Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-08

By
J. X
A REMEDY FOR THE RAILROADS.

the individual or the company is able
In good times to earn enough money
to permit of laying aside a surplus
This surplus is drawn upon when
hard times come and earnings dwindle,
This is the policy which kept alive
many great corporations and many
small firms during the last year OF
two Of business depression.
Now, DIR. Muller points out, if the
law limits to d low figure the amount
of money which a railroad may earn,
how can it lay a surplus aside for q
period of diminished income?
The natural course for. q railroad ia
take in hard times would be to reduce
rates. All merchants do this. In
prosperous times they can get high
prices. In hard times, they must cut
BY such a course, business is stimu-
lated. Bargains are offered and it il
found that trade is %enlivened to such
IN extent that profits begin to re-
appear and prosperity returns. The
same rule would affect railroads. II,
when times r hard, the railroads
could cut freight and passenger rates
and offer bargain transportation, traf-
fic would be stimulated. But under
the earnings restriction rule, DR.. Null
Ter points out, the railroads must run
counter to the natural trend, and, in
hard times, increase their rates.
|. Sees Suicide for Roads
All business men and economists
know that when rates 60 up, business
decreases. The railroads thus are
put in q suicidal position.
DR.. Muller believes q remedy exists
for this situation, but not in the
- nur-~-kAs~~ mt NC yaoxr- I~nffad vIA
favOrs the consolidation of the rail
roads, but declares the personal, com
petitive element must be restored.
1t will be remembered that q couple
Of years ago the country was hearing
much about the Plumb plan. This was
a plan whereby the railroad union
workers would share in the earnings OF
railroads. DR.. Muller proposes plan
which is somewhat reminiscent of this.
He would permit the railroads to earn
as much as they can in prosperous
times. They would be regulated, ,espe-
cially to prevent the cutting of melons
and the distribution of dividends to
stockholders to the extent of impover-
ishing the surplus laid by for the rainy
day. But otherwise they could 90
ahead and make what they could under
the regulation, as to general reason
ableness, of the interstate commerce
commission. In hard times they would
depress their rates until business was
attracted and stimulated nee more.>
The vital point of DIR. Muller's plan
seems to be that as rates and earnings
went up or down, wages of workers
would, also. This. he believes, would
create an esprit de corps in railroad
systems which would make for the
highest order of efficiency. There
would be a ort of profit sharing ele-
ment in the plan and the worker would
know that his chances of keeping his
wages up and earning good dividends
would be in direct ratio to the excel
lence Of the service he rendered. DR..
Muller admits that such a plan would
take uniformity out of railroad wages,
one system earning more than another.
But he sees no fault there. finding this
the fortune of business which tends
to create a healthy rivalry among
workers which would inure to the
benefit of the public and the state.