Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-04-22
Cunnils Calls for Relief
From inconsistencies
CONTINUED from page ~


much to do with the preparation and
passage of this law. and while II
containts some things which do not
meet my approval and omits some
things which think 1t ought to con
tain, II In. upon the whole, a great
forward step In progressive and con-
structive legislation covering In
comprehensive way the most i'm
portant subject which has ever been
presented to the congress Of the I'm.
tied States. / accept my full share
of the responsibility which attaches
to the enactment Of the law. and !
am ready here. now and everywhere
10 defend 1t.
The first concern OF the American
people In both domestic and foreign
commerce Is for adequate transport
tation. Many things have occurred
during the construction and capital
ization Of our transportation sys-
TENS which every right-minded man
must condemn. There Is a remedy
for some OF these wrongs, but 1t is
obvious that some of them have
passed beyond human power to re-
pair. What we ought to do now Is
to make 1t absolutely sure that these
wrongs will not be repeated and
that the producers and distributors
Of the country are provided with IA
cilities for transportation that will
enable them not only to maintain
their present high place in the COM
merce of the world but to increase
year by year the volume Of produce
ton and distribution. This is the
Thought which was uppermost in the
minds of the men who formulated
the present railroad law. Remember
ing that we had one mind. substan-
TALLY. with respect to the return OF
the roads to their owners. the next
and most vital inquiry was: How
can they be returned so that the
farmers, the manufacturers and the
merchants of the country can secure
the prompt and efficient movement
Of the immense traffic carried by our
railway systems? This question ov-
ershadows all others and must oc-
cupy the first place in the minds OF
all the people A very large amount
Of capital, the estimates varying
from $16.000,000 to $4,000, 900 has
already been invested in our rail-
roads. II the problem which we
we're called upon to solve had related
only to the capital already invested.
it would not have been so difficult.
All of us know, however. that during
the year 1920 there must be eXpend-
ed upon the railroads not less than
500, 100000 and that amount Is
named not because it is all that
should be expended but because il
is all that can be expended. The car
shortage. the engine shortage, the
ware house shortage, the side track
shortage. all these inadequacies must
be supplied just as soon as it is pos
Sible. venture to say that the
farmers of Iowa have, in the last
twelve months suffered more loss on
account of their inability to secure
prompt and full transportation than
from any other one cause. and they
above all the people of the country
ought to be interested in bringing
about such a condition as will pro-
tect them from this injustice in the
future. Assuming that everybody
admits, that during the present year
the railroad companies must either
borrow or secure from the issuance
of capital stock $700.O0O.OOO or more
IN order to make it possible for them
TO do what the Whole country de-
mands they shall do and that they
must have $1.00O.OOO 900 next year
for like purposes and so on for every
year. how are they to get the money?
Recognizing the chaos Of the present
financial situation, the railroad bill
authorizes short time loans under the
approval OF the interstate commerce
commission. of $500. 900, 900. After ex-
hausting this source, they must de-
pend upon their ability to borrow it
from private individuals. The whole
purpose of the law in this respect
was to SO stabilize the credit Of the
railway companies that they could
secure the money which they must
have. This money Is and will be
in the hands Of men and women who
road enterprises, according to their
pleasure. They will not loan 1t, OF
course, unless they believe that they
will get q fair return. impress up
on you. and thru you upon the people
OF the state, again the truth that
while we can 60 down to the limit OF
constitutional confiscation with re-
spect to the capital already invested
in railroads, we cannot compel those
who have money to put it into rail-
road securities; and what we tried to
do was to make it possible for the
railroad companies to provide them
selves with the funds they must have
If they are to render the people tho
service essential to their safety and
development. To accomplish this
end, the law establishes rule Of
rate making for the guidance Of the
interstate commerce commission, to
continue during period Of two
years. The rule directs the inter-
state commerce commission to ad-
just and modify the rates Of trans
portation so that they will. as near
ly as practicable, taken as a whole,
CT FOR the severa! districts into which
the commission may divide the coun-
try as a whole. equal to five and
one-half per cent upon the value Of
the railroad property, as determined
by the interstate commerce commits
sion. This does not mean that each
railroad will earn net income Of
five and one-half per cent. Under
such a basis, some Of them will earn
two per cent, some four per cent,
some six per cent, some eight per
cent, few more than eight and a
few less than two; And, in order to
guard against excessive incomes, the
law provides that any railroad COM
pany earning in any year more than
six per cent upon the value Of It's