Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-06-12
new RAIL PLANS !
ON SOUND BASIS
Congress Determined to Make
Certain Future Growth Of !
Transportation Facilities.
PLANS AGREE ON PRINCIPLES.
Return of Roads to Owners With
Assurance Of Adequate !,
Revenues.

Washington.-One of the big prob
ems before the new Congress is get
ting the railroads back on a peace
basis. These 100000 miles of steel
highways were taken over by the Gov
ernment as an Indispensable arm Of
he national defense - but now that
heir war service is over, there is a
countrywide demand that the Gov
ernment restore them to their owners
20 be operated on normal American
business standards Of efficiency.
But, as has been pointed out by
President Wilson as well as by many
men in public life who have given
his subject years of careful study,
It is not enough simply to say to the
'alroal "..npanies, "Taka these rail-
'sads and give the country the best
transportation service that money and
brains can prove"
Old Laws obstruct Growth.
The President recently said that it
would be serious mistake to return
20 the old conditions Of railroad regu-
alton without reforming the anti
1uated laws that were obstructing the
free development of transportation fa-
.ilities The Director General of Rail-
roads has recently made an inspection
rip from coast to coast, and he has
peen telling the people that the time
mas now come to put the railroads ON
4 sound foundation.
The plans for a better system Of
aatiOnal control of railroads are as
varied as were the plans for banking
and currency reform when Congress
received a mandate from the people
% provide insurance against financial
panics. The public now demands in
surance against breakdown of rail-
.oad transportation, and the new Con-
greSs is undertaking this work as Sec
ondary only to insurance against In
.ernatiOnal warfare. Congress solved
the banking problem seven years ago
as a non-partsan issue, in which all
the people had q common interest, and
Congress evidently is tackling the
railroad problem with the same spirit
While the many plans that have
been proposed differ in the methods
to be adopted in reaching the desired
goal, it has been pointed out by Sena-
tor Cummins of Iowa that all these
plans have really very much In COM
mon-so much so that he Is confident
that Congress will have little difficulty
in framing a bill that will meet with
popular approval, and that will take
the railroad question out of politics
for many years to come.
Many Plans With One Aim.
The Iowa Senator has a command
ing position in this Congress because he
is the ranking member Of the Interstate
Commerce Committee Of the United
States Senate, and it Is in this COM
mittee that the new railroad bill will
take final form. In an address before
a national meeting of business men
at st. Louis Senator Cummins stated
that since the close of the war fully
thirty complete plans for new railroad
legislation had been submitted to him
by business men, economists, bankers,
railroad officials and owners, Govern
ment officials, railroad workers and
just plain citizens.
The basic principles upon which all
of these plans, with one exception,
agree are as follows:
I. Private operation Is more eff
Client and more economical than
Government operation, and tho
public interest will therefore be
served by return Of the roads to
private management.
2. To make certain that new
capital will be attracted to the
expansion Of railroad facilities,
there ought to be greater certain
ty that fair return will be earn
ed on the investment.
8. The merging of weak and
strong roads into large competing
systems should be encouraged.
The making of a formula to pro-
vide fair return on railroad capital
seems likely to be the phase of the
problem most thoroughly debated in
Congress The Director General has
been urging that the Government
ought to guarantee certain return
and share in any excess earnings.
Leading bankers, especially some Of
the international bankers in Wall
street, who have in the past marketed
many hundreds of millions of railroad
securities, also look favorably on the
suggestion of q Government guaran-
tee, which will make 1t easier to sell
new securities, and will also stabilize
the market for the old bonds and
stocks.
Government Guarantee Opposed.
But the proposal that the Govern
ment shall guarantee the interest and
dividends on private capital invested
In railroads will undoubtedly meet
with very vigorous opposition in many
quarters. Even railroad executives,
who might be supposed to take kindly
to the idea of Government guarantee
against failure, have frankly stated
that they do not want 1t, because they
believe it Is un-American In principle,
would tend to lessen efficiency, and
would involve the roads in a Govern
ment partnership that would inevita-