Bisbee daily review., 1920-09-14
Suggestion Later Confirmed

TUT the conduct or the war.
 Suggestion Later Confirmed
 "This suggestion was later on con, firmed by the insistence of the ad- ministration that it be given author, 1ty to take over the telephone and telegraph lines. When congress vot- ed grant of authority to take over these lines it was expressly stipu- lated that no such seizure would be made unless the eXigencies of war urgently required it, but after the authority was given without a new eXigency having arisen and without a single new condition of peril, the telephone and telegraph lines were seized because an administration was in powr which was disposed to take advantage of anXieties of people revolutionize the government policy Tn dealing with these public utilities.
 Points to Misunderstanding
 If the experiment with the rail ways and these communication lines had been successful, it reasonably
 
 would have been made permanent. Such was the undoubted intent of the present administra ton.
 'I must emphasize one of the gross misunderstanding relating to the Cummins-Esch act. Ii did not provide for permanent guarantee Of dividend on railroad capital. On the contrary, 10 .,,I., A T. It did provide for a maintenance of rates for period of six month which would guarantee a sufficient railroad earning to make possible the financing of necessary railroad improvements under the control of their owners, but this guarantee of five and one-half per cent earning was limited as was the period of transition of six months duration and was universally recog- nized as being necessary because of the admitted failure of the govern ment to maintain teh railways in state of preparedness for effective service.
 Would Have Broken Down
 If we had returned the roads with out this temporary guarantee of earn ings, in all probability the great American system would have broken down entirely and we should have found ourselves in a state of railroad paralysis which the country could not tolerate. We also stipulated that there should be no reduction of Amer ican railroad wages during that pc riod. In other words we gave the American railroad men the same guar antee that we gave to the American owners and in neither case was this done with sole thought of owners or of workmen but congress was American people.
 We have eliminated every specula- titve phase of railway operation until the railway business has become an extremely conservative one with noth- ing left to inspire efficiency and pro- duce in management, prudence. ex- cept competition in service. We have taken away that force known as money making and reduced railroad operation to a service to the peopie. with very limited return made pos sible on capital employed.
 Wanted Roads Seized
 Naturally this enactment did not appeal to those radical advocates of railway ownership or those Socialist therists who thought the roads ought to be seized by the government and placed at the disposal of the workers Tor permanent operation and profit. Congress felt an abiding obligation to restore the property seized for war to the people who held title thereto. To nave seized railway properties and turned them over to favored class in America would have involved the de- struction of our very system of gov ernm"nt and revolutionized the re- public.
 Act Not Hostile
 There has been much outcry against the act (Cummins. Esch) as being hostile to labor and unjust to unlonism and servient to capital On the contrary it is the very opposite of these things. IL does not interfere with collective bargaining; 1t favors 1t. Moreover, it recognizes that rail-