The Washington herald., 1920-08-02
Richard Spillane Says:
By Briggs

Henry Ford's purchase of the De-
troit. Toledo and Ironton Railroad
brings up a nice question. Under
the law railroads must confine them
selves to transportation. They are
not permitted to own or operate in
dustrial establishments. In former
Gays some of them owned coal mines
and other properties. Many abuses
grew out of this ownership. Con-
gress forced sthe railroads to dis
pose of their holdings.
If a railroad cannot own coal
mine or a manufacturing business,
will the law permit manufacturer
to own and operate a railroad?
Mr.. Ford bought this railroad to
improve his position in regard, to
ccal. iron and other supplies. He
may intend to let other automobile
manufacturers in his territory and
all other manufacturers enjoy the
same privileges he. as owner of the
read. commands. His intentions,
however. do not come into consid
GRAFTON under the law. The courts
will deal only with the fact that
ownership gives power to him which
could be used TO the injury of 9TH
ers. A railroad is a public service
corporation. Discrimination in fa-
vor of one interest or another is not
permitted As owner of the railroad.
, MIR. Ford would be in position to
, discriminate as his private interes:
! or his prejudice dictated. That is
not good for business or the gem
| oral public.
AS a railroad the Detroit. Toledo
and Ironton- is not much to brag
! about. 1t has been in deep water
: financially for a long time 1t is
made up of odds and ends of old
lines once operated under the name
of the Detroit Southern. There have
been various reorganizations in the
| last six or eight years. OF main line
, there are AIS miles, and the COM
pany has trackage rights over thir-
! ty-nine miles of the Lake Shore and
, Michigan Southern and Baltimore
land Ohio. 1t has been operated al
a deficit for years and it will take
! considerable money to put it in
shape to earn its way. 1t has s12,-
$4,000 of capital stock and $9.2Os.
,9l7 of funded debt.
sf,O0O,0 900 for controlling interest
he did not pay too much. The road
has A fair amount of physical equip
mont. with seventy locomotives
3.GO9 freight ears and twenty-sever
! passenger cars. In addition to main
line track the n. r. & T. has IFS
miles Of coal mine sidings.
! Most Of the freight carried is coal
The passenger revenue in 1918 was
only S145,2O1. as compared with
S3.n70.6l7 from freight.
Under good. strong management
the road should do 4 business ol
s5.00n.n0c Il year.
! Z. ! Mehren. edito- of Engineer.
ing News Record who has been on
a trip TO Europe. says a new era in
construction methods has dawned III
Great Britain.
I'VE are sometimes told" says he
in a'lctter to his paper, that the
British contractor uses antiquatet
methods and is not open to convic.
ton regarding the labor saving de
vices developed in the United
States What 1 have learned can b.
summed up in this sentence: Hat
the British contractor been facet
ten or fifteen years ago with tn,
high prices OF .abor that then pre-,
NdllFO III lhN OllANtN oNdISS AdHN
that now prevail in Great Britain
he would have been using just a
much machinery as the Americai
contractor is using today.
In other words, the British con
tractor is wide awake. He knows
how TO figure a job closely. H,
knows that labor-saving machinery
compctontly operated, will reduce
construction costs when wages ar,
high. When wages are high-tha
Is the cruX of the situation, tn,
reason for the difference between
British and American construction
methods. Before the war good con
struction labor could be secured ii
Great Britain for seven pence al
hour (about fourteen cents of ou
money, under the pre-war rate o
eXchange) and with labor-goo,
labor-at that figure we must ad
init that the use of expensive labor
; saving machinery would not b
justified Today conditions ar
quite different. Wages have NOR
than trebled and the efficiency /
. only so per cent of what it wa.
Pick and shovel men now get tw,
shillings one pence. or about fft,
cents an hour. The British con
tractor is, therefore. rapidly turning
, to labor-saving construction ma
, chinery.
1T is apparent. too, that tn
wide awake British contractor
very favorably impressed with tn
type of construction machinery w
make in the States. Such is the de
mand that an agent for America
! construction machinery assured m
, that If he had ten times the amour
he is now receiving from the State