The New York herald., 1921-06-24
The Wreckers.


tion of Labor again declares for
Government ownership and operation
OF the railroads. Evidently it takes
the labor union politicians a long
time to wake up to the fact that the
American people know when they
have had enough. The railroad
wreck and ruin wrought under the
two years of Government operation
by throwing billions of dollars OF
political subsidy into the labor union
lap will last this country for a long,
long time.
3 Meanwhile the details of that rail
road wrecking come out with shock
ing exhibits.
A few days ago THE New YORK
HERALD discussed figures taken from
the testimony of l.. z. WErTLIaG be-
fore the Senate Interstate Commerce
Committee covering the laying of
rails during the two years of Gov
ornment operation and during the
preceding three year test period. It
was shown in that editorial article
how the Federal administrators put
down fewer rails, by thousands of
tons a year, than the private owners
had put down. But Government own
ership poured more money into the
work by hundreds of millions of dol
lars, chiefly in war inflated wages,
than it had cost the private oYners
to lay a vastly greater quantity of
rails.
There is the same ruinous story to
tell of ties and ballast. The annual
average of switch ties in the test
period was nearly 173,00O,OOO run
ming feet; during Government opera
tion it was 16S,0O0,000 feet. Bridge
ties in the test period had averaged
55,60O,O00 feet year; under Govern
ment operation they averaged only
47,500,000 feet year. In the test
period all other ties, counted not by
feet but by numbers, averaged S3.-
SS5,000 a year. Under Government
operation the figures fell to an an
nual average of only 71,3O0,000.
But the cost of getting down the
Government operation ties, fewer by
millions of feet and millions of ties
than under private ownership, aver
aged $7S,500.000 year. against $751;
135, 900 in the test period
Rails and ties were not the only de-
fault on maintenance of ways. After
the properties had gone back to the
private owners they found the tracks
had been so skimped on ballast that
it was necessary to use 19,11S,553
yards in 1920 to get the roadbeds
back into condition, Government oper-
alton having applied in 1919 only H.
51S,791 yards and as little in 1918 As
14,796,252 yards.
The very foundation of the railroad
is ballast, ties and rails. The carrier
cannot give good service to the pub
lie, ii cannot be safe for the public,
it cannot continue to be railroad
without sound foundation of ballast,
ties and rails.
Yet when in the war emergency the
United States Government was operat-
ing the roads under such a pressure
of traffic as they never had known
before, when it was straining and
racking them to the last ounce of
their strength, when the very life OF
the nation depended upon keeping the
national transportation system up 10
the superlative work demanded of 1t,
the Federal administrators were let
ting that very foundation of the roads
fall down. And all the while spend
ing vastly for maintenance of ways
and structures-$233,0 100000 more in
1918. $344,O0O,000 more in 1919 than
the annual average OF the test period
without getting fair return for 1t.
What a merciful turn of Providence
il was that the railroads OF the
United States stayed no longer than
they did stay in the hands OF the
Government for labor union loot,