New-York tribune., 1920-02-21
By Stanley Frost

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2O.-The rail
roads will be returned to their owners
by the railroad administration en-
March /, with so ew changes in their
visible workings that the public will
virtually have no evidence of the
transfer.
The hopes that have grown during
the period OF government operation
that with the return to private control
tie roads would resume almost at
once the kind of service to which
Americans were accustomed to three
years ago, are fated to be disap-
pointed.
1t will be many monthsf perhaps,
several years, before the railroads can
hope to solve the problems before
them and restore normal operating
conditions.
Many Questions To Be Settled
In the meantime there will be
debated and adjusted in various
ways many vital questions which
will affect the whole future Of
the country. Not the least of
these will be the efficiency of gov
ernment control, which is likely to re-
main in the political foreground till
the confused facts which surround
the last twenty-six months can be
sifted.
These are the salient points which
stand out in investigating the condi-
tions under which the railroads will
begin operations by authority of the
transportation act, now pending in
Congress, but likely to pass substan-
TALLY IN its present form.
For more than two years the Ameri-
can public has been raising a growing
putting the blame for them upon the
railroad administration, which, since it
was III control, was the natural object
Of criticism. The people have looked
forward to the time when the old own
ers should again have control, in the
expectation that the change would
bring back the old conditions. But as
The time for the transfer draws near
II IS clear that no such restoration can
be hoped for. Setting aside the ques-
ton of how much blame should rest
upon the railroad administration, the
iact is plain that the roads are going
pack to their owners in condition
Which can only be described by the
sSlul mess.
Change Will Be Gradual
There will be no immediate change
mat the public can see. All the pres
eht agencies will continue, the consoli-
dated ticket Offices will work as usual,
.he same train schedules will be kept,
!ares, freights, all will be unchanged
ior time, and will be altered, if at
all only gradually and after the most
careful consideration by the joint
councils of railroad managers. The
actual transfer, the change that will
taKe place on March /, will be simply
.hat the unified control which has cen
.ed .ered IN Washington will cease, and
ua' the regional directors will step
out leaving the roads themselves to
junction as at present, and under the
same executives, at least for the time.
..s' NOR can there be any change IN train
service for long period. The Pull
mans will continue to be crowded; :;
mere VIII be persons standing in the
"'sies ,M, OF the day coaches; there will be
,Huch the same troubles with locomo-
IVES and much the same annoyances
"s 'hese which have caused such great
cooperation in the last two years.
line Inc reason is simple--the railroads
m'li not have on March ! any more
hhals haIs or locomotives, or better road
,s' yseos' or more efficient workers than
sney have on February 30. And the
aoaas will not have money to buy more
Equipment, or credit to borrow or
vsiId upon fog many months. Further
they had. it would take three years
li'l iIr an the car and engine shops in the
dnntd dAnited States to supply the present
fublic to Get More Attention
n mere is only one slow change in the
i,aols ip,ao1ic's favor which may begin to show
,.seIf shortly. That will be, If it comes
n ra;,. .ne attitude and efficiency of the
abroad personnel-in the kind Of
treatment and service the traveller
M se.s and in better condition of cars
cas mglnes and rpadbeds. But it is an
Nsavain ~, to how much this will amount.
mere seems little doubt that there
sss, ass oeen decline in morale since Fed
s.al operation began. The public has
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