Evening star., 1936-03-17
WHEELER ADVISES
RAILROAD REFORM
Forum Speaker Declares
Basic Charge Cut Is
Kew to Problem.

reduce basic charges ana generally
to put their houses in order financially.
IF the railroads are going to sur
Vive their present illness under private
operation" he said, they are going
to have to generally reduce their basic
charges"
Senator Wheeler spoke in the
National Radio Forum, sponsored by
The Star and broadcast over station
WRC and a nationwide network OF
the National Broadcasting Co.
Urges Mass Production Policy.
His advice to the rail carriers was
10 take a leaf from the example OF
the automobile industry and to apply
to transportation some Of the pr1n-
cipleS of mass production which have
60 revolutionized our other industries"
THE stimulation of profit alone has
not seemed sufficient to stir the rail-
roads out Of their self f-complacency
and dissatisfaction" said the
Senator.
The railroads, he charged. share
with other forms of monopoly the
tendency to resist all changes" They
and affording poor service for years,
he added.
If the railroads themselves cannot
see the handwriting on the wall"
Senator Wheeler declared, ut becomes
the duty Of the Government.
Text OF Address.
The text of Senator Wheeler's ad-
dress follows:
No industry has played such COL
orful part in the history of the de-
velopment of the Nation as the rail-
roads. The opening up of the first
transcontinental lines brought new
hopes to millions of settlers, and
threw countless resources OF raw ma
terials in the lap of the industrial
East. Without this early knitting to-
gether of all parts of the country, it
Is not difficult to picture sectional
and provisional interests and differ
ences forcing the union apart.
At first the only outside competi-
tors OF the railroads were horses and
canals, and the period when they
afforded actual competition was a
short one. The railroads have de-
veloped as a monopoly in the trans
portation business, and they have
suffered from every evil inherent in
any monopoly One of the shrewd-
est observers of our American life
was the Englishman, Brice. Speak
ing of the men who ran this monop-
oily in the early days of its exist
ence, he said: These railway kings
are among the greatest men, perhaps
I may say are the greatest men in
America. They have wealth, else they
could not hold the position. They have
fame, for everyone has heard of their
achievements, every newspaper chron-
icles their movements. Thye have
power, more power-that Is, more
opportunity Of making their personal
will prevail-than perhaps any one
in political life, except the President
and the Speaker, who, after ALL hold
theirs only for four and two years,
while the railroad monarch may keep
his for life. When the master Of one
of the great western lines travels to-
ward the Pacific on his palace car
his journey is like a royal progress.
Governors of States and territories
bow before him, legislatures receive
him in solemn session, cities and
towns seek to propitiate him, for has
he not the means Of making or mar
ring a city's fortunes?"
Curb Partly Fails.
This monopoly was enjoyed for
many decades in high-handed man
ner, and in spite of efforts of the
Government to regulate it in the
public interest. In the year 1887
the Interstate Commerce Commission
was established to make the railroad
monopoly serve the public. In its an
nual report of 1897, 10 years after
the passage of the legislation, this
commission said: Mr.. Justice Har-
Ian of the Supreme Court of the
United States dissented from the opin-
ion Of the court in the Troy case. In
the course of his dissenting opinion
he uses this language: Taken in con-
nection with other decisions defining
the powers of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, the present deci-
sion, 1t seems to me, goes far to make
that commission a useless body for
all practical purposes and to defeat
many of the important objects de-
signed to be accomplished by the va
riouS enactmentS of Congress relat-
ing to interstate commerce. The
commission was established to pro-
tect the public against the improper
practices of transportation companies
engaged in commerce among the sew
ersl States. 1t has been left, 1t is
true, with the power to make reports
and to issue protests. But it has been
shorn, by judicial Interpretation. of
any authority to do anything of an
effective character. 1t is denied many
Of the powers which in my judgment
were intended to be conferred upon it.
Besides, the acts of Congress are now
so construed as to place communities
on the lines of interstate commerce
at the mercy of competing railroad
companies engaged in such COM
merce."
The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion goes on in its report to COM
ment upon this decision of the Su-
preme Court by saying: I'VE quote
this because, proceeding from that
source, it will command attention. 1t
Is a statement Of the exact situation.
1t is proper that Cnogress should un-
derstand this. The people should no
longer look to this commission for a
protection which it is powerless to
extend"
While this is not the exact situa-
tion today. nevertheless the commits
sion has been unable to prevent many
abuses and has neglected to correct
many which it had power to correct.
Other Industries Cited.
The evil inherent in monopoly Is
the tendency to resist all change.
The stimulation of profit alone has
not seemed sufficient, in looking back,
to stir the railroads out of SNUG COM
placency and self-satisfaction. The