Evening journal., 1921-05-07

citation, maintenance OF the plant
and cost of treating ties over a per-
iod corresponding with the life of
the untreated ties before any bene-
fits would accrue. Again it should
be understood, in treating ties il is
only done to protect them against
decay. and for this reason only GER
tain kinds OF wood are treated"
10. With respect TO Mr.. Lauck's
exhibit intended to show efficiency
OF railroad employees measured in
traffic units. G., tons hauled one
mile and passengers carried one mile,
Mr.. Walber said:
THE statement presupposes that
any increase in traffic units beyond
proportionate increase in man
hours is due entirely to the increased
efficiency of employees. This is abso-
lutely at variance with all railroad
operating experience"
An analysis was made OF other al
legged economies, and in conclusion
Mr.. Walber stated:
We have not attempted to ana
lyze in great detail each of the ele-
ments of saving presented, but we
believe that the foregoing will dem
onstate to your honorable board the
extent to which consideration and
analysis have been made by the COM
pliers from more or less public state
ments which are accepted without
proper consideration, and indicate
the utter fallacy of many of the
claims which. from the merit alone,
there is no justification for the
board giving serious consideration.
We have studied these exhibits from
the standpoint OF their relevancy to
the present case, and it is our be-
lief that none Of them come within
the purview of the elements set
forth in Section 3O7 of the Transpor-
tation Act
In reply to charges OF financial
mismanagement Of the railroads the
spokesman for the Eastern roads, f.
II. Seneff. General Solicitor OF the
Pennsylvania System, said in part
as follows:
Funds which have been realized
from the sale of securities and from
surplus earnings have been honestly
and efficiently applied to the better
ment OF the properties and the SER
vice they are called upon to per-
form.
Many Of these carriers have been
charged with improper financial
transactions, though long prior to
the passage of the Transportation
Act such transactions have been in
most cases carefully scrutinized and
then approved by Public Service
Commissions OF the several States.
In addition to the Public Service
Commissions of the States, through
which many Of these carriers oper-
ate, the Transportation Act Of 1920
confers upon the Interstate Com
merce Commission power to regu-
late these transactions, and even II
there had been improper financial
transactions as claimed by the re-
spondents. a repetition OF such trans
actions would now be impossible be-
cause Of these changed conditions.
AT all events, railroad capitali-
zation has no effect whatever on rail-
road wages or rates II any OF the
transactions TO which reference is
made have proved unjustifiable in
the past they have received public
condemnation, and the bad results
have been borne by the investors and
not by the employees or the public
using the railroads Wages have
been determined and will hereafter
be determined irrespective Of any
railroads capitalization.
Therefore, as neither railroad
valuation, rates nor wages have been
gagged by stock or bond issue OF
any single railroad company nor OF
all the railroads, as no individual
company is assured any return upon
the value Of its property as found
/ by the Commission, the attempt tC
| introduce these irrelevant matters
growing out of transactions in ths
past years, conduces only to con