El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-08-11
TRPARTTTE CONTROL OF RAILROADS
WOULD BE AFAILURE AND A DISASTER

should have the ordinary tendencies OF human
nature what would happen under Soviet admlnlstra
hon of railroads?
Consider also for moment what dissatisfaction
the railroad themselves would be created Officials
and employees on like the New York Central and the
Pennsylvania, which lines are so strongly hIenheo anu
so favored By conditions be big earners OF revenue
would divide great profit among themselves etner IN
salary and wages or in dividends OF both Oifeas ano
employees roads the west would work Just as
hard but at very much smaller pay. Either they would
desert the poor road for the rich or they would WORK
on with grievance If it attempted to pool al the
surplus of such roads as had anything eI above
operating expenses and distribute it evenly to officials
employees of every road in the country whetner oV
dend earning not there would be DISSATISFACTION among
the men on the lines that earned the surplus; proper
tionately greater dissatisfaction among the men OF the
lines who earned the largest surplus Iney would le
that part of what they had earned by their LABOR and
enterprise had been taken away from them and gwen 10
others who had exerted themselves Certainly they
would checkmate it by making an surplus disappear IN
the Of larger salaries wages and operating expenses
Nor would it be possible under such control as IS pro-
posed TO bring about those extensions and improvements
of lines purchase of equipment as would be pos
ble under private ownership OF under government
control for the minds Of the railroad operators would be
set on routine and the largest possible immediate salary
financial curtaents necessary to finance extensions and
improvements running into millions Of dollars
The partte plan calls for the retirement Of the pres
ent owners of the railroads. they to receive government
bonds for the actual value Of their property.
This presents number of grave difficulties First It
means that the people Of the United States would be
railroads from their and present them to the
operating officials, employees and, lastly the public
The proposal is that the owners, meaning millions OF
large and small stockholders throughout the country re
ceive "a fair valuation which means, IN the minds OF the
brotherhoods the squeezing Of water out OF the STOCKS
by process Of putting replacement valuation on me prop
critics
But on what shall replacement valuation be figured?
On the valuation figures already at hand Of which
are years old and Of which at all recent? You
can't tell you viii allow him what II would COST
to replace his railroad in 1912 He viii insist that today
Of labor, material etc. serve as the replacement BASIS
and he would be right but figuring that basis would
run Up the cost enormously.
And mere physical valuation would not be acceptable
fo1 there is value in railroad or any other lnsu-
ton than the materials that in It There the
value of organization Of the system Of doing business
of the good will Consider these lew facts and guess how
mammoth would be the task Of reaching equitable set
/ Element with the railroad stockholders
The arguments against socahzaton of the railroads
seem nsuperable IF there is any good that could come
Of it. except a comparative handful Of men on few
favored lines the fact is not apparent The country IS
not ready for soviet railroad administration
Furthermore, any such plan, adopted, would furnish
precedent for its application to other industries II
would lead comparatively to complete socialism
And now Nh Lansing admits that of the Americans at
the peace conference M Wilson chief cook and the
others the bottle washers.
Houston paper says: %vilista bandits put to rOut
by federals" That's making them hit the trail
The bathing girl Of today is almost adequately CARRIED
if she wears coat Of tar
to scare it up higher.
If you have PrOfitssTs, prepare to shed them now
The success of anu great moral enterprise does moi
depend upon numbers. william Lloyd Garrison