Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1923-05-18
IA TOILETTE CALLS
PROGRESSIVES FOR
CHICAGO MEETING
tcOntinued Prom Fac onel

ed, the Interstate Commerce Com
mission will shortly fix valuation
upon the American transportation
system of not less than $4,000, 000,-
600.
2. This valuation will be practically
twice the market value OF all the
stocks and bonds of all the railroads
in the United States as determined by
the current quotations on the New
York stock exchange.
8. II the $25, 900, 600 900 valuation is
allowed it viii be impossible for the
railroads to earn the standard divi-
dends allowed by the Cummins-Esch
bill unless freight and passenger rates
are increased or the wages of en-
ployes decreased.
4. The $25, ,0OO,0 900 valuation in
cludes between $4,000 100000 and &c.
000,000,000 OF "unearned increment"
in land values. That means instead
OF allowing the roads what they paid
for the lands the commission will
grant them a valuation based on the
value of adjacent lands.
Vast Land Grants to Roads.
The government and the states
gave the railroads an empire of Az
100000 acres in the early days of rail-
road building. This land was given
outright without a dollar of invest
ment. II represented territory
larger than the states of New Eng
land, the Central Atlantic states and
the Middle Atlantic states combined
If the claims they have filed with
the Interstate Commerce Commission,
the railroads have asked that full
value be allowed for this property to
the amount that it would cost them
to buy it today, plus the cost of con-
demning it, which roughly totals 2.9
times its ordinary market value.
One instance shows how this prin-
ciple would work out. A piece OF
property was sold to the railroads a |
generation ago for 500 on the site of |
Oklahoma City. Okla. The subsequent
growth of Oklahoma City has raised
this land to a valuation of $2S, 600, 900
The railroads are claiming this value,
as they are in hundreds of other
cases, and demand that the American
people pay railroad rates high
enough to produce a profit on it.
The Chicago conference will show
that the railroads have spent $37,OO0,-
900 within the past decade to fight
the valuation cases. The Interstate
Commerce Commission has spent $685.
100000 to conduct its Investigations.
The LaFollette valuation act of 1913
created the valuation controversy
This law, modelled after a Wisconsin
statute, was designed to place a fairI
value on railroad property and to
make the rates dependent upon that
valuation. The LaFoIlette act direct
ed the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion to ascertain ~ the actual In.
vestment Of money in the railroads,
representing the cost of the proper
ties to railroad owners, and (2) the
reproduction cost, less depreciation.
The railroads have fought the car
rying out Of the LaFollette act at ev-
cry step. They have sent their own
engineers wherever the Interstate
Commerce Commission has sent its
representatives, to present their case
in its most favorable light Mean
while, their friends in Congress have
succeeded in slashing the appropria-
tion for this work so that it has been
impossible for the commission to pro.
coed effectively. To make their case
doubly secure, the railroads have been
successful in having friendly mem
bers appointed to the Interstate Com
merce Commission which is deciding
the valuation cases in the first in
stance.
The United States Supreme Court
win ultimately decide what valuation
should be allowed to the railroads.
Within the past six months. Pierce
Butler. for many years attorney for
the railroads in the valuation cases,
and author of many of their more ex-
treme claims. has been appointed a
member of this court.