New Britain herald., 1919-04-12
Henry Clew $ Weekly Letter
Especial to Herald )

of anarchy in Europe, is a decidedly greater fermcnt than ever; so, too, are Several of the other enemy pow CTS, whose governments have been either destroyed or weakened by war. Nevertheless, constructive forces are st work beneath the surface. prob ably making more progress than ap pears. Newspapers have a fashion of exploiting the abnormal and paying title tttention to what remains nor mai which is not regarded as in teresting. Similar remarks apply to the peace conference at Paris, where progress is undoubtedly being made n spite of the temporary but rigid differences which occasionally oIo rude themselves. Considering the ef- 'eets of prolonged intense war strain lpon national sentiment, public i'm patience over delay is to be expected. No task of such vast dimensions as jhe present peace treaty ever pressed for solution. The questions are null itudinous and highly intricate. The
 
 large and unwieldy. while nerves 1pon all sides are oVerwrought. Our own little war with Spain required four months in which to mako peace, It is only five months since the arn1i- stice was signed; and in view of the mmensity of the problem progress has been remarkably rapid. Ii is lair to assume that a solution IS not far distant or MT. Wilson would not be coming home during the current month; though his return is hastened 5y the urgency for his presence at nome
 At home signs of reaction are null IipIying against the various forms of radicalism which tend toward anarchy and Bolshevism. Even the Soclallstlc drift is meeting with a check, as the inlpracticability of such vagaries be- comes more and more evident to the initiated. It is safe to say that gov ernment ownership of railroads In the ~ United States is much less popular fllan at any time since ii was serious V considered. Government manage nent has proved unsuccessful, low aring service and raising costs as to create general dissatisfaction Not only are our railroads inefficiently opcrat-
  down in condition and piling up a huge debt, thus becoming a load upon Taxpayers that would not be toler hted were it not for the war, which compelled temporary government control The roads are now threat sned with an enormous deficit which The country must pay. To even up wages a further raise of $65. 100000 has been granted, making an increase of S1365, 100000 since the war be- ran. It is not to be supposed that 5ubIic opinion would wrest the rail- roads from their owners, push them Into confusion and then throw them pack upon their owners in a bad con- dition This would be piece of dis honesty which no congress would dare 10 impose There is nothing to be done except for the government to lift the roads out of the difficulties . which it has thrust upon them. Rem adial action should be undertaken without delay; and in all probability an early session of congress will be ralled to deal with this highly inn oortant problem. A very similar eX- oerience is being endured by the tel agraph and telephone systems, which nave distinctly deteriorated and be-
 
 -Jer public management Moreover. he arbitrary and autocratic manner n which these concerns were treated by the authorities has raised con- siderable antagonisln to government operation, plus no little sympathy for aggrieved owners and officials. which otherwise would not have developed. Perhaps it is fortunate that these sociaIistic experiments have been tried put before ownership was actually transferred to the government; for he test has overwhelmingly proved hat private initiative and efficiency Jar surpasses that of the government.
 It is conclusively proved that gov ernment control means a decline in service and an increase in costs, re- sulting in losses which taxpayers q must ultimately pay. Very similar conditions prevail in our cities. where public service corporations have been ander political fire for a prolonged period. Because of prejudice, light and traction companies have not been permitted to raise charges in order to offset increased costs; and fair treatment was impossible to obtain; the result being to threaten a num- her of such concerns with bankruptcy. Civic authorities ss a rule still re- use to allow such com p3uies to raise charges, though admitting that they themselves will follow such course if they secure control. When con- sumers realize that they must pay .he increase, as they finally will; and . that they must pay that increase s1ther in higher fares or higher taxes, they will undoubtedly choose the
 
 not lose the opportunity of reveng- ing themselves upon politicians and }irnid officials who have allowed transportation and other public utili- ties to fall into such impaired con- t,aitions.