The Connecticut labor press., 1920-06-19
RAILROADS REAP WHAT THEY SOWED-
 SAYS l. (. (. MAN
Blocked Government s Efforts So as to Regain Control,
 Declares Woolley.
INTERFERED WITH M'ADOO
Held Up Directors Plans for Pro viding Ample New
 Rolling Stock.

Robert w. Woo1ley, member of the | interstate commerce commission, evi- l dently Is man who cares little for | personal popularity among that class
 which depends upon government con- l sessions for continued financial exist
 ence. Recently Mir. Woo1ley addressed 1 the Wholesale Lumber Dealers in con-
 ventlon i'll Chicago, and in brief talk l gave full history of the railroad situa- ton. It IS so concise and so il1uminat-
 ing that it is given-in full as follows:
 If ever-there was a situation which demanded constructive thought, vision, patience and the who1e-hearted CO., l operation of everybody, 1t Is to be l found in the plight of the railroads. This Is. no time for those shippers who joined Ill the clamorous demand l that federal control end to turn upon the operating heads or the railroads l and denounce them because they are failing to make good the promises and ! predictions of their eager and opti- l mistic presidents and of many eminent | economists.
 No time is 1t for railing at those editors who saw red whenever 1t was suggested that only with unified opera | ton was it possible to approximate sat isfactory service during the delicate re- construction period, so great was the shortage of cars and locomotives. No time to fa1ter because the railroads and the public, as a result of breaking up pools created under federal control and the passing of the fuel administration on April l, are confronted with an actual increase of 2 and more per ton in the price of bituminous coal at the ] mines.
 "Nor is. it a time even for refecting upon the fact that the total so-ca11ed deficit. for two years under federal con- trol was $100,000,000 less than the in creased cost under private control for single year.
 Further, it is of no practical avail to answer the bitter complaint of the railroad executives that there is a shortage of equipment due to curtailed construction of cars and locomotives during federal control by reminding them that if they had not opposed so vigorously the urgent recommendation of Director General Hines that $780, 100000 be appropriated for this pur- pose, congress would undoubtedly have provided bountifu1ly early in the year 1919 against this evil day.
 "It would be futile now to recall to them that not only did they block such all dppTopTldIlon Dy protesting -lHdl no additional equipment would be needed under returned private control, but that though they charged the 100000 cars actually ordered by Director General McAdoo-and since delivered were unsuited to the needs of some of the carriers to which they were a1lo- cated and that even these would not be required once the roads were returned to their owners, those self-same cars are and have been in regular use and that before the end of federal control there was a plea for more
 "It Is unfortunate that the roads had to appeal to the interstate commerce commission, but there was apparently no way out Of it.
 T violate no confidence when I tell you that the members of the interstate commerce commission have been con- cerned over the situation ever since a fortnight after the end of federal con- tro1.
 The breakdown in service started almost immediately, but the interstate commerce commission is quasi judicial body with certain important administrative functions, and if we had undertaken the job upon our own initiative, matter how amply knew the facts to justify it, we would have been accused of embarking essentially an operating undertaking"