The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-03-04
RAILWAYS GOING
BACK To OWNERS
TRANSFER WHICH TAKES PLACE
or MARCH I is PRACTICALLY
ACCOMPLISHED ALREADY.
NEW LEGISLATION PREPARED
Government Control Has Opened the
Way for Cooperation, Pooling and
Other Things That Were Not Per-
nitted In the Past.
BY JAMES p. HoRNApAY.

]
BY JAMES p. HoRNADAY.
Mashington.-On the stroke of ~ n
~, March |, the federal government
will cease to operate tive railroads of
the country. Neither the travelling
public nor that larger section of the
/ public which does not travel regularly
Will be able to note that anything I'M
usual has happened In other words,
the daily service of the transportation
lines will go ON as it did while the
government was the supreme author
lily, and as it did before the govern
( ment took the roads over for operat-
ing purposes. As matter of fact the
transfer of the roads back to their
owners has already practically taken
place. The change on March l Will
largely be one of bookkeeping. Dur
ing the last month the railroad admin
istration which was established here
| when the government as a war neces-
sity began to operate the roads has
been quietly returning various func-
tons to the respective owners of the
roads. by the morning of March /
there will not be much visible evil
dence that the railroad administration
existed except some vacant desks In
the interstate commerce building.
II is conceded on all sides that gov
ernment operation of the roads opened
the way for the doing of things that
were not done under the old private
management simply because the gov
eminent itself prohibited their doing
IT, The old idea was that there should
he minimum If cooperation and Il
maximum OF competition. Thus IL was
that the government prohibited pool
!ng and held up u warning hand every
time the railroads showed any incli'
nation Of pulling together.
Cooperation in Vogue.
The dominant note of federal Oper'
alton was cooperation. Wherever IN
the judgment Of the railroad admins
tratiOn better service could be obtain
ed through pooling Of interests pool
ing took place. The result of this al
was that for the first time in the his
tory of American railroads common
Use was made Of many terminals. ant
also of Il great deal of trackage, ci!
ticket Offices were consolidated ant
rolling stock TO considerable eXten
made eXchangeable, according TO thu
necessities of the day. That thi'
same policy in a general way will be
followed under private ownership
seems certain.
) From a financial standpoint govern
ment operation of the roads was no
success. On January l of this veal
the roads had been under government
, control for two full years. In thi'
period the loss was 1884, 100000, di
vided S349 100000 for 1919 and S245.
100000 for 1918.
) Through the railroad legislation
which. unless there is slip, will b.
B back the government will maintain I
closer supervision than ever before
I over the railroads. This legislation Il
by no means satisfactory TO all thu
B interests involved, but il is regarded
r as fair beginning. The general OK
. pectatiOn in congress is that withii
b another year the legislation will haN'
I 10 be revised to meet conditions "a
. they develop following the return o
D the roads TO their owners.
. Sweet Law Enough for Present.
No additional legislation relatln
to benefits due the men VIII
served in the world war is to b
undertaken Immediately. This dec
: sion has been reached by the leader
in congress after many conference
l. with the officials of the war risk bU
reau. II is believed the new rating
= fixed by the Sweet law, now In eifec
i will stand through the coming tiscu
year anyhow. The war risk burea
: continues to interpret the Legislation
7 IN the interest OF the eX-seryice me
! IN a liberal way; every doubt is cas-
l in fav0r Of the ,aan who was willin
! to give HIS life for the cause for whie
: the war was fought.
In line with the liberal policy .ssaop
> eu, a new ruling relating TO war n
surance has just been made. pfact'
cally every one of the 100000 servic
men took out insurance when they en-
tered the service. Many thousand
have let their policies lapse since tn
armistice. The new ruling is for IA,
, benefit ~ these men. Under II wa
risk (term) insurance. regardless o
how long It may have been lapsed q
n cancelled. and regardless Of how loni
the former service man may have beef
discharged, may lie reinstated an.
time before July l, 1920.
The conditions are:
u Two monthly premiums on tn
: amount of insurance 10 be relnstate,
must accompany the application.
(2) The applicant must be In a
good health as al the date of dis
charge. or at the expiration Of tn
grace period. whichever Is the late
date. and so state In the application
orer 10 Very Liberal
mn.