The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-03-07
THE REAL RAILROAD ISSUE

Recognition should be kept clearly
and continually in mind of the real
issue now before this nation in res
pect to the railroads. There are num-
erous subsidiary issues, some of them
of actual Importance, some of them
quite insignificant, save as red her
rings drawn across the trail. Rates of
wages, rates of fare and freight trans
portation, Federal control of intra-
state lines and traffic, and various
other topics, all deserve serious at
tention, and doubtless will receive it
in due time. But above them all looms
the one supreme question of the fun
damental status of the roads. Shall
they be owned and. operated by pri-
vate corporations or by the Govern
ment? That, and nothing else. is the
real issue.
The Plumb Plan is not dead. 1t is
not even scotched. 1t may appear to
be in temporary eclipse, but that is
only because its propagandists be-
lieve that they can work more effec-
lively under cover than in the open.
With marvellous ingenuity the advo-
Gates of Government ownership are
using as grist all that comes to their
mill. We do not for moment sup
pose that the Brotherhoods of Rail
road employees are unanimously in
favor of Government ownership; but
it is obvious to anybody who can see
a fraction of a degree beneath the
surface that they are being made so
to appear, and that their requests,
claims or demands, no matter how en-
tirely detached therefrom, are being
utilized as arguments for Federal ac-
QUESTION of the roads. The Plumb
Plan propagandists are, in fact, EMU
lating the tactics of Brindell in "play-
ing both ends against the middle, ,
or using both roads and Brotherhoods
for their own purposes.
In some respects, it is true, the
Plumb propagandists overreach them
selves They do this notably in their
charge that the railroad executives
are practicing sabotage, in one form
and another, in order to make the
reads seem poor and in need of gov
ernment aid. That charge is not true,
and it is not new. We heard it long
ago, in the days of the McAdoodling;
to the effect that the executives were
damaging their own roads in order to
!iscredit Government control. 1t was
not true then; but if it had been, what
could we say of a repetition of the
practice now? Having committed sa-
botage under Government control in
order to discredit that control, they
are now again doing it under private
control-for what conceivable pur-
pose? There is no possible purpose
that would not in the last analysis
initiate against private ownership.
Railroad executives may not always
conduct their operations with much
more, wisdom than others display in
governing States and Nations, but
they are not as thick-headed as that
would imply.
We have no objection in the world
to fair and square raising of the is
sue of government ownership, be-
cause we have mo doubt that in such
aiease the American people will see
to it that it is rightly decided. But
there is grave objection to having it
put forward behind the mask of other
issues, and to having it promoted by
means of wholesale and plausible but
interruptions Misrepresentation.
There is, moreover, serious danger in
having the campaign conducted in the
one-sided manner that has recently
characterized it. We refer to the con-
: trast between the two sides in pre-
sentation of their cases.
For it must frankly be said that
the labor organizations present their
side of the controversy far more eff
fectively than do the executives of
the roads. That is not because they