Seward daily gateway., 1924-09-06
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP


 That government ownership is a failure has been demonstrated so many times that it ceases to arouse interest. The recent turnover in the personnel of the Alaska Railroad is one of the best illustrations of what might be termed a "fzzle" that we have ever seen The railroad started out first under the management of Col. Frederick Mears, an army engi- neer of considerable ability and much ego. He constructed the line to a point where trains could pass over it, then devoted his time to building up several towns and coal mines along the road After constructing several hundred thousand dollars worth of buildings and many miles of track, together with elaborate coal mining equipment he started to hunt for a coal mine. Today, the project stands abandoned, machinery rusting, the track torn up, and the fine gym nasiums, tennis courts, and elaborate buildings a habitat for bats and snowshoe rabbits. Possibly two or three million dollars which should have been used in building extensions to the railway were thrown away.
 Col. MearS was recalled just at the time he planned to build a quar- ter of a million dollar wharf and haul the water to it by dredging. This meant that every ton of freight going in over the wharf would be taken from the receipts of the rail- road.
 Next came Col. James c. Steese, a man of greater ability and better ac- quainted with Alaska than Col. Mears, but not the liberal spender. In fact, Col. Steese insisted upon a quid pro quo for the government money and wanted a dollars worth of work for a dollar invested. He lasted aobut long enough to get his chair warm, as the crowd hungering for government money kept the wires hot with charges and plots for his downfall. Col Steese was given no chance to make good as a railroad man, but was shunted back into the Road Commission where docks and dredges were not needed. It was case of man being fired for too much zeal on the job.
 Then came Lee H. Landis, a man with an international record as railroad man, and hard-boiled discip- linarian. MT. Landis started in by discharging two-thirds of the office force on the road and placing the other third to work. He likewise in creased the train service to a point where 1t sounded like railroad. But MT. Landis likewise was against the building of a dock or engaging in any enterprise that would take mon- ey from the railroad. He adopted policy of retrenchment that pared ex- penses to the bone and brought the road to a point where 1t was practic- ally self-supporting, which meant that government pap would be with drawn entirely. This rank heresy quickly brought the attention of those living off the railroad appro- priations to his startling innovations and he was slated for a quick remov- al. Every charge that could go over the wire without melting the solder was fired into Washington, and as usual the Department took action. Several investigators were sent out and so little did the secretary ap- prove of the policy of economy that MT. Landis was relegated to the po- sition of office boy and his actions rescinded.
 And thus it goes and will ever go so long as the railroad is in politics. A private corporation could run the road with half the force and for a quarter of the money spent, but would not enter into business com peting against the railroad. And that the road must be acquired by private interests to be success is plainly demonstrated. Every change in the personnel hurts the country and also hurts the chance of further appro- prations. MT. Landis was calmly in- formed several months ago that two million dollars was needed and that he must get it e. he would not be supported. He did not get the mon- ey so got it in the neck.
 We believe that the country can never be self-supporting so long as it depends upon railroad money to