The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-17
Frederick Haskin's Letter
T. ssr~xs,, sf The Arsua0
ADVOCATES RAILROAD HOLIDAY

needed the mony. This he regard
ed as alien to the commissions
function and an assumption of
managerial duty
The commissioner stood. pract-
cally alone then but since his time
that is, in the last five or six
years-others have taken praeu-
cally the same view. MIR. Mellon
has crystalized it in his aphurist5c
statement that the remedy is q rail
road holiday
It is argued that under a relaxed
regulation the public would get
measure bly, better service because
each railroad would be on its met
tie not only to cut rates lower than
its competitors but to give such
service that its facilities would be
preferred. 1t is claimed that when
railroad operation is carried on IN
a network of regulations and rules
which dictate to a nicely practical
ly every function of mana cement,
great, progressive executives and
alert, capable railroad workers are
not attracted to the profession.
= President Underwood OF the Erie
railroad tells of an experience Of
his in the bitterly cold winter Of
1917-1S which interfered so serious
Iy with the NOV ement of trains. En-
gines were frozen in the yards,
cars were frozen on the tracks and
snowdrifts blocked the tracks to
point where, Oh some of the worst
days, traffic practically was sus-
pended. Mr.. Underwood, who mas
been in railroad service for many
years, met at one of the terminals,
an old yardsman who had been
working all his life on railroads.
Mr.. Underwood had known him for
80 or 40 years.
Steel Cars and Wooden Men.
Greeting the aged worker. the
railroad president asked him TO eX-
plain why railroads had so much
in these times. He point
ed out that a quarter Of century
ago winters were just as cold but
that traffic never was suspended
and the trains kept moving in all
weather, The old yardman ans
wered: The reason is that now We
have steel cars and wooden men,
but in the old days we had wooden
cars and men of steel"
This is a favorite theme Of Fair
fax Harrison, president of the
railway, who, at the term
ination of federal control intro
duced economies in operation and
increased efficiency to an extent
which overcome the operating de
ficit. 1t is his opinion that esprit
de corps is as necessary to operate
a railroad as to win a battle and
that such spirit is difficult to slim
ulate under treadmil conditions OF
routine regulation.
But it is to be expected that any
discussion of this backward swing
of the pendulum will bring many
earnest protests from critics Of
railroad management and operation
who desire not less but greater and
firmer measures of regulation and
ownership if need be.
These critics claim that there is
enormous waste and, in some cases,
mismanageme Of the
carriers by their private owners.
They assert that the only solution
to the railroad problem is to turn
the whole system over to govern
ment ownership and operation
One'of the principal attacks on
the cost of railroad operation, IN
der present private control, is that
the railroad stockholders also are
large stockholders in companies
which furnish supplies to the rail
roads. 1t is alleged that the dIrec-
tors or stockholders of a railroad
will commit that company to pay
excessively high prices for supplies
purchased from their supply com
panies with thu result that the rail-
road property is kept impoverished
while the supply company, which
is not subject to the interstate CON-
merce commission or any other
makes huge profits
This is but one of such charges
against private mana cement made
by those who favor more regulation
Or complete government owner
ship.