Arizona republican., 1922-05-01

The price Of railroad securities has
almost continually declined for 20
years. Freight rates are eXhorbitant,
railroad labor is discontented. service
is poor, and it is only natural that
everyone asks what's the matter with
the railroads Commenting on the
situation Roger w. Babson, statisti
clan outlines five distinct difficulties
that must be overcome before the
railroads can get back to an efficient
basis.
First. there has been a change in
the relation Of the railroad labor to
the railroads. When / was a boy
living in Gloucester, the railroad con
Meeting Boston and Gloucester was
very largely owned by the people of
that line. Many of the conductors,
engineers and track men owned some
of its stock. There was a community
OF interest; the community was in
| terested in the railroad; the railroad
was interested in the community: and
the employees were interested in both.
When the Boston and Maine was
purchased by the New York bankers
| the local interest disappeared. ABB
| sentee ownership in securities in
| evitably leads to absentee ownership
in labor control. When the stock
| holders take orders from some bank
er in New York. the wage workers
naturally take orders from some la
Dor leader in Chicago or Cleveland.
The result is inefficiency and waste
of labor. The last time / came from
| Gloucester there were Just five pas
| sengers on the train when it left the
station, but there were seven en-
ployes.
I'VE hear much talk about the high
| railroad wages" says Mr.. Babson in
making his second point. but stat
! istics show that railroad labor is not
overpaid as a group. The difficulty
is not due to high wages but rather
due to inefficient labor and to the
| many useless rules of the interstate
| commerce commission, the state leg
islatures and congress. The trouble
comes from a waste of labor rather
| than from excessive wages. The rail-
| roads could today keep wages as thev
are if they could dispense with the
| great army of unnecessary employees
who are not only bleeding the public
| but are running the discipline of the
| organization itself. When one man
| is loafing on the job it tends newt
| ably to make everyone else loaf.
| What the one-man car has done for
l SAS SAAN0A ehtAN tAs Va NAAG AOdA4hi
some similar system should do for the
steam railroads. AS there is absolute
| ~ no need of the railroads using all
| the trainmen that they use today.
! The number must be reduced before
/ the railroads can be efficiently run
and made to pay.
"The third great factor" says Mr..
| Babson. lis the automobile and the
| auto truck. The auto truck is getting
practically all the short freight haul
| AS they have practically no road tax
to pay they have an unusual advan-
| tage. The public supplies the road
bed. it supplies the terminals. and
sunnIies and everything free but the
truck, driver and gasoline. The idea
| of letting thtse 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 rectified.
However. even if the truck does pay
its proper share for the maintenance
| of the highways, it is very debatable
| whether or not the railroads will be
able TO compete with them on short
haul business,
1.-THE automobile truck has come to
stay and will always be a distinct
| competitor to short haul lines. For
| that reason, / think it is wise for
| people to invest their money in the
trunk lines that cannot be adversely
| affected by motor competition.
THE fourth factor" continued Mr..
Babson, that is causing the railroad
1 securities to lag is the many services
they are performing for nothing. or
! without adequate return. The ter
minal charge should be much more
than it now is. There should be diff
ferent rules regarding the loading
| and unloading of cars. The car
| charge per day is too small. Also
| free checking of truks is absurd.
| was examining railroad property in
| the South a few weeks ago. In a
mornings ride / noticed that the
| baggageman handled but one trunk
| during the entire trip. That BAGGAGE
| man was paid S. a day. Although
there were several other trainmen
| who could have cared for this trunk,
yet because the interstate commerce
| commission required that baggage
man be employed on that train. he
had to make the trip. The railroads
are doing too much for nothing. OF
| course they should render service;
| but they should be paid for that SER
vice by the people to whom it il rem
dered.
I'm conclusion Mr.. Babson brought
out the fifth reason that railroad
securities have continued to decline
due to the management. The rail-
| roads We're built by civil engineers.
| These engineers have gradually
worked UP until they have become
| the operators. They are honest, hard
| working, intelligent men, but they are
trained for engineers and not for
| merchants. Now a banker might ef-
| ficiently operate the railroad if he
would live on it and give it his at
tention. but a banker cannot success
fully operate a railroad in the South
or West from an office chair in New
York city. Transportation today is
a matter of merchandising. The con-
struction period of railroading is
! gone by There is no more reason
why a civil engineer should run a
railroad today than that he should
run the Woolworth business or the
Sears Roebuck business. Transpor-
tation is a commodity like steel cot
ton or fruit The railroads should
be run by men who are natural mer-
chants: men who were well trained
to get business, render service and
operate business al profit.