Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-01-08
WALKER D. HINES
SAYS COVE RNMENT
SHOULD CONTINUE:
GRIP ON ROADS
Director General Asserts Pri-
vate Capital Cannot Take
Care of Conditions Without
Huge Rate Increase.
PARTICIPATION OF LABOR
IN MANAGEMENT NEEDED
In Address Before Lawyers of
New York City Head Of
Transportation Lines Ex-I
presses His Convictions.


lay MoRNno Jout tAt sPrcrIl LEASED w,se,
New York, Jan. -Compulsory
consolidation OF the railroads into a
few great corporations before they
return to private control with the
public and labor as well as capital.
represented in the management of the
systems, was advocated tonight by
Director General Hines in an address
before the New York city Bar asso-
citation,
Without this Fundamental recon
struction," Mr. Hines declared the
result will be progressively disap-
pointing and in a few years the dis
satisfaction of the public will mani
fest itself through an insistent demand
for a radically different plan, which
is not likely TO stop short of outright
government ownership
Pointing out the almost impossi-
Bile" situation OF the railroads prior
to federal control. owing to the diff
Guilty of financing the lines, Mr. Hines
said that "our past experience has
demonstrated that the old system will
not succeed. He advocated the fixing
by congress of a general standard of
rates to allow earnings clearly in ex-
cess of a reasonable return" which
must go largely to providing ade-
quate reserves to take care of years
of depression and at the same time
enough of the excess must be left with
the company earning it to provide
adequate stimulus for efficiency"
Mr.. Hines said in part:
81 wish, first, to summarize my
thoughts on the solution of the rail-
road problem.
For twenty-six years ] have stud
led the development of railroad regu-
htion. For most of this period /
studied it from the standpoint of the
railroad companies and for the last
two years | have studied it from the
standpoint of the general public.
Il do not belifye that there can be
successful regalG of the railroad
industry without a basis for mutual
understanding between those repre-
senting the public, labor and the own
ers respectively. In the past there
has been no basis for understanding,
except at the end of dispute and con-
troversy. Each of the three great in
terests has worked to a large extent
entirely aloof from the other two.
Yet the railroad enterprise is a
great common enterprise. 1t cannot
be conducted without the exercise of
the most vital public franchises; nor
can it be conducted without the par
ticipation of a large body Of skilled
labor which makes a life career out
of railroad employment; nor can 1t be
conducted without the physical prop
erty which has been created by the
investment of capital. We make a
grave mistake in assuming that the
representatives. of capital can alone
manage the situation. The scheme of
the past has been on that false theory
and the result has been that the public
has injected itself into the manage
ment through all sorts of agencies and
labor has injected itself into the man
agement through its own organza-
tions, not only through direct de-
mands upon railroad companies but
through demands on congress and on
state legislatures and public commits
sions for legislation and regulations
affecting management. We have all
three interests participating in the
management in all sorts of ways and
yet there is no common ground on
which these three elements can meet
and exchange views and endeavor to
reach conclusions, believe the only
sort of management which can be
permanently effective is one which
provides for an orderly participation
at the outset of all three of these In
terests instead of the past scheme
which leaves each interest to pursue
its own methods irrespective of the
others until an eventual contact is
established in some form of contro-
versy.
THE fact is that in the past these
two essential elements of the public
and of labor have asserted their par
ticipation only through some form of
controversy. The public side Of it is
asserted through hearings by legisla-
tive bodies or by commissions and
these hearings nearly always take on
a controversial aspect and the result
is that the railroad business is largely
conducted through a series of law
suits
1.-The labor side Of the matter gen.
orally manifests itself in an even more
spirit,
Advantages Seen.
'In my opinion there must be a.
form of participation in the manage
ment from the outset which will give
each interest to Start with an under
standing of the reasonable needs and
expectations of the other two inter-
ests. Out of this community of un-
derstanding ] believe there will be
evolved much more successful dis
position than will otherwise be possi-
BILE.
"But beyond the mere matter of un-