New Britain herald., 1920-03-01
RAILROADS RETURN
 TOPR|VATE CONTROL ;l|.!
Interstate Commerce Conlmis.
 sion Has More Power

Washington. March 1.-The L. $. railroad admip stration. the govern ment agency which for more than
 two years has controlled the operation of the nations railroad systems. today passed out of existence. With it's
 passing at midnight the 230 lines that had been merged into what was prac- tically one gigantic system again went under control of private inter- ests. free to operate in com petition as of old. The transfer from govern ment to private control was without incident and there was nothing to indicate to the travelling public that there had been a change. Of the staff of directors and execu- tives who controlled the roads during government operation, Director Gen. Hines alone remains. He will have no authority in directing the opera ton Of the systems and remains sim ply to clear up matters left pending when the government relnQuished control. These include thousands of claims, contracts and grievances yet to be settled. among which are S3 com pensation contracts with various roads which still are the subject of negotiations.
 Under the So-called railroad reor-
 ganization bill which governed the return of the transportation syst ems 10 private ownership. little jurisdic ic- tion is retained by the soN ernment. 1 Under it's terms the interstate com merce commission is given greater power to control railroads and conr- puisory, arbitration of labor disputes is required. The govern also retains a certain amount of control over their bond issues but at the same time insureS fixed percentage of profit and makes ii possible for the corpora tiorS to secure loans from a federal fund set aside for that purpose.
 Specifics lly the bill authorizes the president to settle all questions in cluding ompensation and appropri ates S200, 0,O00,0U0 for this purpose. Ii also:
 Provides guarantee Of standard re- turn' to carriers for period of six months after the termination of fed eral control.
 Creates ''reSolving fund" of SS00.- 100000 for making new loans to car riers.
 Creates railroad Ia bor board and other machinery for the anlicahle settlement of disputes between em ployers and employes.
 Directs the interstate commerce cononi ission to fiN rates that will pro- Vide for two years 1-c per cent re- turns to the railroads on the value of the aggregate railway property do
 voted to the public use. Provides that if any carrier carns
 in any year 2 net operating illconl"
 in excess oc 6 per cent onc-half nf such excess must be placed in a Fe-
 serve fund and the other half must be paid into a general contingent fund to be used to mako loans to carriers.
 Gives 10 the Interstat" Commerce Commission power to regulate the ls- sue of railroad securities. Increases Interstate Commerce Com Ii, isSion from 3 to II members and theIr sai- aries from s1o.ooo to s12.ooo. Whether union labor leaders. who stubbornly opposed the measure in congress and later sought to have Preside lent Wilson veto if, will test The constitu tionality of the bill III the courts will be decided here today at rhe conference of executives of the railway brotherhoods.
 The conference Was arranged TO consider the presid crts reply to their formally presented objections to the bill.