Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-04-29
Railroads Must be on Business Basis
BY Roger w. Babson
(Ar Rights Strictly Resorvsd)

The price OF railroad securities has
almost continually declined for 20
years. Freight rates arc cxorbitant.
Is poor. and II IL only natural that
everyone asks what's tho matter with
the railroads. Commenting on tho
situation Roger w. Babson, stat-
istician outlines fivs distinct dif1i-
culties that must be overcome before
tho railroads can get back to An effi-
cient basis.
First, th<re has been a change In
the relation OF tho railroad labor TO
the railroads. When i was n boy
living in Gloucester. the railroad con-
Meeting Boston and Gloucester was
very largely owned by tho people Of
that line. Many OF the conductors,
engineers and track men owned some
OF It's stock. There WAS n community
OF interest; the community was In
tercsted In the railroad; the railroad
was interested in the community;
and the employees were interested In
both.
when the Boston 4 Maine was
purchased by New York bankers the
local interest disappeared. Absentee
ownership In securities inevitably
leads to absentee ownership In labor
control. When the stockholders take
York, the wage workers naturally
take orders from some labor leader
i'm Chicago or Cleveland. The result
Is inefficiency and waste OF labor. The
last time / came from Gloucester there
were just fve passengers on the
train when II left the station, but
there were seven employees.
I'VE hear much talk about the high
railroad wages" says Mr.. Babsor
! in making his second point. but
statistics show that railroad labor Is
not over paid as group. Tho dif6.
Guilty Is not due to high wages but
rather due to inefficient labor and e
| the many useless rules OF the Inter.
state Commerce Commission, the Stat,
Legislatures. and Congress. Th,
trouble comes from waste OF labol
rather than from excessive wages
The railroads could today keep wage,
as they are II they could dispens,
with the great army Of unnecessary
employees who are not only bleed
ing the public but are running tn
discipline of the organization itself
When one man Is loafins on tho fol
IL tends inevitably 10 make everyon
else loaf. What the one-man car ha
done for the street railways OF tn
country some similar system shoul,
do for the steam railroads, rs ther
Is absolutely no need of tho rail
roads using all the trainmen that the
use today. The number must be re
duced before the railroads can h
efficiently run and made to pay.
THE third great factor" says MI
Babson, is the automobile and tn
auto truck. Tho auto truck Is gcttin
practically all the short freight haul.
As they have practically no road ia
TO pay they have an unusual advan
tage. The public supplies tho road
bed, It supplies the terminals. an
supplies and everything FREQ but tn
truck. driver and gasoline. The ide
OF letting these trucks ruin our high
ways. as they are doing today, with
out paying for the privilege, Is a mis-
? take which will some day be rectifie,
However, even II the truck does pa
, its proper share for the maintenanC
| of the highways. II is very debatabl
, whether or not the railroads Will
able TO compete with them on sho,
! haul business. The automobile true
has come to stay and will always /
! a distinct competitor to short ha,
lines. For that reason. think it
e wise for people to invest their none
= in the trunk lines that cannot |
4 adversely affected by motor comp,
I tition.
3 The fourth factor" continued NJ
t Babson. that IS causing tho railroa
' securities to lag Is the many servic,
e they are performing for nothing,
= without adequate return. The term
9 nal charge should be much more tina
u