The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-01-05
Looked Upon as Necessity
Railroad Consolidation
Economic Authority Asserts Trans.
portation Costs are the Chief
Problem of West


blem of the Northwest is the cost
O. transportation in the opinion of
Wayne E. Butterbaugh, transporta-
ton authority and lecturer in the
school Of business of the UNIVERSE
" OF Minnesota.
Neither the shippers nor the
carriers of the Northwest have
!. zen making money compared with
shippers and carriers in other Sec
tons of the country" Mr.. Butter
baugh said in recent address.
Mr.. Butterbaugh advances two
solutions for this situation: First
to increase the volume of railway
traffic; second-to decrease the
cost of railroad operation.
These would have the effect, Mr..
Butterbaugh said, of increasing the
earnings of the railways and in
turn enabling them to reduce their
rates.
Congress and the Interstate Com
merce Commission, he said, could
take steps which would increase
the volume of traffic moved by the
Northwest railways. He proposes:
( ~ That the Commission should
grant the railways permission to
reduce rates on transcontinental
traffic sufficiently to divert some
of the water traffic back to the
railways; (2) that Congress should
increase the experimental tolls
now in effect on traffic through
the Panama canal, and (3) should
bring highway and waterway traf-
fic under the jurisdiction of the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
The railways are being unfairly
Disseminated against, and this is
reacting to the disadvantage and
detriment of the Northwest, Mr..
Butterbaugh believes.
TRANSPORTATION costs can be de.
creased by permitting voluntary
consolidation. He has no fears
about restricting competition.
"Under present strong govern
ment regulations competition is not
at all necessary" he said. con the
other hand it is out-and-out waste.
"The interests of shippers, car
riers, and regulatory bodies should
be to eliminate waste in transpor-
tation whenever there is a posi-
bility of doing so, and consolida-
tons offer such opportunities. Vol
rntary mergers will enable the
lines to earn the fair returns set
by Congress upon their property
vaIua,1on as determined by the
Commission.
Transportation presents us with
our one big economic problem in
this section Of the country. The
leading industry of the nation, and
of the Northwest is, of course, agri-
culture. 1t is, therefore, not
strange that these two Industrial
giants are closely related-that the
success of one is, from necessity,
tied with the success of the other.
When one is depressed the othel
is depressed; and when one pros
pers the other is bound to pros
per. -
For this reason the managers Of
our transportation facilities, on the
one hand, and shippers engaged in
agriculture, in mining, in manu-
featuring and in commerce, on the
other, should work together and
not at cross purposes. Their in
terests are not divergent.
mo other region in the United
States Is so remote-so Isolated
so distant from the high-seas. No
other region so resembles the from
tier, as does the one Immediately
to the west, with one-twentieth Of
the population occupying one-tenth
of the national area. No other
region is so dependent upon far
distant oceans for the final market
ing Of its products. No other
region is so much a one-industry
region. 10.
mo other section of the country
has so small a. home market, and
must ship SO large a portion of its
products so far in order to reach
the ultimate consumer. No other
region produces SO large volume
of products of a cheap, bulky ma
ture, and hence demanding low
transportation charge. No other
region produces commodities having
transportation cost at destination
by so large share of their total
value.
mo other region is so dependent
upon its railroads. No other region
of the United States has so un.
remunefatiye railroads, and so i'm.
poverished shippers.
"The cry is for cheap transpor.
tation. It is in connection with
the charges made for railroad SER
vice that the real problems of the
Northwest are concerned.
Briefly stated, the shippers
claim that rates are too high and
should be reduced; and the car
riers claim that rates are already
too low, and earnings are not suf-
&ficient. In truth, both parties are
right. Hence, neither can afford
to make any further sacrifices for
the other. Neither can look for re-
lief from the other. Something
must be done for the benefit of
both.
what is needed is increased
traffic and lower operating costs.
These are two matters that both
the carriers and the public should