The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-26
FND OF PUBLIC
. RAIL OWNERSHIP,
is DAWES PLAN
German Workers Fight
U. S. Experts Scheme
Bv LOUIS P. LocHNER.


BERLIN, Feb. 25.--There is great
uneasiness in German labor circles
over the announcement that the inter
national conferences headed by Gen.
Charles G. Dawes are considering the
possibility of placiag the railway
system of Germany, now state-owned,
under private management as security
for an international loan. They point
out that the thing for which the big
industrials, headed by Hugo SHINES,
have been working for years, and
which the German people have thus
far resolutely set themselves against,
is now in danger of becoming q
reality.
Industrialists After Railroads.
The big industrialists have repeat
eddy tried to grab the railroads.
When atlvarious times during the re-
cent imitation period, the government
turned to its own rich men to con-
slider the possibilities of their advanc-
ing loan to the government, one of
the stock answers was: "Well furnish
the cash If you'll let us have the rail-
roads," Now international capitalism
is singing the same song, "Give CAPT
talism the government railroads and
you'll get your loan"
The workers have a two-fold rea-
son for opposing the delivery of the
railways into private hands. They
regard such a step as a first step
backward in social development. Once
the railways are turned back, there is
reason to think that the postofice,
the telephone and telegraph may next
go into private hands, and private
monopoly become ever more domi-
nant.
S-Hour Day Endangered.
Secondly, they know that the rail-
way workers would be at the mercy
of industrialists who are now show
ing their cruelty in their destruction
of the eight-hour day principle and
in the low wages paid. And the
workers at large will feel the change
from system operated for the pub
lie good to one operated for private
profit in increased costs of transport
tation and freight rates.
Elaborate essays, which purport to
prove that government ownership is
a failure because the state is too
lenient about keeping too big a per-
sonnet. To this Heinrich Stroebel,
one of the best known writer's on eco
nomic problems in Germany, replies
in effect as follows in the weekly
Politik und Wirthschaft:
Public Ownership SabotaRsd.
It is true that, following the war,
the government had to provide for
large numbers of soldiers who were
jobless, and that a number of these
were taken into the railway service.
But the extra expense incurred there
by is negligible when one considers
that at present wages and salaries
make out only 16 per cent of the ex-
penditures of the railways. The rail-
way deficit at present is not the fault
of public ownership and management.
There is deficit because of mis-
management during the war; and be-
cause private industry has outrage
ously overcharged the railway admin
istration in furnishing supplies.
During the war, new construction
stopped; copper parts were sup
planted by baser materials, cheap
substitutes for grease and lubricating
oils and great damage resulted. on
top of it all Germany had to deliver
5000 locomotives, 10000 coaches
and 100000 freight cars to the allies.
All this is now being charged up
against the government railway adj
ministration in the attempt to dis
prove its worth.
The workers are carrying on a
systematic campaign Of education
among the masses to warn them of
the dangers of ''privatization" of the
railways.