The Washington times., 1922-07-27
CONGRESS HELD
: BLAMAbLE FOR |
!, RAILWAY CR|S|S|
Senator Sheppard Declares
=. War Control Should Have
= Obtained Until 1924.
BY j. BART CAMPBELL
International News Service.

~ International News Service.
- Upon Congress for having termi-
mated abruptly Government control
OF the railroads after William G..
McAdoo, as director general of rail-
roads, urged that such control be
extended until January /, 1924, or
until unified operation could be
tested fully and fairly, Senator
Morris, Sheppard DemJ Of Texas
declared today much of the blame
for the existing railroad situation
must be placed
Senator Sheppard recalled that on
December 10, 1919, he warned the
Senate that to turn the. railroads
back to private interests at that
time would leave the whole prob
lem in midair" and create confusion
and disaster" d.
4. I'VE now find the present Admin
istration undertaking halfway uni
fled control and operation of the
railroads when, in my judgment.
the continuation OF complete Gov
ernment regulation of them would
have averted the present crisis"
: said Sheppard. II also said on
December 10, 1919, that unless the
final solution of the railroad prob
lem is deferred until the economies
ard possibilities of unified control
can be fairly realized, Congress
will have acted without a proper
grasp of the problem
gr What has happened? - Congress,
without proper grasp of the prob
lem went ahead and restored the
railroads to private interests, en-
acted the Esch-Cummins law and
created the Railroad Labor Board,
and we find the problem not only
unsolved, but a growing demand
that new legislation be found to
provide a solution for it."
II Sheppard said before the Wilson
Administration took over the rail-
roads as a war measure the railroads
were in such bad shape as a result Of
private control and operation that
1t was necessary for the Interstate
Commerce Commission to interfere.
Of Was Near Breakdown.
- THE railroad situation in 1916, or
Several months before we entered the
war, was so critical" Shepard stated,
THAT a special investigation was
made by the commission, which re-
pulted in a special report by Com
missioner McChord that in some Sec
tions the railroads had furnished but
d small part of the cars necessary for
the transportation of staple articles
Of commerce, such as coal. grain,
lumber, fruits and vegetables in con-
sequence of which mills had shut
down, prices had advanced, perish
able articles had been destroyed and
carloads Of food products delayed in
reaching the markets.
" Traffic was congested almost to
the point of paralysis.
when the Government took con-
troll labor conditions were so unset
tied and so unsatisfactory as to
portend the gravest consequences
More than so per cent of the
Eailroad employees were receiving
- December. 1917. SIS a month or
less: the majority of locomotive
Engineers were receiving less than
$40 a month. Less than per cent
~ the employees received wages
Ranging from $3.50 to $3.50, a month.
Didn't Get Fair Test.
4 { only a high sense of duty to
their country, and the assurance
that the investigation would be
made promptly, and whatever in
creases were allowed would date
back to January l, 1918, kept the
railroad employees at work on wages
90 distressingly and inquitously
l0w.-
Wage increases awarded by the
Government were such that the
average monthly compensation for
each employe was $12150 in July,
1919, as against $S9.85 in December,
1917, an increase Of $31. 81 a month.
t"Mr. McAdoo stated that the
public was entitled to have a
Reasonably fair test under peace
conditions as to the advantages to
be derived from the reforms inau-
gurated under Government control
of the railroads. but Congress
ignored his recommendations. and
my warning that failure to give the
American people a chance to observe
government operation under the
conditions Of fair and normal test
was to overlook their welfare and to
play into the hands of special in