The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-02-19
RETURNING THE RAILROADS.

AlO SOAAip1 AoAAA Od0 UNI
agreed upon in conference, IL passed
and signed by the president, will be
the first constructive railroad legisla-
ton enacted in years. The outstand-
ing feature is that rate-making Is no
longer left to the interstate commerce
commissions judgment. The commits
sion is instructed as to a minimum be-
low which 1t must not go, and which
will yield 5h per cent on the aver
age property values in the respective
districts. This is a distinct advance in
railroad treatment, says the Bache
Review, and eventually should have a
markedly favorable effect upon rail-
road securities. 1t may not restore
railroad credit to any such extent as
will allow the new financing OF the
roads. so badly needed, and which, If
ness of the whole country and fully
provide for any falling demand from
export trade, cut off by adverse ex-
change rates. But the prospect OF fur
Their beneficial legislation exists, and
may result II legislators are educated
to the country's needs by slowing
down OF general business and less de-
mand for labor.
While the so-called railroad prob
lem is intricate and difficult, the par
ticular phases which congress imme-
diately must solve are comparatively
plain and simple. The government,
for instance, is pledged to return the
railroad systems to their former own
ers in as good condition as they were
when taken over to meet the war
emergency. The simple duty of con-
gress in the matter is to provide, by
legislation accompanying the act of
restoration, some form of financial
guarantee which shall enable the rail-
roads to carry the burden which two
years of government operation have
imposed on them. 1t is not necessary
for congress, in other words, at this
moment to solve the railroad problem
able that at this juncture congress
should set about a new series of gov
ornamental experiments in control and
management.
If the purpose be to reestablish
railroad operation as private enter
prise-which apparently is the mind
Of the nation-the essential thing is
to give such enterprise a fair chance
to work out its own problem of saliva
ton, and so far as is consistent with
the protection of public interest, tc
take off the hands of government
interference.
Railroad credit has been at so low
an ebb that the roads have been I'M
able to keep pace with the growth OF
the country. In the industrial centers
of New England, the New Jersey en-
virons OF New York. the Philadelphia
district and Pittsburgh, the manufac-
turing capacity has increased all the
way from 120 per cent to 400 per cent
since 1914. The railroad facilities OF
these districts have not grown ii
mileage since 1910, while in relative
efficiency of equipment there has beer
a falling off.
Pittsburgh coke producers have
been willing to sell their output at s.
per ton at a time when consumer
only a short distance away could no
buy coke at $12 per ton, simply be
cause of a transportation tangle tina
never would have developed excep
for the injection of politics into tn,
railroad situation. Manufacturers il
their desperation have paid ten
twenty and in some cases as higl
as fifty times the current freight rat
to get material delivered by aut'
truck. BY paying the increased cos
they could get delivery in two days
while by the railroad it might take
month or more. Time was NOR
precious than money.
All these costs are added to tn
price of living. They are not neces
sary additions. They represent waste
They represent duplication of effor
, and an unnatural competition. Tn
railroads should haul the freight O
the country. The burden should no
be shifted onto the comparatively ne1
automotive industry. The latter 1
more efficient merely because it ha
not felt the paralyzing hand of regu
!, lation.