The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-01-03

ing, according to FARRELL The bust
ness men of the country favor corpor
ate operation and SO does the public
at large, he declared. Railroad en-
ployes alone, backed by other unions,
want the government control con-
tinued, he asserts.
1.-The corporations are fortunate in
being able to resume the operation
of their properties with the4 avowed
consent of the business men," he OBJ
serves. That is worth a great deal
, and it is likely that the corporate Of
ficials will exercise due diligence in
exercising their advantage
ssPublic HabituaI Critic
On the other hand, FARRELL quotes
Hines as saying the public has be-
come mentally addicted to criticising
the government; that it imagines the
railroad administration bureau filled
with incapable office seekers with
cobwebs forming over their brains and
desks and with no concern except to
draw their pay. As matter of fact,
the office has always gone after the
men and efficiency is seen everywhere.
| In replying to general criticism of
! the administration in dealing with Ia
Dor. granting wage increases, ineffi-
Gent service and alarming deficits,
FARRELL quotes Hines as saying:
| I'm this case, as in many others, it
! is the extreme cases that are dwelt
4
| general situation. The average in
| crease in rates of p9y which has been
made for the RAILROAD employees has
been about so per cent over the rates
of pay which We're in erect IN De.
cember, 1914. I have yet to learn of
any important industry which has
shown a more conservative average of
| increase in pay in the same time. IN
I, view of the war conditions which
make increase both proper and neces-
| % n the
| of. pay has been about so per cent. the
| increase in. the earnings per individual
| has been less than that because the
| number of hours the individual en-
ploye works is less than the number
| of hours he was working in Decem-
! Der. 1917, under the war pressure then
prevailing and under the longer hours
! then established.
Business Largest in 1919.
| In discussing service and costs, Jar
ren says Hines pointed out that the
| business the railroads handled in 1919
| was larger than il years before and
at rates which represent lower pro-
portion Of the value of things trans
| ported than was ever true in the past
He called attention to another point
| of vital importance during the war
that of transporting troops. In the
twenty months ending with August,
1918. there were seven billion passen-
ger miles of service performed in the
! handling of troops, he asserted, 10
| which was added practically normal
passenger traffic. Any Inconvenience
the public sustained can be accounted
for by the fact that this enormous
troop movement was going on practt-
| ca1ly all that time"
| The reason why more adequate
transportation facilities are not now
provided is explained by Hines thus;
Prior to federal control the normal
additions were not made by the rail-
road companies on account of their
financial difficulties, high material
prices and scarcity of labor. During
| the first year of federal control there
| was a severe limitation of the amount
of material that could be taken from
other war purposes and used for bet
/ tering railroad conditions. The adj
/ rninistration decided that it could not
| hope to get material for more than
! 100000 freight cars. This was the
number ordered. but even then ma
terial was SO hard to obtain that only
a few of the cars were built in 1918
Those Freight Cars.
When 1919 opened the end of gov
/ eminent control was in sight; the gov
eminent, owing to this fact, was mol
i in position to provide new funds; the
appropriation of March 4, 1919, hav-
Il ing failed, even the 100000 ordered
could not be paid for; the railroad
companies were unwilling to furnish
money for new equipment because
the uncertainty as to their future ano
the result was that the administration
was not in position to furnish i'm
provements other than those needed
in emergency cases.