Evening star., 1932-09-18

be IN invested in this standard American
industry.
Even railroad stocks are held in small
units Of few shares here and there
by school teachers, doctors. statesmen,
thrifty workmen. Experts in railroad
finance know that perhaps $4,000, 900
people have a stake in these great
American enterprises.
Next. the people who work IN the
railway systems. either directly on the
lines or In the industries which furnish
railroad supplies. there are over ,700.-
900 railroad employees required to
handle normal trafhc: and to these
must be added, in direct interest," hun
dreds of thousands Of men who supply
coal. forge rails, cut ties, manufacture
rolling stock and contribute labor to
maintain the systems.
Most numerous of all are the people
who ride or ship goods over the steel
highways. That includes about all
of u.s.
Difficulty Of Roads.
Now there Is no reason to disguise
the fact that the railways as a whole
are In serious difficulty, and when so
large a part of the American people
have a direct cash stake in the situa-
tion, take it that our Job Is neither
to howl about calamity nor to gloss
over the trouble, but patiently and
carefully to get to the bottom OF the
situation, find out why the trouble
exists and try to plan for removal
of the basic causes of that trouble.
I do not share the opinion which has
been aired recently that the railroads
lova caryaJ III y,,,rnOca opd aro about
to disappear capable students of
American transportation do not support
that view. As Prof. Ripley Of Harvard
pointed out. II you tried to carry all
railroad freight by motor truck you
would have to have a fleet OF trucks
which would make a solid line. bumper
to bumper, all the way from New York
to San Francisco, or, to put 1t differ
entlv, you would have lotion truck
moving every 30 seconds over every mile
of improved road in the United States
Let us put 1t another way. In a
normal year our railroads are called
upon to transport over thirty million
people one thousand miles and to trans
port 440 million tons of freight one
thousand miles. No other machine Is
available to carry that load.
There is no danger of the railroads
going out of business. They have a
great economic place in the scheme of
things for good long time to come.
Why. then. the difficulty?
In the first place, We did unbalance
the system of things. We built-prop-
erly-hundreds of thousands Of miles Of
| first-rate highways directly paralleling
| the railway tracks. These we paid out
Of taxes or bond issues Today many
hundred busses and trucks engaged In
interstate commerce use these rights
of way for which they have made no
| investment
You and T. in our annual tax bills
pay for most Of the maintenance OF the
highways and interest charges on their
construction. The motor vehicles pay
only small part. Naturally. they can
often haul passengers and freight at
a lower rate than the railroads. They
| can operate with a relatively smaller
overhead and capital, lower taxes and
lower maintenance costs for their
right of way.
Unfairness to Be Avoided.
Also, we. the national Government,
allow them to operate free from many
restrictions which would insure safety
to the public and fair working condi-
tions for labor We must not give
them any unfair competitive advantages
over the rails.
We do not desire to put motor
vehicle transportation out Of its legiti-
mate field of business, for it is neces-
sary and important part Of our trans
portation systems; but motor trans
portation should be placed under the
same Federal supervision as railroad
transportation.
Second, while thus forcing the rail-
roads to meet unfair competition we
have not only permitted but frequently
| required them to compete unreasonably
with each other. In regulating the
railroads we have preserved the policy
that at all times, between principal
points. there must be competing rail-
| road systems.
There is a great deal to be said for
this policy so long as there is trafflc
enough to support the competing lines.
AS long as you have that trafnc the
competition helps to insure efhc!ency.
But as the railroads have been al
lowed to increase their capacity 1ar
bevond traffic needs. the wastes of
competition have become more and
more insupportable. Now we face the
issues: Shall we permit them-in fact,
force them-to bankrupt each other.
or shall we permit them to consolidate
and SO to economic through reducing
unprofitable services? In other words,
shall we permit them to divide trafflc
and so eliminate some OF the present
wastes?
No solution Is entirely attractive. be-
cause we have the problem OF an over,
built plant, or partially unemployed
capital, problem similar IN It's olm.
Guilty to that of unemployed lapoI. 6uI u
a definite sound public policy actually
| - iynnrOVornpnt
Unnecessary Duplication.
Third. we can cut out some expen-
siye deadWood In the shape OF unneces-
sary or duplicated facilities. The pup
| lie generally does not realize that 81
per cent OF railroad mileage carries
only per cent of the freight and
passenger traffic. This does not mean
that all this mileage can be or ought
to be scrapped. But 1t does suggesI
that a considerable amount Of judicious
pruning gradually can be done wltnout
public detriment.
Finally, there has been entirely 700
much maneuyering for position among
the railroads themselves in the past 10
years. We have had an epidemic OF
railroad holding companies whose f1nan-
cial operations were, to say the least,
not generally beneficial to the orderly
development of transportation. They
were financial comets, free to rove
through the system, spending otner
peoples money in financial gamnies
and in acquiring side enterprises out
side of the direct sphere OF railroad
ing. A great deal Of money has been
lost, and a good deal of damage done,
by these companies.
All that have said should indicate
that one chief cause Of the present
railroad problem has been that typi-
cal cause Of many of our problems-th
entire absence of any national planning
for the continuance and operation OF
this absolutely vital national utility.
The individual railroads should be
regarded as parts Of national trans