The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-07-23
Accommodating Proof of the In
efficiency and Excessive Cost
of the Private Ownership of
Railroads.
(Bv Charles M. Kelley)


In an interview given to the AS
ISOLATED Press, at Marion, o., few
days ago, Senator Arthur B. Cum
Minis, of Iowa, author of the trans
portation bill that returned the rail-
roads to private control said:
"The inability of the railroads to
do the business of the country is
costing the country every day more
than the German war cost the people
any day."
1t must have required considerable
courage for Senator Cummins to
make that damaging admission. When
the Senate was flooded with pro-
tests against the enactment of the
bill that had been written after the
dictation of Wall street it was Sen
ator Cummins who defended it as
the "most constructive" bit of leg
islation that had been considered in
half century.
Yet, in less than four months, I'M
der the operation of the Cummins-
Esch law, the transportation system
has broken down, slow paralysis is
creeping up and down the arteries of
commerce, and the nation is facing
what may easily be the most disas-
trous panic in recent history.
Railroad operation constitutes a
direct tax on the national treasury
of more than a hundred million dol
lars a month This sum is being
paid to security holders pursuant to
the provision guaranteeing the rail-
roads a net return equalling the rent
al paid during the period of federal
control. 1t is a large sum, and
will eventually lead US into national
bankruptcy.
Large as is this sum, it is a drop
in the bucket compared with the
losses that are being sustained by
the public-losses that cannot be
computed in dollars and cents, be-
cause many of them are of an in
tangible quality. But they are rec
koned in closed factories and stop
page of production, loss of wages by
workers who are in idleness, loss
of food that is rotting in cars, ware
houses and the ground; loss of in
terest that is being paid by farm
ers on last years crops, which re-
main in warehouses because cars to
move them are not valuable.
Hundreds of thousands of workers
are idle or working part time be-
cause merchandise cannot be trans
ported. New England faces the most
| serious situation in many years. The
American Wooden Company has sus-
pended 10000 workers and it is pre-
dicted that in two or three weeks
| the number of idle men will be not
less than 100000, while 100000 9TH
ers will be working reduced time.
The steel industry is hard hit by
| the railroads. The yards are piled
high with finished products that can
not be moved because the railroads
cannot supply the cars. Representa-
tives of twenty leading steel concerns
have solemnly warned the Interstate
| Commerce Commission that unless
there is relief in two weeks they
will be compelled to close down and
throw their workers out in the
streets.
Coal Famine Is Feared
New England suffers a multiplicity
| of ills. 1t cannot secure steam
coal, and it cannot secure raw ma
terials or the transport of its fin
| ished products. What little coal is
being transported there is piled up
on the docks, awaiting shipment to
Europe. Covetous coal operators are
Indifferent to the sufferings of the
nation and are profiteering at the
expense of European nations that
are bidding as high as $23 for coal.
The production of coal has in
creased over last year, but there is
! lamentable shortage. So long as
export is permitted the situation will
become progressively worse. 1t is
contended by New England manu-
facturers that the government should
embargo export coal until domestic
needs are met. Textile profiteers
are not satisfied that the coal deal
er shall share in the "easy pickings'
that are available to all men who
lack consciences.
i New England is not an isolated
sufferer. The same conditions exist
north, south, east and west. Dele
gates from southern states have ad-
monished the Interstate Commerce
Commission that unless the railroads
can be speeded up there will be a Sc
rious Stacking of industry and thou
sands of workers will be in idle
ness.
The great automobile industries in
the middle west are heavy sufferers;
Some of them have already curtailed
operating forces, because they cannot
secure raw material. The Inter