The Washington times., 1923-01-03
Johnson s BILL
WOULD L|INN
PROFITS
Western Senator Would Make
Them All Report Before q
Declaring Dividends. s,
BY GEORGE r. HOLMES,
Internal iOnal News Service.


Senator Hiram johnson OF Calf
fornia, has introduced bill in Con
gress that is destined to cause q
lot of commotion in railway-finan-
cial circles once Congress gets
around to considering it.
Senator Johnson's bill provide,
in short, that no railroad in the
United States shall be permitted to
declare dividend until it has fifN
obtained from the Interstate Com
nnerce Commission certificate 10
the effect that its equipment and
service is sufficient for the needs
Of the people 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, an
would bring all railway dividend
under partial control of the Coy
eminent. The Government could SD
when and under what cnditions
railroads would be permitted TO
proclaim dividends to thousands
Of shareholders.
The bill Is the direct outgroWth
Of the railway shopmen's strikes 81
last summer, which brought the
whole railway system of the coun-
try to the brink Of collapse. The
effects Of that strike are still aIt
parent on ali the railways Of the
country in the shape of broken
down equipment, bad order cars and
incapacitated locomotives. There
are no men to make REPAIRS. con
sequently no repairs. and the cor
dition OF rolling stock went stead
ily downward.
Then came the great seasoned
movement Of crops, coal and other
commodities. Embargoes prevailea
on some roads for months; coal
began to move in great volume
to a country Tnenaced by fuel
famine, with winter coming 90;
farmers in the West began sending
their crops to seaboard and to the
industrial East; shippers long de-
MED cars began flooding the ternei-
mails with goods for shipment. al
this, added to the impaired condi-
ton of equipment on many roads,
due to the strike, combined to crq-
ate q condition of rolling stock
that the country will be years n
overcoming.
No Cars Available. 40
Shippers have complained OF be-
inR unable to get cars; farmers and
fruit producers Of the West have
seen their crops rot on the grouW
because of lack of facilities to
move them to market.
''The grape growers of California
alone suffered losses of millions at
dollars because of lack Of shipping
facilities said Senator Johnson,
in supporting his bill. "And sim
railroads 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 pub
lie. AasT
at is intolerable that railroads
should go on paying huge diya-
dends while the producers of the
West are forced to see their crOns
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 uncertainty as to when tfR
Sixty eighth Congress will be calleq
into session.