Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-23
.EVENTFUL YEAR
FOR RAILROADS
Transportation Lines Play I'm
portant Part in country's
Industrial Prosperity
SQUARE DEAL NEEDED

Today. washington's Birthday. being
observed as a legal holiday by most all
the states. the principal stock exchanges.
commodity markets, banks and trust
companies are closed. There were no
quotations except those from the few
European markets.
All other considerations of the finan-
cial situation for the time are being laid
aside or given secondary place by
reason Of the overwhelming interest
manifested in the necessary steps to be
taken by the government for the turn
ing the transportation industry property
back 10 their owners.
Unless surface signs are misleading
this is going to be a history making
year in the annals Of railroads. Many
interesting developments can be looked
for during the next nine months as TO
the question Of management, financing.
operations and unification Of director
ship.
During the two years of government
control many innovations were intro
duced and tried out. which the trans
portations previous to 1917 were either
not in position to experiment in. or
where restrained by the limitations of
the existing anti trust laws. A great
many of the restrictions imposed upon
railroad management were thrown TO
the four winds during the two years
administration under the regional and
Washington dictatorship.
Thus the interesting question arises
whether or not the federalizing OF these
''don'ts" by the government control do
not make many provisions of the anti
trust and Hepburn rate laws obsolete.
IL legalization of certain practices
were countepanced under government
control. and found beneficial in the pro
motion Of better services and results in
economic operation, why shall they not
be continued under private ownership.
As a matter Of fact many of these
don ts' are apparently plainly legal
lied in reading between the lines of
many provisions in the conference bill
now before Congress.
A Critical Period
No matter from what angle the sit
uation is viewed, it is generally recog-
nized that the railroads of the United
States have reached a critical point in
their development. The future of this
important link in the country's indus
trial and general prosperity depends
very largely upon" the character Of the
legislation governing the operations Of
these systems.
AS the Railway Age remarked in its
last issue: Just before and after gov
ernment operation was adopted il was
charged all over the country that the
railways under private management had
broken down If that charge could be
fairly made then, the charge may be
as truly made now that under govern
ment operation they have broken
down. AS a matter of fact, under both
private and government operation the
arrangements have shown great ability
and energy in dealing Nl>h difficult and
almost impossible conditions.
The government, however, is not
handing the railways back under trans.
portation conditions any better than
they were when it took the roads over,
and the inability of the railroads to
handle the entire commerce of the
country unquestionably is much greater
than 1t was when government operation
was adopted. The present transporta
tion conditions are not due to the fact
that the railways are not handling more
traffic than ever before at this time of
year, just as they were not in 1917, but
to the fact that there is more traffic
to handle than there ever was and that
the facilitles for moving il are moro
inadequate than they ever were
The anemic condition of the country's
transportation industry is not because
of the lack of legislation, but entirely
because Of a serious overdose of legisla
tion. There have been altogether too
many laws enacted both in the various
states and at Washington. the result Of
which was a decided stunting of the
transportation industry.
Confidence Shaken
Until around 1914 the railroads were
able to provide adequate transporta
tion facilities, increasing with the
growth of the country, because inyes-
tors were willing to purchase their Sc
curities. When Congress and the yari-
Gus state legislatures began to barass
them by hostile legislation. to the
point of interfering with their manage.
ment and hampering their usefulness