Evening star., 1933-02-23

One of the chief reactions to the re-
port of the Committee on National
Transportation is the establishment of
confidence in the future of the rail sys-
TENS of the country. Assurance that
only moderate increase in business
would produce profits pleases the public.
Consultations, as suggested, are de-
clared to conform to general opinion
and modified financing and rate-mak-
ing ideas produce discussion, while COM
petition of other forms of transporta-
ton Is believed to call for wholesale
read djustmentS.
1.-The series of recommendations from
an impartial expert body, even If they
meet disagreement in some particulars, )"
according to the New York Times,
should at least clear the air. The re-
port is not pessimistic. 1t cites the es-
innate that an increase of 20 per cent,
or even less, from the present abnor-
mally low volume of traffic would put
most of the railroads on an earning basis
and that so per cent increase would, in
view of economies introduced, restore
the net earnings of 1929. Its own ex-
pressed belief is that a very moderate
movement on the upward business
spiral would dissipate much of the
doubt surrounding the position"
X X X
"Such governmental action as the
committee proposes" says the Louis
vile Courier-Journal, "is threefold. 1t
would remove the admittedly obnoxious
features of regulation; order or permit
such corrective operation reforms as
consolidation on regional basis, aban-
donment of Improbable branch lines
and railroad entry into the highway
and waterway fields, and revise the rule
of rate making to a basis of reasonable
profit on the cost of efficient operation
instead of the old rule of a fair re-
turn on property values. The railroads
themselves have been clamoring for the
first two reforms, but they have been
notoriouSly slow to admit the value OF
reduced rates, with probably conSe-
quently increased traffic, In line with
economic trends. The fact that this
committee represents the ownership Of
hundreds of millions in railroad stocks
and bonds may cause operating man
agements to acquiesce in the last recon-
mendation."
While pointing out that "the argu-
ment in favor of creation of regional
systems run counter to the theory on
which the transportation act was
framed" the Boston Transcript re-
marks that "the committee finds that
the idea of competition between parallel
systems belongs to the past" and con-
cludes: "Of great moment is the reeog-
milton of the fact that the railroads
must be fitted into an appropriate place
among newer transportation agencies
capable of vast development. Much in
the report may be productive of contro-
versy. The basic proposition will stand
unchallenged." The Indianapolis News
offers the judgment: Public sentiment
favors protection Of the railroad in
vestment within reasonable limits. The
public credit can be utilized for this
purpose in the assurance that If the
general plans suggested in the report
are carried out, the roads will in time
earn enough to meet their emergency
obligations But the immediate and fu-
ture situations cannot be separated.
Hence the need for a new and long
range policy, and the report has pro-
vided the material from which it can
be hewn."
Neither railroads nor the Govern
ment, states the Birmingham Age
Herald, can be regarded as exclusively
to blame for the current predicament.
The carriers have not. been managed
with the highest wisdom, they have not
been sufficiently keen for thrift and eff
ficiency, they have not carried out con-
Solidation Of their own volition and
they have devoted themselves to the
preservation of capital structures which
will have to be reshaped. But, by the
same token, the Government has ham,
pered them in some respects, has fos-
tered competition at great cost and to
no avail, and in general has dealt with
the railroads upon the basis Of an ex-
ploded theory of what Is good for them
and the country. This is pretty much
the conviction which unbiased students
of the transportation question had al
ready reached"
Qualification at the favorable fnan-
cical prospects is voiced by the Salt
Lake Deseret News and the Youngs-
town Vindicator, while the Spokane
Spokesman Review offers the judgment:
THE railroads are indispensable to the
country's industries and business and
to the welfare of the Nation. No other
form OF transportation. nor all other
forms Of transportation, can take their