Baxter Springs news., 1919-05-23
THE BOMMINS
RAILROAD PLAN
Roads to Be Distributed Among
Fifteen or Twenty New
Systems

Realizing that the Railroad ques-
tion Is one Of the most important
problems before the country today,
Senator Cummins Of Iowa, who will
Be Chairman of the Interstate Com
merce Committee in the Sixty-sixth
Congress, has made public the outline
of his plans for Legislation on the dis
position of the railroads. The main
features Of the plan are: first, that
the roads be organized in fifteen or
twenty systems, although not on the
regional plan; second, that the Gov
ernment should guarantee the roads
some fixed minimum of earnings, for
example, four per cent on their valu-
alton; and, third, that the roads
should be operated by private corpora
tions, organized under Federal law.
In giving his reasons for the first
of these provisions the Senator said
that It was designed to protect the
weak lines: ,.r. 4. es,.-ts, -,
%when o large road and "a weak
road compete in the same territory }:
the Senator said, "they must make the
same rates, and those rates must eth
er Starve the poor or else give it,
powerful neighbor earnings that
would be regarded as excessive and Q
burden on business. Putting them to-
gether make it possible to provide
identical rates and avoid either starv-
ing one or overwhelming the other"
The Senator admitted that there
would be objections from many
sources against giving a Government
guarantee to the railroads, but he de-
Tended the plan as follows:
"It (the Government guarantee)
will be objected to as giving special
preferment and security to private
capital invested in railroads. But, un-
der the conditions that will be imposed
of limited profits, Government con-
trolled rates, and the like, they will
largely lose the attributes of private
property Taking any period of three
years in their history, the roads will
be found to have averaged higher
earnings than they would be guaran-
teed under this plan; SO the business
community would not be losing by it.
"Before the roads are turned over
to these proposed new systems their
actual values will have to be deter
mined. The Bureau of Valuation OF
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has been engaged for several years in
making such a valution. In speaking
of the progress of the Committee the
Senator said:
"Actual valuations have been COM
pleted of only small group Of roads,
and these all minor ones. But on the
other hand, the inventary Of the rail-
road property of the country is about
80 per cent finished. In addition the
commission has decided many Of the
difficult questions that must be set
tied in order to fix the principles, that
when applied to the inventory, will en-
able q determination Of the actual
value. The data which the Bureau Of
Valuation has gathered, will be Of the
utmost utility in the nal determination
Of value under the plan in mind"
In view of the losses sustained by
the ROD as during the last year. and .
quarter an increased rate would have
to be granted, the Senator said. Dur
ing the time it will take to get the law
passed for the new plan, the compan-
les organized, ETC., the Senator favOHs
the return of the roads to the corpora
fions nouv owning them.