The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-22
BILL WOULD LIMIT
 R.R. MELONS

destined to cause a lot of ccmmotion | in railway-financial circles once Con- gross gets around to considering it. ]
 Senator Johnson's bill provides, in short, that no railroad in the United | States shall be permitted to declare divident until it has first obtained from the Interstate Commerce Com mission certificate to the effect that it's equipment and service is sufficient for the needs of the peo- pie served by the road.
 Effect Far-Reaching
 It is one of the most far-reaching bits of railway legislation ever pro- posed, for, properly enforced, it would bring all railway dividends under partial control of the Govern ment. The Government could say when and under what conditions rail roads would be permitted to proclaim dividends to thousands of sharehold CTS.
 The bill is the direct outgrowth of the railway shopmen's strike of last summer, which brought the whole railway system of the country to the brink of collapse The ef fects of that strike are still apparent on all the railways of the country in the shape of brokendown equip ment, badorder cars and incapaci- tated locomotives. There are no men to make repairs, consequently no re- stock went steadily downward.
 Then came the great seasonal movement of crops, coal and other commodities. Embargoes prevailed on some roads for months; coal be- gan to move in great volume to a country menaced by fuel famine, with winter coming on; farmers in the West began sending their crops to seaboard and to the industrial East; shippers long denied cars began flooding the terminals with goods for shipment. All this, added to the impaired condition of equipment on many roads, due to the strike. com bined to create condition of rolling stock that the country will be years in overcoming.
 No Cars Available
 Shippers have complained of being unable to get cars; farmers and fruit producers of the West have seen their crops rot on the ground be- cause of lack of facilities to move them market. 'The grape growers of California alone suffered losses of millions of dollars because of lack of shipping facilities" said Senator Johnson, in supporting his bill. And still rail. roads go on paying dividends to shareholders that should be spent in replacing worn-out equipment and adding new equipment to meet the legitimate demands of the public.
 Ut is intolerable that railroads should go on paying huge dividends while the producers of the West are forced to see their crops rot and their stock die because of Shortage of cars'"
 Senator Johnson's bill is the first of the many amendments to the Esch Cummins Transportation act of 1920 that will be proposed in Congress as result of the 1922 strike.
 There exists little possibility that any of these legislative remedies can be acted upon until next year because of the short life remaining to the Sixty seventh Congress and the un- certainty as to when the Sixty eighth Congress will be called into session.
 Provides For Hearing
 The bill further provides that the railroads would ask the Interstate Commerce Commission to o. K a dividend, whereupon the commission would give 50 days notice to the pub lie and give shippers plenty of time to frame objections. Then a hearing would be held, if necessary, and decision rendered in much the same manner that the commission now de- cides rate increases and decreases.
 The bill concludes with a penalty clause providing:
 Any person in anywise cooper ating knowingly in the declaration of any dividend without such certifi- cate (from the Interstate Commerce Commission), or in the payment of 1 any dividend so unlawfully declared, l shall be deemed guilty of ris- demeanor and, on conviction, be pun ished by a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $25,000, or by Imprisonment for not less than