The labor standard., 1919-09-01

functioning of the state itself,
 (b) to meeting military emer-
 gencies, (c) to co-ordinating it's
 active power with various or
 ganized groups of individuals.
 (d) to preventing railway
 strikes, and, (e) to avoiding po-
 itical control
 Our problem here is to place before the reader with some comment the the relative efficiency of the railway systems of the world as to govern ment and private ownership and ope- ration.
 TEST ONE. Does private or pub lie ownership insure the greatest se- curity, constancy or remuneration, and readiness and amplitude of supply of capital?
 The facts here are against private ownership. During the last genera ton, 145,176 miles of our railways and eight billions, about half, of the railway capital of the country has been in the hands of receivers-in bankruptcy. From 1875 to 1918, just before the war, 754 railway compan- ies had been in the hands of receivers. Capital invested in private railways in this country is extremely insecure and today appeals mainly to those invest ors with the gambling spirit-the speculators. The losses to investors have been so great and numerous that the ordinary cautious citizen refuses to risk his money in railway securi- ties. Gigantic swindles of the people by means of crooked railway promo tion and capitalization from the days of the Erie scandals down to those in- vestigated by the Interstate Com merce Commission, such as the New Haven, Rock Island, and Frisco, and the recent wrecking of the Denver and Rio Grande, taking place since the deprived American roads of sadly needed capital; and fifty per cent. of the roads would, as authorities have stated, soon be in bankruptcy were they returned on the pre-war basis.
 Then, too, the return on private rail- way capital is very huctuating. The shifting of market values oscillates along wide range. Plentiful statis- tics indicate how what may be good income today may be nothing to-mor- row. Constancy or remuneration and steadiness of values is not charac- teristic of private railway capital
 Under government ownership, on the other hand, the return to the own CTS of government bonds is, in such a nation as ours, absolutely assured. The person who invests in government railway securities has all the advan- tages of an adequate, assured, and constant return. Justice to the nori- speculative investors does not reside in private railway ownership, and can not without a government guarantee which in democracy is abhorrent and impossible for long duration.
 TEST TWO. What is the relative efficiency of public and private sys- tems in actual economical administra- tion of the roads?
 In a statistical comparison of the results in seventeen leading found by the Bureau of Railway Eco monies, as published in Bulletin 100, we should expect America to stand high. But the fact is that the United States stands almost at the bottom of the list, 16th-in the number of tons moved, length of haul considered, per ton of capacity employed. Under single, unified (public) ownership for a nation the freight car, for example, has but one thing to do, to keep loaded and move. It is at home anywhere on the lines. But where several or many companies own the roads, as in this country, freight cars have another function to perform, namely, to move where needed, which means a great social waste of empty-car movement, of waiting for return load, or return ing with only partial capacity load. With unified system which would means (because of it's monopolistic character) public ownership, cars and engines could be used anywhere in the country where needed The United States would not under public owner ship stand at the bottom of the list in economical use of rolling stock but near or at the top. This would mean the elimination of enormous social waste and preventable addition to the cost of living.
 When we test public and private ownership by the fundamental test of economical routing of freight we come to the greatest differences. Under our past policy of permitting some two thousand companies to try to win profits from this government function of transportation, everything is Sac- rifced to the god of competition for profits and intense individualism-a god that has no place in state func- tions.
 From St. Paul to Chicago, for ex- ample, IS distance or o1o miles, yet freight often is hauled by roundabout routes over competing lines distance of 7,434 miles to get there. This, of course, if it can be justly prevented is pure waste of the peoples money and effort. It is 912 miles from Chi cago to New York; but 21 railways have struggled in wasteful competi- tion over lines, the longest of which is ,376 miles, difference of 464 miles. Between New York and New Orleans there are 90 all-rail routes, the longest being 2,051 miles and the direct 1,340 miles. Private ownership, according to the best estimates, wastes at least a billion dollars year.
 TEST THREE. What is the rela- tive efficiency of the personnel (of la bor and management under public
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