upon every citizen of the state to
think and hesitate: it would mean
state government, and deprive the
state Treasury and therefore the
citizens of an annual income of ten
million dollars, and if the project is
hroadened to include telephone and
telegraph companies, the loss would
lie greatly augmented
Even the plan of federal incor-
poration of railroads, now being con-
sidered by the Newlands Committee
of Congress. would make it optional
for the Federal Government to tax
these railroads to the exclusion of
the states right so as to do. The
power of the Federal Government
thus to act and thus to exclude has
been decided in several instances by
the Supreme Court of the United
States in cases involving western /
railroads which were incorporated /
by acts of Congress.
THE railroad problem is not |
limited to the possible loss of state /
revenue. The whole transportation .
question vitality affects every person I
and every industry. In the econom-
ic readjustment the highest type of
efficiency, the elimination of waste, |
the bringing of consumer and pro- |
ducer into closer relation must be of
first moment and therefore, the
greater utilization of water trans /
portation, and the highways of our
nation for carriage of freight to
market is worthy of our serious
thought. If we can cut in half the
cost of distribution it would go far
toward paying our war incurred
debt What has been said concern
ing the transportation question may
with equal emphasis be said con-
cerning water power. Pennsylvania
is unusually endowed with such re-
sources. Here is an opportunity to
save in fuel and with consequent
benefits to the public which at best
are likely to be seriously burdened
by our national obligations for gem
Grafton to come incurred in the
prosecution of the war.
In the face of mighty problems
affecting the welfare of every citi-
zen in state and nation, Pennsyl-
vanians must be awake to their re-
sponsibility, remembering the secur-
ity there lies in eternal vigilance"