The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-10-09
/ hallway COMMISSION
DIZZY WITH FIGURES
cpN YEARS AND $S0,0O0,O00
LAVE NOT GIVEN ANSWER.
EVERYBODY DISAGREES.
mTNTRY WANTS TO KNOW

o..rress Rules That Freight and
passenger Rates and Net Earnings
cbau Be Fixed, Making Total Val
nation Necessary.
What are the railroads OF the coun-
T., worth2 It's big question, as big
+bc tariff, taxation, immigration or
be merchant marine.
Conpress has given the United
Gates Interstate Commerce Commits
ion fine right to fix freight and pas
,.ooer rates, but the commission
anst first find out what the railroads
-. worth before rates can be fixed.
r,-tbermore, the Interstate Com
m a, Commission says that the rail
., s NAV earn five and three-fourth
oor cent on their investment, that all
p5,rn;nps in excess of five and three
\ ionrtbs per cent shall be split fifty
;itv with the government. But the
4 ,nt51 valuation of the railroads must
Sr.t be ascertained before the COM
MISSION can think in terms of earn
no Huge Job on Hand.
Senator LaFollette, of Wisconsin,
4 vas sponsor of the bill which passed
oongress in 1918 authorizing the In
,srsfate Commerce Commission to fix
valuation of the $50 railroads of the
4 anntrv. 1t was thought at the time
4 Mat the Job would be easy, taking
from two to three years to complete,
and that I would cost about $5,OOO,-
But the Job isn't nearly finished
VET after ten years Meantime the
ooyernment has spent 100000, the
9lroads more than $60,000,000, and
/ IS likely that before the task is
nmpleted the total cost will be about
sOO0O0,000
A small army of engineers, clerks
and accountants have been working
ever since 1913, when the job was
begun and they have been figuring
50 hard since that the entire army is
about dizzy by this time.
3 1t wouldn't be so bad, say officials
Of the commission, if the railroads
would accept the final figures of the
clerks, engineers and accountants. The
moment the commission buttonholes
railroad and says, "Your road is
Worth $l5,000,O00," the railroad rears
upon its hind legs and exclaims, Too
n low Much too low! I'm worth SIS
\ 100000 if Pm worth a cent.
Only recently the commission an
Z nounced that the Atlanta, Birmlng-
ham and Atlantic railroad was worth
A$2j,245257, this final valuation being
on the basis of June 20, 1914, figures.
h The railroad takes a squlnt at these
&hgures and then proceeds to argue
n that values have increased since 1914,
and what may have held good in 1914
does not hold good now.
d The valuation of about $50 out OF
4 The $50 roads has been fixed by the
commission, but that isn't saying any
thing, the members Of the commission
Fgree The big question is-will the
Railroads accept the figures?
Job Must Be Done.
4 The thankless job music be done
somehow or other, however When a
business man gets an idea that GER
tain railroad rate is too high he tells
bis troubles to the commission. Smyth
Z Pnd Company, in Texas, may COM
HPain Of the freight rate on cabbage,
&Pnd Jones and Company, Utah, may
complain of the rate on live stock. So
knany complaints have been received
#hat the commission has come to the
conclusion that the manner in which
falroad rates are fixed is all haphaz-
#rd and uncertain and that a sound
asls must be- arrived at before the
country is satisfied.
This basis is valuation, or the worth
dollars and cents of the roads. If
(he commission says the roads can
\ barn only five and three-fourths per
lent or split with the government on
II earnings in excess the valuation
Pn which these earnings are based
must be determined.
The commission has agreed tenta-