The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-01-01
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION.
Understood Railroads Will
Ask for New Cabinet
Position
FEDERAL CHARTERS
ARE DESIRED
Want State Supervision Entirely Elinii-
nated-Statemen of Railroad Earn
ings Show Further Decrease in Net
incomes and Decreased Efficiency

NEW YORK. Jan. l.-While little OF
the plan to be submitted to congress by
the Association of Railway executives has
been made public it has been learned that
the tentative program contains number
OF details which differ radically from the
pre-war method of managing and egulat
ing the carriers.
\ major feature of the program is al
proposal that all railroads surrender their
state charters and be reineorporated un-
der the federal statutes \ supplement
tary suggestion is that state supervision
be entirely eliminated when the railroads
are returned to their owners. The rail
road plan would have the Interstate Com
merce commission continued in its present
form, but through the selection of regional
boards it would remove from the com
mission great burden of details which
for some years past have clogged the
workings Of the commerce COMMISSION
The program, which has been discussed
with bankers and, III respect to some tea'
| lures, with members of congress, suggests
| that a new member be added to the cab
| met with the title of Secretary of Trans
portation. Through him and the Inter
state Commerce commission, it Is under
stood. the proposal now being nodded by
| the Association of Railway Executives
would have the regulation of rates and al
so wages handled An integral part OF
| the tentative scheme is the suggestion
| that laws in respect to pooling of rail
road traffic be repealed and also the anti
trust law as it refers TO the railroads
While the program provides that the
railroads shall retain their entities, the
regional boards shall have supervision o
many details of regulation which woulc
Happily to the carriers in each distinctive
region as a whole. All of these details
it was learned yesterday, are looked upon
by their sponsors as forming merely til,
skeleton of a comprehensive railroad meas
ure to be brought before congress in tn,
near future. As a matter OF fact, severa
plans are under discussion by ditferen
groups OF railroad authorities and bank
ers, and it is considered not improbable
that the best features of two or more ma.
be embodied in the final draft of a pro
: gram for transferring the railroads iron
, government control back TO their stock
, holders. The Association of Owners Q
! Railroad Securities is understood to hav
practically completed broad plan whic
l. contains features which have not been cor
!: considered at length by the Associatio
OF Railroad Executives
The statement of railroad earnings fo
I October, issued yesterday by the Inter
Estate Commerce commission, showed tina
t met incomes were still decreasing. Unde
normal conditions. September was be
: ter month than August, and October wa
Y inclined more favorably than September
; Net income Of the carriers for Octobt
2 of this year amounted to only $50, 5ll ,00
+ compared with $l2S, $4,000 for Angus
: The net earnings in October decrease
lsl6,257. 600, or approximately Is per Ger
lcompared with October of last year.
Higher wages and decreased efcenc
by railroad employees are given as til
.cause for this steady decrease in MONTH
net. In October, operating expenses co,
d sumed 1893 per cent of gross earning
against GO per cent for the same mont
E of last year. October GROSS earning
= amounting to S4S9, 322 900. compared wit
fslSS, l3500o for September, and 500, 75e
1000 in August.