Arizona republican., 1921-12-17

congress appropr1ating S5UU,VUu,UVU per annum for the years 1922 and 1923, which with the period to 1921 will provide an additional S1.000,0o0.- 1 900 of federal money Senate bill 66S would grant 100000 acres of public lands to each of twelve wes- | tern states, 6,000,G00 acres in all, the proceeds of the sales of which are l to be used by the states for con structing and maintaining pubic,
 roads. House of Representative bill 6552 proposes appropriations of 1 s1,700, 100000 over the period of 1927 for national highways east and west and north and south.
 Gentlemen, do not understand me as representing that the railroads
 are opposing the highways where they are essential for development Of communities, but when this money is expended in purchasing Of rights ! of way immediately adjoining con | structed transcontinental railroads l when the politicians stand on their l rostrum and urge these highways as ! competitors to reduce rates, then l 1 say, it.is an economic waste. If you l subsidize one form of transportation, why not all? Otherwise, we must | be satisfied with impaired and im- poverished service, and necessarily 1 high rates. To give you an example | of this unfair situation. let we quote 1 briefly the. figures relative too the Pacific Electric Railway. in Los An geles, California, of which l was vice | president for the last three years. l Our maintenance alone took 91A per cent of our gross revenues. Our ! taxes consumed 5H per cent of our ! gross revenues, and the interest on | the investment for rails, tracks, paVe- ] ment, bridges and culverts amounted to IT per cent of our gross, making nearly s2 per cent of every dollar for an equal facility that you give to the | motor bus, practically for nothing. | Ask any motor bus operator and he l cannot prove to you that his taxes, | city, state and government, together | with license, will exceed in any case
 31a per cent of his gross.
 Let us take the situation of the 1 Arizona Eastern with which you are familiar. Figures are uninteresting l but let me read a few. For the ten l months this year our gross income | was S2,315 900, and the ridiculously | low estimate of the value of 3S0 odd
 cess of sl0.000,000, but call 1t $10.- 1 900 900 for the sake of argument. Your own new highways are costing more per mile than this estimate I 1 use Our taxes for the ten months amounted to $223,21S. Our main l tenance of track and bridges $396,- | 930. This maintenance was III per
 cent of the gross; the taxes 9.6 per l cent of our gross; and interest at 6 | per cent on investment would take | 21.6 per cent of the gross, or a total | of 4S.3 per cent. compared to the
 or per cent of your motor truck. l 1p% l named only included such facilities l as are comparable to the automobile the rails on which to roll. the
 bridges on which to cross, but not 1 any values for maintenance of build | ings, rolling stock, etc. Do you won der we say, this is unfair competi- | tion? And do you think you are fair
 to your own tax payers when you 1 note and view with alarm the trem-
 endous damage that Is being done
 these highways by these speed devils
 that are endangering life and limb
 If you do not need nor do not want
 these rail systems. then we, as rail
 road men, have nothing further to say. Doesn't Arizona need the trans
 continental railroad for its cotton and
 it's products? Do you not need our
 Pullman train to give you uninter- l rupted service from Arizona to any , point in the United States, or can
 this be supplanted by the automobile. 1 If you take from us all short hauls, 1 revenue must be had somewhere. Let us consider the Transportation Act for minute, if you please the
 Esch -Cummins bill was approved in
 an effort to make some order out of
 chaos, in which the railroads were
 returned. The United States Labor
 ar1 se, %0 o1r TaH1
 matters, the Interstate Commerce
 Commission is to function on all
 rates and values. We then have this
 situation: The Interstate Commerce
 Commission places a valuation upon
 the railroads, it prescribes such rates
 as may be reasonable and compen-
 satory, allowing the railroads to make
 a possible 6 per cent on such valu-
 ation. One-halt of one per cent of
 this amount to be used only, in ad-
 ditions and betterments. The Labor
 Board fixes the rates of compensa-
 tion for our employees. Therefore
 with the ambitious struggles of these
 various Federal boards, we have the
 Interstate Commerce Commission making it's rates as low as possible
 making it's valuation as low as pos
 sible, and the United States Labor Board holding up the rates of labor
 as high as possible; and the poor
 devil of a railroad executive who can make both ends meet under such
 conditions is a wizard. To say that
 unless freight rates come down other means will be found, is idle, and above all is a sorry commentary or . the wisdom and the practicability ot our various state and inter state , railroad commissions.
 1 Tberaf0ra sfNhat AifS fha rail roads ?'
 These are conditions almost beyond them, these are some of the things 1 that are necessary: 1. Stop the use for common carrier purposes of highways built with pub | lie moneys without adequate tolls and proper regulation.
 2. Make 1T land waterways bull or improved at public expense carry 1 themselves as to interest on cost anC r maintenance
 g. Keep the United States govern. 3 ment out of the business of operating ? steamships.
 ), 1. Make the Panama Canal earn { 3 reasonable toll for the passage O. l vessels.
 s 5. Do not deprive transcontinenta 2 carriers of coast to-coast traffic b, g inflexibly enfCrclng a strict long and s short haul clause. ] he revenue los r by their exclusion from this traffic
 must inevitably be retrieved by high 9 CT rates on the remaining traffic t T intermediate points.
 r Remember the last point is vital tC