Bisbee daily review., 1919-03-09
TRAFFIC. AT MORE COST. FEDERAL PLAN
President of Northern Pacific
 Cites How Pennsylvania Has Lost Under Govt Rule
Urges Old Competition Sys-
 tenn to Insure Adequate Service, Efficient Control
CBy Review Leased Wire)

CHICAGO, March S.-The early re- turn of the railroads to operation by the companies which own them and the passage of constructive legisla- tion to enable private operation to be made successful, were advocated by Howard Elliott, chairman and presi- dent of the Northern Pacific railway, in an address before the commercial club of Chicago at a dinner here to- night.
 MT. Elliott .preNanted some data which brought cut contrasts between the situation ot the railways under private and under government opera tion.
 :'The Pennsylvania system" he said furnished 12.2 per cent of the total ton mileage and 12h per cent of the total passenger mileage of the steam roads of this country On December 31, 1917, that system had 2S3, 600 em- ployes. and on December 31, 1918, it had 273,101 employees. Although the ton mileage handled in 1918 was less than in 1917 (the railways being in the year 1917 under private controD nearly 10000 more employees were re- quired to handle the smaller volume of business.
 No Criticism Intended
 These statements are not made in criticism of the railroad administra- tion or of members of it, but simply to emphasize the point that the sys- tenn of government operation is not productive of the best results. With the same railroads a little better equipped in 1918 than in 1917, and the same officers and men but with different organization and direction. and with the head men working as hard as human beings could work, and with vast war power and freedom from restrictive laws, government ment control had the effect of reduc- ing that tireless energy and individ- uality so important to the success of any enterprise, and the total earning of the railroads was less than in 1917 and was very much more costly to the country.
 "The railroad executives do not be- lieve in the so-called regional plan all OI lnS III a given territory are to be merged into one system. They believe that our geographical, economic and social con- ditions are so different from those ex- isting in foreign countries that we must solve our problem in our own way and not adopt a plan because some other nation may have expert mented with it.
 
 Small, unsuccessful, and so-called weak lines that are depending upon their connections with the great trunk lines, must gradually be absorbed and become a part of the larger system; just as has been done in the past
 Continue Regulated Competition
 Regulated competition, especially as to service, should be continued be- tween the great systems.
 What is called the labor question, is of course, one of the most serious and difficult confronting the whole world, the railroads in particular and there must be a broad view of it and a spirit of give and take by all classes of people. All good citizens desire to see wages and living conditions i'm prove but there is a limit to what commerce and industry can pay and survive. It is surely better to have reasonable wages and continuous em- ployment rather than to force wages so high that industry languishes, for then the wage earners themselves will suffer most of all
 An effective transportation ma chine is vital to the interests of the nation in war and peace. Its import ance justifies having a man in the cabinet to confer on an equality with other cabinet officers dealing with great national questions and re-
 Continued on page twol