The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-04
DRAWN IN
RAIL VALUE
BATTLE
ProgressiVes Seek to Knock
$1o,ooo,ooo,o 900 Off Fig
ures Fixed by Carriers.
Continued from First Page,)

Continued from First Page.l
Of the country and will join with the
members of the transportation COM
mittee of the Progressive Group"
in bringing the subject of valuation"
to the attention of the country
through all the customary methods
of public discussion and agitation.
The sums of money said to be at
stake are calculated to startle the
electorate.
The gap between the claims put
forward by the railroads and the
counter-clairIls put forward by mem
bers of the progressive group i'll
estimating the present value" of
the railroads is more then ten bill
lion dollars. In other words, if the
progressive group" has it's way,
the value assigned to the railroads
by their owners will be chopped ten
billion dollars.
The fair return, granted now
by the Interstate Commerce Com
mission to the owners OF the rail-
roads on the ''vaule" of their prop
critics is So per cent. The annual
income produced by 5A per cent on
10 billion dollars is SIS million dol
lars: On the theory of valuation"
advanced by the railroads, they
will have a right to that SIS mil
lion dollars annually. On the
theory adyanced sby the progress
sive group" they will not,
Fight Involves Billions.
1t thus became clear that a po-
litical battle involving billions of
fixed capital and hundreds Of mil
lions of annual income will be
Whirled to the front in the national
events of the campaign year 1924
Meanwhile the conservatives in
Washington are declaring that the
issue is a fake, but that in any case
they are ready to spend all the time
and energy necessary to demonstrate
their side of the matter to the public
They claim that no amount of
agitation in the country and no
amount of legislation in Congress
can in fact change the value of
the railroads. They claim that the
value" of the railroads is ques-
ton Of fact and of law which ulti-
mately will be decided by the United
States Supreme Court irrespective
of all theories entertained by voters
or legislators. They claim, accord
ingIy, that the effort of the PRO
gressive group" to make the valua-
ton question look like a public po
litical legislative question is an ef-
fort to de1ude the votexs.
Big Publicity Campaign.
In order to present ,all such mat
ters to the voters ftofn the rail-
road standpoint a great publicity
campaign has been undertaken by
the new railroad body called the
National Transportation Institute
which has offices in Washington
and which was organized by Bird
M. Robinson, president of the Amer
lean Short Line Railroad Associa-
ton.
Robinson says that the institute
will have representatives in all the
States of the union and that it will
endeavor to instruct sentiment
through the press and through edu-
cational institutions and through
motion pictures and on the plat
form. He says that the institute
is prepared to spend a million dol
lars to combat what he regards as
public misunderstanding of the
railroad questions at this time.
The National Transportation In
stitute will defend the present
Esch-Cummins Transportation law
with it's present valuation" pro-
visions. So will Senator Cummfns,
who recently spoke to that effect
before session of the Iowa legis-
lature.
The chairman of the Transports
ton Committee of the Progressive
Group" is Senator La Toilette Its
members include Senator Sheppard
of Texas, Senator Ashurst of Ari-
iona, and Congressman Huddleston
OF Alabama, Logan Of South
Carolina, and Cooper Of Wisconsin.
The president of the National
Transportation Institute is J. r.
Howard, formerly president of the
National Farm Bureau Federation.
The chairman of the research
council of the National Transports
ton Institute is z. +. Clark, forln-
erly chairman Of the Interstate
Commerce Commission
1t is calculated that this battle
will be one of gigantic forces on
both sides.
Copyright, 1928 by Washington Press
Service