Evening star., 1934-03-11

tCOQulOueQ from FlrSC PdRe.)
"that The entire transportation indus
try including the other agencies as
well as the railroads is in need of the
guiding hand of Government control,
If a threatening chaos is to be trans
formed into order, and this is the con-
clusion that has been reached quite
generally in other countries.
THE object of such control is not
the protection of the railroads only,
but the proper protection of every form
OF transportation. They all have their
parts to play, for each one of them can
do certain things better than any other
agency. The problem is to find their
appropriate functions, protect them in
the performance of such functions,
prevent wasteful duplication of serv-
ice without eliminating such competi-
tion as is economically sound. and pro-
mote a system of stable rates which
will reflect the lowest costs of good
service but afford the necessary foun-
dation for credit
Second Report.
EaStman's report was the second of
. series which he is preparing in &C
cordance with the mandate given by
the Federal co-ordinator of transpor-
tation act of 1888. The first report
submitted about six weeks ago, dealt
with the problem of railroad consolida-
ton.
In yesterdays report he answered
two questions:
rs there need for Federal legisla-
ton to regulate other Ohan raiD
transportation agencies and to pro-
mote proper coordination of all
means Of transport?
rs there need for amendments to
the Federal statutes to improve de-
tails Of the present system of regu-
lating the railroads?"
His answer to both questions was
In the affirmative, and he fatty re-
jected the argument that the proper
way to equalize competition between
the railroads and other carriers is to
relax regulation of the railroads. In
passing. he chided the railroads for
spending too much time and atten-
tion on plans for the restriction of
their competitors and too little on
the development and improvement of
their own service and the readjust-
ment of their own rates."
Free-for- Competition.
There are some who think that
the thing to do is to let down the
bars and allow the competitors to
fight it out to the finish" Eastman
stated. This would, of course, re-
quire practical abandonment OF rail-
road regulation, leaving redress of
grievances to the courts. The eventual
result might be kind of co-ordinated
system OF transportation, achieved
through the survival of the fittest, but
the greater competitive strength of
the railroads would be likely to dis
tort the results. The fact is that this
plan of free-for-an competition has
never worked successfully, either here
or elsewhere. 1t has been tried and
found wanting.
On the other hand, a partial and
incomplete system of regulation such
as we have had, will not work The
phase through which transportation
has been passing in the last decade
and half was doubtless inevitable,
for it is difficult to regulate new forms
Of transportation until they have
passed the experimental stage.
But the time has arrived for ef-
fective control. There is the same
need for bringing some degree of
order out of chaos as there was in
1887, when Federal regulation of rail-
roads became clearly necessary. Un-
less competition is brought under
greater restraining, 1t can bring only
widespread losses to shippers, to
communities and sections Of the
country, to investors in rail, water
and motor facilities. and to the pub
Lie generally.
'Competition between the different
forms of transportation will continue
to have an important part to play.
but it must be held within reasonable
limits and kept from assuming de-
structive and wastefIl forms. The
transportation system must be knit
together and co-ordinated. This can
only be done under the guiding hand
Of the Federal Government"