The Washington herald., 1919-01-14
VOTERS WILL DECIDE
FATE OF RAILROADS AT
ELECTION NEXT YEAR
CONTINUED FROM PAGE oNn


of fve years following the pro-
claiming Of peace. and with the field
part of the work of valuing
these railroads practically COM
pleted within the next three or four
years. as the director of valuation
assured the Interstate. Commerce
Commission only a few weeks ago
was easily possible. the cost Of
operation can be closely approx
mated.
Then for the first time, provided
Congress extends the period Of Fed
eral control. 1t will be possible to fix
rates that are reasonable and just
from the standpoint of the consumer
as well as of the shipper and the
carrier. But I repeat that to attain
justice and equity in the shape of
rates for the consumer under pri-
vate ownership or control is prac-
tically impossible.
Cause Of Congestion.
1--WE read Of and see much of the
concentration of our population in
big centers, OF the consequent evils
thereof: poorly paid and badly housed
labor congested tenement districts
and children growing up under un-
favorable conditions; the increase OF
the criminal class, girls on the
streets, and I submit that our long
existing improper plan of fixing
freight rates Is more responsible for
these unholy and uneconomic segre-
cations of humanity than any other
one cause.
"Our commercial development has
been dictated by the railroads, COM
munities or industries have developed
or failed to develop as the officials
of our great transportation system
have decreed, and the effect of exer-
else of the rate-making power. at
least so far as absorbing enormous
terminal costs in the line-haul rate
is concerned, has been and is taxa
ton of small towns and rural COM
munities without representation.
Pleads for Unincation.
"I protest that this committee and
the Congress must make certain that
the final solution of the transportation
problem, so far as legislation is con-
cerned, shall guarantee that degree
of unification of all our railroads,
large and small, which will make pos
sible the installation of a nationwide
structure based upon terminal-plus-
straight mileage charge. Without such
a uniform arrangement no equitable
development of our agricultural and
mineral resources, our community life
and our small seaports can be ac-
complished.
las business proposition, the
rail carriers of the United States
practically do not admit the right of
steamboats, on inland waterways or
steamships engaged in coastwise traf-
fic except in rare instances where they
are integral parts of given systems, to
exist" Mr.. Woolly continued. "The
practice OF reducing rail freight rates
to points located on rivers and other
waterways below the level of rates
maintained to inland points, in order
to meet and If possible destroy water
competition. is long established.
at submit that il we have unified
system OF railroads. operating solely
in the interest of the public. with due
compensation for the capital invested
therein provided for. competition be-
tween water and rail carriers can be
definitely eliminated-it can be elimi-
mated in no other way.
Solved by President.
''It was the choking of certain
terminals during the war that awak-
ened the American people to the fact
that their more than $4,000 miles Of
railroads did not constitute an eff
cient transportation system" contin-
ued the commissioner.
There was a so-called Railroad
War Board or committee-the fifth of
its kind-here at Washington. and a
committee of traffic experts at Pitts
burgh, but in the final pinch the
magic touch of governmental author
ity in the person of a single directing
head. representing the President, was
required to solve the problem.
'T submit that this wonderful ac-
complishment at one of the most criti-
cal periods of the war with the Teu-
tonic powers is splendid proof of the
efficiency attainable under Federal
control 1t is worth all that it has
cost and more, and in my humble
opinion the 1886 10000 deficit. or what
ever the amount. should be treated as
a war cost and betrayed out of the
United States Treasury"