New Britain herald., 1924-04-29
HARRISON SPEAKS
 ON R. R. SITUATION
Says Railroads Are as Much a Part Of J. 5. as Government

Milton W. Harrison of New York
 city, vice. president of the National
 Assoication Owners of Railroad se-
 curities, speaking at a meeting of the
 Lions club held in the Burritt hotel this noon, characterized the railroads
 as "a public function and as much a
 part of the country as the govern
 ment." Continuing the speaker said
 that from attending a number of re- cent hearings before congress he has gained the impression that a congress-
 man has the idea that every time he
 hits business he is gaining the sup port of his constituents He said that the railroads are an invaluable part of the country and, without a doubt.
 the most important public utility the country has. It is the height of fool 1 ishness, both for congress and the American people not to help improve the railroads. the speaker said.
 Mir. Harrison stated that one may delve through the affairs of a railroad and he will find that government and state regulations have very seldom
 worked to the advantage of railroads or to the advantage of holders of rail- road securities. In 1915. the speaker said, the railroads were virtually strangled by the excessive numbers of state and federal regulations. Speak | ing of the period during the war when 1 the government took over the rail- roads, MT. Harrison said that it seems to be the general idea of the people that the taking over of the railroads by the government at this time was simply an experiment. Mir. Harrison said it was not an experiment, but necessary move, as railroad is not built as a war time function, and he said that it was an absolute necessity that the railroads be taken over in order to have them work to the best possible advantage with war time facilities.
 The speaker then undertook to ex- plain the railroad act of 1921 and gave the main features of the bill as an attempt by the officials to set an equitable rate of income for the rail- roads of the country. It was an al- most impossible thing, he said, to set a rate of income which would allow both the weaker and stronker car- riers to make suitable income with out allowing either one or the other of these divisions to have an advan- tage over the other.
 He explained the bill as having the | railroad commission place an approxi- | mate value on all the railroad prop | erty in the countr yand then to base | the income on certain percentage | from the total valuation figure. The rate set as an income rate, based on the total property valuation of the company. was not guarantee of the sum to be received annually by the company but was an approximate re- turn arrived at after extensive study | of the situation by experts.
 Tn case the income derived by the railroad is in excess of the rate set by the commission, one-half of the total excess profit is divided evenly | between the government and the rail- road. The general rate of income ar- rived at as a fair income for the rail- road, is generally about six per cent of its total property valuation. Although this, the speaker said, did not seem a very large return from a business, and return which the individual business man would consider as very