Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1923-01-26
COMING TO IT
PUBLIC MUST OWN RAILROADS
SAYS COUZENS
Michigan Senator Plans Bill to Put
An End to Private Misrule and
Have Government Take Control

Fighting Jim" Couzens, the man
who made public ownership of public
utilities a success as mayor of De-
troit and succeeded Newberry in the
Senate, is out for government owner
ship of the railroads.
Senator Couzens has confided in his
friends in the Senate that when the
new Congress meets he will introduce
a bill himself or support a measure
offered by other Progressives, pro-
viding for outright government own
ership and operation of the roads,
ending private exploitation of the
railroads in this country forever.
Couzens has literally Jared the Old
Guard members of the Senate out of
their seats. 1t has been easy to assail
La Toilette, Norris, Brookhart and
other Progressives as radicals" and
estate socialists" because they have
sought to obtain legislation making
the roads responsive to the needs and
interests of the wage-earners, the
farmers and the general public.
But CouZens is new type for the
railroad Senators" to tackle. His
business sagacity and experience can
not be denied, since he is a former
partner of Henry Ford and is one of
the wealthiest men in Congress, with
private fortune estimated at S4O,-
100000.
Senator Couzens will be driven in
10 tn" Progree sive bloc by his attack
upon the administration railroad pol
icy, for Harding and the regulars"
in House and Senate hate the words
government ownership" His great
business ability and prestige as a
successful operator of public utilities
may make government ownership re-
spectacle in the Senate, but he is put
outside the Old Guard pale bv advo-
eating it.
Before the new Congress meets, the
Progressives will confer with Couzens
and endeavor to frame a constructive
railroad plan dealing fundamentally
with the subject. Whether they can
agree on outright government own
ership or not, it is certain that they
will not stop short of wiping the
Cummins-Esch law off the statute
books in it's entirety.
Many Democrats may be expected
to support the Progressive bill. Dill,
Wheeler, Sheppard and other Pro-
gressive Democrats have never SHE'D
at public ownership and thew are
cooperating whole -heartedly with
the new Progressive bloc.
That Couzens will make it exceed
ingly hot for Old Guard Senators like
Cummins, Watson and Curtis who are
defenders of the Cummins- -Esch pol
icy, is not doubted by anyone familiar
with his record as mayor of Detroit.
He is not a long-distance orator, but
when it comes to two-fisted fighting
of the rough and tumble order, he is
an ugly man to cross.
In speaking of the situation Mr..
Couzens says:
"Let us see for moment the va
rious conditions under which the rail-
roads have operated. Beginning
with my first recollection of the rail-
roads, they had a free hand to de-
velop make rates (but mostly re-
bates), compete, agree and disagree
among themselves without much, if
any, public or governmental interfer-
ence or regulations; this in spite of
the fact that they secured their right
to exist from the government, whose
franchise gave them the right of
eminent domain and the right to tax
the people, for after all that is what
freight rates really are. This nom
regulative method brought about
great chaos and enables the large
shippers of the country to get pref
erential rates and therby crush out
the smaller competitors.
at is not my intention, in this brief
statement, to comment on the gov
ernment's handling of the railroads
during and after the war, but simply
to say that it would make interesting
reading to show comparison of
what the railroads did during the war
and what private industry did to the
government during the war.
whether government ownership
and operation is the solution is to be
seen, but it looks as though it was
coming and coming fast.
"The mere taking over of the rail-
roads by the government is not the
solution. If the government takes
them over, the important question
is under what plan they are taken
over and at what cost, and under
what system of control and manage
ment.
"These nroblems have got to be
solved and apparently there is no
other body empowered to solve them
than the Congress of the United
States. If the railroads themselves,
if manufacturers, merchants, or
farmers or other great users of the
railroads have plans for the solution
of the problem, the solution must
mean. first of all. more capital for ex-
pansions and assurances that we will
have more efficient and economical
management"