Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-11
What Ais the Railroads.
Transportation Situation As 1t
Exists Shows Some Plain Facts.
(From tn Boston Transcript. }

7 q
them and that they have long and sorely needed
How much this belated bit Of assistance vii
| accomplish toward their rehabilitation is still al
! unanswered question. Our entire Transportation
| system is suffering today from a complication
| of deep-seated troubles, hard to diagnose an,
| harder to remedy. Time was when it was
| model OF large-scae organization, of econon,
| operation and OF intelligent management Thei
came the era of railway abuses which was fol
lowed by government regulation When tina
was opposed by the railroads. the result wa.
more and more regulation. This was over.
| done and its train came decline in transporta.
ton efficiency and finally Generalization oi
our transportation system. Government opera.
ton OF the railroads during the war &C.
compshed its military purpose, but it left our
transportation system in badly tangled condi-
ton.
The legislation under which the railroads
were returned to private control failed to allow
for the law of diminishing returns, failed to take
into account the fact that transportation costs
can be made so high as to offset all gains that
might come from increased rates, due to the
fact that If travel costs too much thousands
will cease to travel When freight rates pass
certain point they force shippers to the alter
native OF either going out of business, or re-
moving their plants to points near enough to
their markets to permit them to remain in busi-
ness. Ingenious demands have been made to
show that the new rates after all, mean only
fractional advances in the cost of pair OF
shoes, yard of cotton, etc. But their applica-
ton to coal, for example, and other bulk
freight, is ignored Fuel is one Of the main
items in the cost of manufacture and in do
mestic outlay. Here the advances have been so
large as seriously to affect the production OF
shoes and textiles.
While the proponents of new and more rigid
federal regulation still pursue the will-o'-the-
rs f..
tive parallels in general reorganization of
trunk lines that may come to pass in some dim
and distant future, when the overworked Inter
state Commerce commission can get around to
it, very serious competition has grown up in
new directions that is adding to the troubles of
the railroads. For example, transcontinental
rates are so high that the steamship lines be-
tween the Pacific and Atlantic ports have in
stalled retrigerating plants and are bringing
fruit from California through the Panama canal
at lower rates than the railroads offer. Motor
over the highways is also Offer
ing serious competition for the railroads. There
are those who contend that four persons can
travel long distances more cheapiy by automo-
bile than they can by railroad today. Even for
to make it preferable. A steadily increasing
amount of freight within fifty miles of New
York and other great cities is transported by
motor trucks. For much longer distances con-
'iderations of convenience, promptness and
safety often make motor truck transportation
more desirable. Formerly the railroads COM
blamed that the short-haul business was un-
profitable. They are getting rid of it today
With vengeance and losing much long-haul |
rade in addition.
Much has been said and written regarding |
he greater expense of motor transportation as |
ompared with the railroad charges. Yet there
must be compensating advantages because
merchants and manufacturers are more and |
nore using the motor truck where once they
hipped by railroad. For one thing, the motor
ruck provides door-to-door delivery, thereby
voiding the costly reloading to which railroad |
reight is subjected. American railroads might |
rovde door-to-door delivery as British rail-
Dads do, if they were permitted. But that
'ould be going into an outside form of trans
ortation which is prohibited Were they per-
lifted, our railroads might carry motor trucks
y fatcar and transport their cargo from door
'-door for any distance. A young Boston in
entor has perfected demountable truck
anne; it has been adopted by one of the large
hahn grocery companies; transfers are made
uckly. enabling one chassis to take care Of
vo and even three bodies. Clearly the use of
le motor truck for such purposes has come to
ay. |
New methods in Selling" transportation to
lie public was the subject of an interesting ar
Gle III recent article in the Saturday Evening
ost by Edward Hungerford. 1t raises the
1estion whether railroad arrangements are not
r behind the merchants and manufacturers to-
ly in the field of saeslnanship. Where the
w forbids development of ways and means of
'oviding better transportation. the day is at
md when public opinion should and could
educated to change the law. President Har-
ng has been getting the assistance of "thc
st minds" in matters of government and
'litics; a meeting of "the best minds" in the
ilroad world might accomplish much toward
inging the railroads back to that condition of
osperity where they can render the service |
at the needs of the nation require A modern
needs circulation for its well-being
day-the speediest, safest, most economical | ,
-culation possible. There was a time when
duced rate round trip tickets and special ex-
rsion rates were money makers for the rail- {
ads. Why have these means of building up '
road business fallen into disuse? !
Doubtless these considerations were not
erlooked by Secretary Mellon when he G
the immediate cutting in half of i
E transportation taxes this year and their !
mination next year. They ought not to be
erlooked by the railroad companies when they Z
le up the revision of passenger rates. If they {
IL take the federal relief afforded as an evil a
nee that congress and the country are alive +
the necessity of rehabilitating the .airoads, l
they will endeavor to make use of every | i
ency that will enable them to provide better, t
ECKER and cheaper transportation, if they will II
wv the same ingenuity in modernizing trans d
rtation salesmanship that their shippers are =
'wing, the railroads of America will soon y
gin to function they once did and again y
;ome profitable and the pride of the nation p
lesson. Have the railroads learned theirs. b
n