Norwich bulletin., 1919-12-22
SENATOR M'LEANS VIEWS OF RAILROADS

tunity to make unusual profits in the production of any one of the things
 needed to sustain and maintain life,
 provided he reduces the initial cost of
 that thing, you destroy the most eff
 feetiye, if not the. only instrunentaifty. that will abolish poverty and want,
 and bring comfort and plenty to the -humblest homes.
 Society may, and must regulate and , punish, extortion and greed but when you deny legitimate profits in any in dustry, the expert, the man who knows l more about than industry than any one else, will take no further interest in 1t. When industry renounces the leadership of the expert, the ingen- ious mechanic and chemist, the genius in organization and finance, when you abandon economic liberty and her re- wards, for the tyranny of the state, you will not reduce the cost of trans portation or the cost of anything else, | in my opinion.
 realize that what I say is trite, and I lacks variety and mode. When furs are fashionable in August, women will
 wear them, and when unnatural and suffoeating polite economic principles | are fashionable on election day, candi- dates will wear them. But MT. Presi- dent, az a member of the committee
 on interstate commerce, cannot let 1 this bill pass, without recording the prophecy that 1t will not work as an
 tfcipated. And repeat; my earnest hope Is that the experiment will sat isfy the, lust for variety now so prev Ialent and controlling in political cir
 eles, and convince the American people
 that it is the part of wisdom to seek
 the safest, least expensive and the Emost efficient and best railroad ser
 vice where it can be found.
 | There is no economic distinction be- tween the. public character of the ser Ivice rendered by the railroads and the lservice rendered by shoer1akers and tbakers,s All three most vital public needs. The railroads in large meas lure, are monopolies, and for that rea- ] son, their rates and securities must be under strict governmental regulation; ] and the nature of their service is such l that due regard must be had for the 1 safety and comfort of employees and l the public. But when the government fixes a reasonable and just rate, and l then proceeds to confiscate more than half of the profits received, the effct l will be destructive to competition in service, and the incentive to lower the out-ef pocket cost of transportation will be entirely removed.
 | It is easy to see that this would be l the result if similar methods were adopted in an effort to lower prices of
 commodities. If the government should l fix the price of shoes and bread, and i then confiscate goodly portion of the profits of the factory or bakery that
 is economically and efficiently handled I and give those profits to the baker or shoemaker whose business is not self sustaining, the direct effect would be l to encourage shiftlessness and extrava- fgance, which of course would mean unnecessarily high prices for footwear and food.
 It may be urged that some roads are inon-remunerative because of their un- favorable location. and that this fact ought not to be permitted to deprive the patrons of such roads of the ben efits of transportation by rail. It is a twell-recognized principle that any car Tier that cannot distribute the com tmodities within the area of it's opera
 tion for sum less than that which will be added to the value of any com Lmodity by reason of its transportation
 from one place to another, is an econ EoInic loss to the community which ii Eserves. Individuals build railroads ir tundeveloped countries in the belief anl Depreciation that the time will come |when such roads will pay large profits i4They take their chances, and they art willing to. They know current ex. penses must be cut to the lowest fig. \ ure, and they are ever on the alert fol Ecost- saving devices. It has been stated lthat more money has been put into
 gold mines than has ever been taker out. It is said that the railroads hay,
 Enot returned two per cent. on the sun total invested in them, and yet if tn,
 property value of the United States i , three hundred billions, the railroad
 must be credited with the erection o
 a large portion of this immense total !, If the railroads now existing were re
 moved from the United States, I doub If property anywhere would be wort -I10 per cent. of it's market value prio
 to such removal. The railroads ar
 Indispensable. The suspension of thei . lactivities for a week would meal istaryation and chaos. Yet, the cos