Evening star., 1933-03-26
BY GEORGE w. GRAY.

| tTeSlQenC ROOSEVELT Q6QlCdLeO
~ himself in his inaugural ad-
dress is that Of national
planning for and supervision Of all
forms Of transportation which
have definitely public character"
There is significance in the use Of
the word "all" Heretofore, transporta-
ton legislation and regulation have
| focused for the most part on rail-
roads. The comprehensive transporta-
ton act of 1920, by which Congress
returned the railway properties to their
owners after wartime period of Fed
eral administration, set up for the first
time an ideal of a national transporta-
| ton system-but its dream was OF rail
carriers only. Delays have marred
every effort to put into effect the i'm
portant consultations authorized under
this act, and meanwhile the 13 elapsed
years have brought swift and dramatic
changes in the picture Of American
| transportation.
Certainly it is clear in 1888 that a
national policy cannot be built on the
specifications of 1920 New agencies OF
transport have eveloped-particular
| the automobile and the airplane. Old
agencies have been resurrected and
strengthened-particularly steamboatin'
on the Mississippi and its tributaries:
The depression has ruthlessly exposed
weak spots in existing agencies, empha-
sized the handicaps and inequalities OF
competition under existing regulations
and convinced everybody-the carriers,
their severest critics and their dearest
friendS-of the urgent, compelling need
| for a new Set-up.
The new set-up must necessarily start
hn
Transportation today makes use of five
agencies which may be classed as OF q
definitely public nature. Any policy OF
integration that aims to be both ma
tional and rational must take into ac-
count these five means of transport,
each of which has its place, and all OF
which will continue in some form
irrespective of what may happen this
year under the pressure of events or
the guidance of legislation. The Presi-
dent and his advisers, therefore, in
their survey of "all" forms of transpor-
tation, must necessarily consider specif-
ically the railways, the highways, the
waterways, the airwayS, the pipe lines.
These are the indispensable building
blocks for a national plan.
| In 1929 the internal traffic OF the
nation was moved by the five forms OF
transport in the following proportions
Out Of every 100 tons, 729 tons Travelled
by the steam railways; 17.2 tons by the
waterways, of which 1873 moved on the
| Great Lakes and IA by rivers and
canals; So tons by pipelines; AZ tons
by intercity trucks travelling the pub
lie highways; y ton by airlines and
electric railways. These proportions
had significantly changed by 1882.
How much these traffic relations have
changed precisely we do not know, but
a rapid glance at each group of carriers
will at least suggest the direction OF
change.
Railways have suffered most in the
great business deflation. At the begin
ming Of 1888 there was total Of 247,-
| $40 miles Of them in the United States
1888 miles less than we had in 1929
This rail mileage is divided unevenly
among 646 companies, of which 163 are
rated as class I railroads G. e. those
which normally produce gross annual
| income of $1,000,000 or more each)
But Of these class I railroads, only six
| paid dividends last year; 122 operated
at deficit; nine have gone into re-
ceivership since 1929; the rest are bare
ly making expenses. And no wonder!-
for both freight and passenger trafnc
in 1882 was hardly more than half that
Of 1889, while net operating income was
down to a bare 26 per cent.
Highways have doomed. In contrast
with the abandonment of trackage by
the railroads, the surfaced public roads
Of the United States increased from
| 662 ,435 miles in 1929 to 1853 900 miles
in 1882. The increasing use Of the
highways by commercial vehicles Is
one of the obvious signs of the times,
Thus to cite one example among many
the number of cattle and other live
stock hauled to the II leading stock
markets of the United States has in
creased annually for the last dozen
years-between 1920 and 1881 motor
traffic shot up 33 per cent, while in
the same period the railway traffic to
the same stock markets dwindled by
nearly per cent.
Waterways, too, seem to be on "a
extending their navigable mile
age, dredging and deepening and
Strengthening old rivers, cutting new
canals into Louisiana and Texas and
other Southern States, opening inland
cities, such as Albany and Trenton, to
foreign commerce. The pinch of de-
preston has made cheap but slow
water transport increasingly attractive
t0 Shippers, and many old boats have
gone back into packet service or hired
themselves out as contract carriers on
the inland streams.
The Governments Inland Wa
terways Corporation. which operate: