The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-06-11
Private Ownership
Shows Inefficiency

One of the principal arguments
advanced by the proponents Of prl-
yate operation of railroads when
Wall street was persuading congress
TO turn them back to Wall street
was that government operation :
inefficient and expensive Great
stress was laid on the necessity q
preserving indivi-2. initiative. be-
cause only BY So doing CAR we hope
20 have ST ett.t.e-. trans ,---s--o-.
system. 3. s. .e4s.- re railway
presidents a-1 .hs.- -sw-S - vs-S sup
porter> 6ecl17eo-
Efficiency .-v-.e> something more
/ than the running & trans. L --,-
plies. satisfactory service and ecc--
omy Of operation i private .Y-
GRAFTON is the wonderful thing i has
! been cracked VI as being. the- ve
should have 3 satisfactory aro 81
economical transportation system to
day.
But the facts are all against those
who denounced government operation
and lauded private initiative. The
railroads are not efficient so far as
giving service is concerned. Bust
ness is Frustrated because the rail-
roads cannot transmit merchandise.
Shippers protested until the railroad
presidents-the boosted genuises of
Individual initiative-were compelled
to come to Washington and appeal
to the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion to take over the roads and OPP
crate them until they were rescued
from their predicament
To all intents and purposes, the
government is today operating the
railroads. The stone that was re-
jected by congress has hence be-
come the chief support of the rail-
road structure.
So far as operation, therefore, is
the test, the railroads under private
management are not efficient. They
are hopelessly and disastrously inef-
ficient. They today threaten the
peace and stability of the nation.
In three short months or less the
private managers have brought about
conditions that are little, if any, less
serious than those we faced when
this country was called into war.
And the railroads are not efficient
as respects operating cost. They have
failed in that particular, as well as
in operation. The people are paying
a great deal more for the unsatis-
factory service they are now getting
than they did for the efficient serv-
ice given during the period of fed
eral control.
In a statement recently made to
group of dealers at Chicago, Robert
N. Woolley, member of the Inter
state Commerce Commission, declar-
ed that the total so-called deficit for
two years under federal control was
$100,000,000 less than the increased
cost to the people of the United
States under private control for a
single year.
If getting less and paying more
constitutes an ideal condition, then it
may be said that private control of
transportation is ideal. But if ade-
quate service at reasonable cost is
demanded by the public, then, by any
reasonable test, private operation is
failure-a complete and over
whelming refutation of the roseate
predictions of those who denounced
government ownership and clamored
for private control.
The situation today is admittedly
bad. There has been a complete
breakdown of transportation. The
railroads are helpless before their
multiplying difficulties. But it may
easily become worse before it is
better.
Railway managers and their law
yers are before the Interstate Com
merce Commission asking for addi-
tional revenue of a billion dollars
per year, which is to come out of
the pockets of the people and will
constitute a material increase of liv-
ing costs. Huge as is this initial
increase, the commission is frankly
advised that it is not all that the
railroads will demand. 1t is very
broadly intimated that before the
government is relieved of paying
railroad bills the managers will be
back for another increase of per-
haps billion dollars per year, and
that will mean another big jump in
living costs.
Private ownership has cost the ma
ton a pretty penny, but it will cost
great deal more unless meanwhile
congress gives a little consideration
to the public and does the only
sensible, decent thing. The sensi-
BILE, decent and unavoidable solution
of the railroad problem is to return
the roads to the government and
place them under democratic opera
ton.
That is the only way out, and
sooner or latetr the American people
will realize the treachery and the re-