Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-06
THE RAILROAD PROBLEM

LIE nAlkNOAU
The railroad problem is one of the most important
that any nation has to solve, and it is not certain that
any nation has solved it, even approximately. Every
imaginable method has been tried, from complete gov
eminent ownership and operation to private ownership,
absolute and unrestricted. And nothing that has yet been
attempted seems to be free from serious defects. Per-
haps this is not strange when we remember that within
the brief space of three generations it has been necessary
to adjust the new. untried and unthought-of' railroad to
societies accustomed from the beginning to methods of
transportation entirely different. .
The railroad, from its very nature, affects the life
of society most profoundly. A railroad system is costly
to build, costly to maintain and costly to operate. 1t
cannot be conducted successfully on a small scale. 1t
must embrace areas and great populations within it's
sphere of service and influence. 1t has made necessary
the readjustment of everything with which the world
has been familiar relating to economic life. Hence,
while vast railway systems have been in the building,
the world itself has been going through a tremendous and
incredibly rapid rebuilding and remodel,ng. Little is it
to be wondered at, therefore, that we have not yet been
able to decide with certainty just what rs the best way to
handle the railroad business of the world, or of our own
country.
The railroads of the United States, nike most others,
were started as purely private enterprises. There was
scarcely an attempt at public regulation, and such at
tempts as were made in this direction were bitterly re-
sented by the chief railroad men of that earlier day.
The right Of the public to regulate the railroads is no
longer questioned, and in recent years there has been a
disposition to jump from no regulation at all to a reg
ulation which degenerated into mere meddlesomeness
as federal and state commissions appeared to view with
each other as to which could tie the hands of the trans
portation companies most effectively.
The war found the railroad situation in the United
States in a deplorable mudde. Presumably there were
numerous defects on the part of the railway companies.
But we had made the mistake Of demanding perfection,
and more than perfection, on the part of the railroads,
while our own attitude toward the roads, as expressed
in much of our legislation and regulation, was such as
to make efficiency on the part of the roads an impossi-
biity even if all the people connected with them had
been parogons of perfection.
The railroads were taken over by the government, as
a war measure, and under the stress of war needs the
government adopted methods of operation, some of
which, perhaps, railroad men themselves had not been
inclined to adopt, and others of which they were pro-
hibited from adopting by the obstacles interposcd by the
government itself.
Without question, whether or not the exact methods,
loved the principles of unity Of purpose and conserva-
applied by the railroad administration should be fol-
ton of energy which the director general has SOUGHT 90
apply, and which should have been made possible before
the war. must be applied when the roads return to a
peace basis. Whether they can best be applied under
private or public ownership and management must be
determined largely on the data which existed before the
war if anything like an immediate decision is to he civ
en-, for the experience of a few months Of war time
transportation can have little bearing on the solution
of the problem as it applies to the normal conditions of
peace.
The law as it stands provides for the return of the
roads to private management at or before the expiration
OF Fl months after the close Of the war. That would
mean, of course, Fl months after the official conclusion
of terms of peace, which is some months distant. Mr.
A i La,:.- A. ~. ~
the enactment of appropriate legislation by congress for
the proper regulation Of the railroads, hence he urges
that the period be extended to five years, during which
it will be possible to base action on experience under
peace conditions. Failing this extension he urges the
immediate return of the roads to their private owners.
This step is also believed to be in line with the view Of
the President. 1t is to be noted that while it has been
charged that this extension is urged in the interest of
public ownership. both the President and Director NC
Adoo have expressed a decided preference for the OPERA
ton OF the roads under. private management. IA faction
OF considerable strength in congress opposes both ex-
tension OF the term of public controinand immediate re-
storation OF control to the owners, advocating the utiliza-
ton OF the n months period for the enactment Of re-
form legislation, which it is asserted can be enacted in
tnat time, and. at the end of the term that unqualified
return of the roads to private control.