Milford chronicle., 1921-06-10
GOVERNMENT HANDICAPs UNFAIR


every man accustomed to handling
business affairs, no matter how small
or of what character, will readily un-
derstand the force of the assertion
made by the railroad executives in
the hearing at Washington, that the
present deplOrable condition of rail-
road finances is due primarily to han
dicaps established during the period
of Government" declares the Republi-
can Publicity Association, through it's
President, Hon. Jonathan Bourne, Jr.
There was something misleading in
the announcement more than year
ago that the railroads had been re-
turned to their private owners. They
were returned to the custody of their
owners, it is true, but the return was
qualified by the provision that certain
agreements and regulations establish
ed during government operation
should be continued. This was re
turn to private ownership in name but
not in reality.
"For many years the Government
has exercised the right to limit
freight and passenger charges, thus
limiting the revenue the railroads
can receive. During the war and the
continuance of Government control
after the war, the Government also
exercised the right to determine to a
large extent the expenditures the
roads should make. Having control
of both income and Outgo the Govern
ment determined the net income, and
it was under this sort of regulations
that net income dwindled to the disap-
pearing point. In fact if one recog-
nizes the right of an investor to re-
ceiVe a reasonable return the net in
come had become a net deficit.
I'm order that the situation of the
railroads may be better understood by
the average American citizen let us
suppose that the Government had
done to the farmers what it did to
the roads. The Government did treat
the farmers in somewhat the same
way it treated the railroads but not
to the same extent. The price the
grain farmers might receive was lin
tied, and, indirectly, by boosting the
wages of city workers, the Govern
ment boosted the wage the farmer
must pay his help. But farmers in
general were not brought under strict
control of the Government as the rail
roads were. If the Government had
taken over the farms of the country.
limited the prices they might receive
for each bushel or pound of commo-
dities they raised and had then made
agreements with farm laborers as to
wages, hours of labor and working
conditions, putting the income so low
and the wage charges so high that
a net profit would not be possible,
and had then returned the farms to
their owners with the stipulation that
these Government regulations must
be continued, that would be for the |
farmers exactly what the Government |
did for the railroads.
mo farmer in the United States |
would agree that such an injury to
his business would be fair. Neither is |
there a business man of any kind in |
the United States who will assert
that similar treatment imposed upon |
the railroads was either just to the
railroad owners or for the best inter-
ests OF the country in general. In
times gone by the people have had h
against railroad managers.
Most OF those grievances were remOv-
ed by regulatory legislation. The peo-
pie now have a grievance not against
the railroad owners but against those
governmental managers who took the l.
railroads over when they had money
in their treasures, and turned them
back practically broke and loaded
down with burdens and limitations
which make it practically impossible
for the roads as whole to earn any,
hing near reasonable profit on the
Investment. The wrecking of the /
railroad system has been an injury
ind not a blessing to the people /
whether they are owners of railroad {
stocks or shippers of goods" - !