Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-06-19
SUGGESTS THAT
RAILROADS GET
5YEAR HOLIDAY
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

The suggestion of Secretary of
the Treasury Mellon that the AM
erican railroads need a holiday
during which, for period of flve
years or more, they would pc
practically free of government reg
ulation, has provoked renewed
discussion of the whole question
of railroad operation.
The swing of the pendulum
back toward a consideration of re-
Taxed railroad regulation is be-
lieved to mark one of the cycles
of development peculiarly char
acteristic of American progress
A curious coincidence is that Glen
Plumb, the author of the Plumb
Plan, constituting the farthest
swing of the pendulum in the d.
rection OF radicalism, is reported
to be on his death bed, following
a prolonged illness. Mr.. Plumb
health is reported to be so i'm
paired that. even though he might
recover from his present illness,
he could not take up the leader
ship of transportation reform
again. His absence from this fleid
would remove one of the strongest
opponents to relaxed railroad reg
ulation in the country.
Mr.. Mellon based his sugges-
tons for railroad holiday on
the theory that the carriers could
work out of their present finan-
cial difficulties more speedily IL
they were free of the interference
of such bodies as the Interstate
Commerce commission. Mr.. Mel
lon believes that if the railroads
were permitted to operate inde-
pendently, they would, through
the force of competition, reduce
rates to point where the
public would derive much BEN
eft. The secretary points out
that in the days before regula-
ton, rates for transportation
of freight and passe niger
fares were much lower than
now and that the history of rail-
road rate regulation in the United
States has been history of pro-
excessively increasing rates.
Mr.. Melons suggestion has been
received with much interest, and
it seems likely that whole new
crop of proposals for railroad re-
lief will spring up in it's wake.
These may develop into new
general investigation of the trans
portation situation by con-
gressional committee.
Opposes Too Much Regulation.
Some members of the Inter-
state Commerce commission have
shown leanings toward the belief
that too much regulation is not
good for the railroads and not
good for the public. Mark Potter,
a member of the commission, in re-
cent opinions in cases before that
body, has expressed officially the
view that the commission arrogates
to itself powers too sweeping and
invades the field of management
of the railroads. whereas, under
the law, 1t should restrict its ac-
tivities to a detached and imper-
sonal judging of right and wrong
in railroad cases, within the mean
ing Of the act to regulate COM
merce.
The first dissent from the prac-
tice which in recent years has
grown up of regulating railroads
as though they were owned by the
commission was expressed by the
late Commissioner Clements in the
Second Five Per Cent case. In that
case the railroads asked for a rate
increase, claiming that they could
not make money unless they re-
ceived higher rates. The commits
sion agreed with this view and
granted the increase, but Commits
sioner Clements dissented from
the majority opinion and declared
that If all a railroad had to do to
get a rate increase was to prove
that 1t needed money, the burden
of proof of why an increase should
be granted, which is placed by the
statute on the railroad, had become
light and easy to carry.
1t was the opinion of Commits
sioner Clements that the abstract
business of a specific charge for
carrying a given commodity
certain distance should be the
measure of regulation and that the
commission had no legal right TO
give or withhold a rate increase on
the basis of whether or not the
carriers needed the money. This
ne regarded as alien to the com
missions function and an assunp-
tion or a managerial duty.
The commissioner stood practi-
caliy alone then but since his time
that is. in the last five or six
years-others have taken practi-
cally the same view. Mr.. Mellon
has crystalized 1t in his aphoristic
statement that the remedy is a
railroad holiday.
1t Is argued that under a relaxed
regulation the public would get
mc1 -ureably better service be-
ca = ie each railroad would be on
its inettle not only to cut rates
lower than its competitors but to
give such service that it's facilities
would be preferred. It is claimed
that when railroad operation is
carried on In network of regula-
tons and rules which dictate to a
nicely practically every function of
great. progressive
executives and alert, capable rail-
road workers are not attracted to