Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1918-12-27
WHAT To Do WITH
THE RAILROADS
Extension of Government Con-
troll for Five Years
Proposed

NOTWITHSTANDING the Fre6loenLs de-
claration, in his recent address before
Congress, that he did not know what
to do with the railroads, Director Gen.
eral McAdoo, on December 11th, laid
before Congress, (by means Of iden-
tical letters addressed to the Chair
man of the Senate Commerce Com
mittee and the Chairman of the House
Committee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce), a plan with reference to
the railroad problem regarding which
he states: "The President has given
me permission to say that this con-
clusion accords with his own view Of
the matter"
These communications Of Mr.. Nc
Adoo's are in substance as follows:
Railroad legislation is of vital i'm
pcrtance to the country, however,
since less than three months remains
of the present session of Congress, it
seems impracticable to secure laws
during that short period which will
provide a permanent solution of the
railroad problem. It is wholly i'm
practicable and opposed to public in
terest to attempt to operate the roads
under the present law because, in the
first place, the time fixed by the law
is too short for satisfactory results
and, secondly, the present legislation
is inadequate. The uncertainty as TO
the final disposition Of the roads
should not be allowed to continue be-
cause Of its demoralizing effect on the
morale of railroad officers and en-
ployees, and also because it seems to
be unfair both to the employees Of the
roads and also to State Railroad Com
missions, railroad security holders,
shippers organizations, and other in
terests more or less directly connect
ed with the railroads. Under the
present law conflicts between state
and federal jurisdiction are likely to
grow more and more acute as the time
for the automatic return Of the roads
to private control approaches. The
revolving fund appropriated by Con-
gress is insufficient to carry Federal
operations through the period provid-
ed by law, and, moreover, the period
of control fixed by law is insufficient
for the carrying out Of comprehen-
We plan of improvement which would
pe of value to the public. On the
J,her hand the experience of the past
year indicates that the return Of the
railroads to old competitive conditions
would be hurtful alike to the public
interests and to the railroads them
selves. The railroads were taken over
as q war measure and, now that the
war is practically at an end and the
emergency has passed, they should
either be returned to their former
owners or the period Of Government
control should be extended long
enough to enable the Federal author
tiles thoroughly to test out the value
of unified control and furnish the peo-
pie of the country with information
which will enable them to determine
whether or not unified control either
under private or public management
should be permanent. 1t is believed
that an extension of Government con-
trol for about FIVE years, or until jan
uary Is, 1924, would be sufficient for
this purpose. If such extension is au-
.horized, however, it will also be nee
essary, in order to get satisfactory re-
suits from the experiment, to enact
legislation which will make such con-
troll much more complete than it Is at
present. Unless legislation so ex-
tending and perfecting government
control of the railroads is to be enac-
ted during the present session Of Con-
gress the railroads should be returned
to private ownership at the earliest
possible moment.
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