The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-24
and operation of their property here

and operation of their property here by assumed.''
 And, in a, statement by the Presi- dent at the same time, he said:
 Investors in railway securities may rest assured that their rights and interests will be as scrupuIously looked after by the Government as they could be by the directors of the several railway systems"
 And, further on in the same state- ment:
 "* and I am entirely con fdent that the Congress will be dis posed in this case, as in others, to see that justice is done and full se- curity assured to the owners and creditors of the great systems which the Government must now use under it's own direction or else suffer seri- Ous embarra
 The officers of the companies are justified in accepting these state Hents, and in presenting to the Di-| rector General any reasons why ar. expenditure for improvements or new equipment may be unfair to the own CTS of the property, such action should not be considered as a hostile attitude to the Director General and his organiza ton, but simply desire to obtain the very best results for all
 As matter of fact, outside of very proper desire to scrutinize the purchase of equipment at the very high war prices l think there has been very little difference of opinion between the corporate officers and the Federal officers. I know that in my own experience. having to deal with the policy, finances. and budgets q Burlington, and Colorado S5 Southern roads and their various subsidiaries. these companies have heartily enter ed into the spirit of trying to help the Director General, the Regional Directors, and the Federal Managers to make Federal operation a success. 1 and have practically assented to every suggestion that has been made in the way Of additions and betterments ex- cept that in a few eases it has been . made plain that the proposed addi ! tions of cars and engines were notl necessary for carrying on the busi- | ness of the territory served by the i respective railroads. In one case, af- ter presenting the facts to the Di- rector Generals staff the order to l buy equipment was cancelled because they found that the reasons given by
  true about these companies is sub stantially true of most of the impor tant companies; railroad officers, l whether corporate or Federal, have 1 been as energetic and loyal as have | ether good citizens
 Some objection has been made 70 the distribution Of charges for better 1 ments and Improvements, and in some cases objections have been | made to the work actually under number and amount
 It should be borne in mind that there is a limited amount of money i that can be obtained from the Gov ernment or from the public for the necessary expansion of facilities and | the purchase of equipment.
 It would seem to be right and | proper to those representing the | ownership of the property to point cut to the Director General that if | capital is used for the purchase Of unnecessary cars and engines, that | reduces tF@ ability of the corpora tions to make other improvements that may be found more desirable | like repair shops, in order to serve the public by keeping existing cars and engines in frst-class order, and i large terminal and track irrprove ments that increase the ability of the railroads to make better use of ex- isting cars and engines. In fact, the | Director General comments on this i'll | his general statement.
 The Future
 In growing and still undeve1- oped country like the United States,