New-York tribune., 1918-02-07

WASHINGTON, FEB. 6.--Picked up
by the food of war and carried hither
sud thither. just hike the rest Of HIS
are the big men of the American rail
yxys. They don't know where they
are going, but they are we'll aware that
they are on their way. They are doing
very little planning for the future.
They arc wondering and perhaps wor-
rying in an aimless sort of way. In
deed, they scarcely know how to direct
their own particular bit of the rail
ways kaleidoscope from day to day.
70 many OF them, after the inevitable
mourning for the dead, there has come
with government control the great
pesce of mind that comes to the men
who volunteer for service. Superim-
posed on their own problems, which
sometimes seemed insoluble, has come
the great problem of the nation and
of the world. The colossal republic
haS picked up their troubles and solved
them. fer the time being, as if they
were nothing, as a step to solving the
problem that staggers the world.
Protests and Struggles
Have Ceased
They have the restful feeling of the
tired child curled up in the mothers
lap. They had been estranged from
the mother, too. through some years
Of family Quarrelling. They almost
forgot that they had a patria. Now
they have ceased to struggle and pro-
test. Theirs is the complete surrender
as to the present. They do worry
about the future some, but it is sur
prising how little they really think
about IT.
They are retrospective, these "mag-
mates" rather than prospective these
days. ! think most of them feel that
they failed collectively in handling the
railways IN such manner as to have
avoided government control. And at
the same time. now that it has come.
think that the overwhelming majority
Ct them wouldn't take their roads back
until after the war except under
penalty. They want government con-
troll TO last long enough to evolve some
working plan for the future. The rail
Railways War Board made q rather
sorry spectacle Of itself in the way it
hled and hauled as the crisis of deci-
sion as to the future of the railways
approached in November and December.
The railways lacked a dominating
leader. If there had been among them
still a Hi or a Hartman they might
have faced the situation boldly six
months ago. They might have put all
their cards on the table and made
direct appeal to the people for a square
deal. They had advisers who told
them that was the thing to do. Secret
diplomacy was being eliminated from
the chanceleries. but they still clung
TO it as the way OF results IN American
legislation. Even at the last they con-
5uted themselves by declaring that they
lould get along without the repeal of
the laws that had bound them. They
wandered in the wilderness. AS to the
future, they still wander in the wilder
moss. They want to rest in the arms
OF the nation for awhile, before they
really begin to think of the future 1t
hristles with problems that fatigue.
Il feel as if l were in safe harbor
after a storm" said one railway presi-
dent, with yawn. II have a feeling
of having had d great load taken from
nv shoulders. No more labor troubles
for me, 10 more stockholders to ap-
pease, no more meddlesolne directors
to satisfy, no more competitors to fight,
no more jealous communities to pa
cify, no more legislatures to torment
me, no more politics-nothing to do
but railroad. For the first time in my
life l am free to make this bunch of
ties and rails transportation and moth
ing else. Government ownership?
Don't ask me to talk about it. 1t tires
me. OF course l don't believe IN gov
crnment ownership, but | know things
can never be quite as they were. 1t
doesn't make much difference whether