New-York tribune., 1920-01-18
Radical Views
Held to Doom
{ i. S. Railroads
Republican Club Speakers
Contend Building Up Is
Impossible if Socialistic
s System Should Prevail
Plumb Plan Condemned
Opportunity for Initiative
and Individual Effort
Declared To Be Lacking

Tho days when the railroads were
able through earnings to extend and
improve the transportation system Of
the country have gone forever, in the
belief of William Church Osborn,
chairman Of the executive board of
the Texas & Pacific Railroad, ex-
pressed yesterday in speech at the
National Republican Club.
The individualism which built up
,the country's great arteries of trans
portation, Mr.. Osborn declared. like
wise. in his opinion. has been hurled
into the discard by the tendency of
the times to deprive leadership and
constructive genius Of their just oppor-
tunities to continue the work Of indus
trial creation.
This statement Of the veteran rail-
way executive came during his part
of the discussion, "The Rights of the
Railroads and the People," in which
others taking part were Jacob Gould
Schurman, president Of Cornell Uni
versity, and Ivy L. Lee, an adviser of
the Association Of Railway Executives.
Problem Product of the Times
. "This problem of the railroads to-
day" Mr.. Osborn said, "is far less a
problem of their own than it is of the
general tendency of the day toward
a change in the manner Of conducting
industry.
II am firmly of the belief that the
days when the railroads of the nation
were able to build up and improve
their service for the benefit of the
public have passed forever" The stag
nation of the present will continue
until those agtating for socialistic con-
troll of industry come to see the abb
surdity of their course, he declared, in
effect.
The attitude of the Interstate Com
merce Commission in restricting rates
and seeking to equalize, without regard
to capitalization of individual lines,
the stronger roads and their weaker
competitors; the condition of street
railways throughout the United States,
and the votes taken in many cities on
the matter of streetcar fare increases
these point, the speaker asserted, to
the tendency of the times to thwart
the purpose of constructive business
policy
"Ail these reveal the tendency" he
said, "to go way beyond the theory Of
public service industry. NV blood boils
N sHger every time l hear the little,
petty. rasping, irritating utterances of
men who seek to deprive industry of
the very leadership, vision and con-
structive ability that made it possible
to be created and without which the
people would have no industry"
Situation Termed Hopeless
He said the railroads were in what
that Congress had before it the task
of deciding between two schools of
thohght-that which favors a continu-
ance .of the old constructive methods
Of railroading and that which. is bent
upon disintegrating control by turning
that control over to boards of mex
pericnced men, as the Plumb plan pro-
yides. One hopeful factor, he added,
lay in applying the principles of the
income sur tax so as to give the roads
q reasonable profit, which would allow
for some extensions and betterment of
service;
III these principles should be so ap-
piled" he argued, "there would be left
some incentive of effort for progress
in railroad matters"
DR.. Schurman and Mr.. Lee were
equally critical of the Plumb plan and
pf the tendency to devitalize the trans
portation of the country through
socialistic legislation.
I'D like to see the laboring man
paid higher wages and his living con-
aitions improved" DR.. Schurman said
~but this is world in which we live
under inexorable laws-laws which de-
cree that only through work and in.
dividual earning capacity can any OF
us have the things we feel deprived Of
1T is my profound conviction tha
the future Of American civilization de-
pends on making intellectual calling.
more attractive to the laborer. Jane.
J. Hill, I believe, was the greatest IN
qustrial statesman the country has evel
had. We need more Of his kind in In
4ustry, but the tendency on the part o.
cur people is to take away the road.
and turn them over to men who can la,
no claim to the lagre salaries paid mel
like Hill by reason Of their lack of tn,
VISION and ability necessary to create
Organization and Work Needed
Good business organization and har,
are the only solution for the conditio,
Of the roads.
Mr.. Lee expressed confidence in tn
efforts of the present Congress to reac
2 just decision in behalf of the car
gers. -and that the common reason O
yhe American people would bring ther
70 see the disastrous state of affair
n the railway industry. He offere
3gures to show that since 1890 tn
amount Of freight carried in the Unite
Statess has quintupled. and that at pres
ent there is not single railway dc
yelopment probject OF any importanc
ander way. ''''~
In the next two years, he declared
the people must decide one of tw
things--whether this destructive polio
q to continue or whether the railway
4re to be permitted to attract capita
!nd men Of ability to develop them.