Evening star., 1938-10-23
Brighter Future Seen
for Utilities
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

For the honor and pront Of serving ths
public, individuals and corporations must
frequently battle their way through q sea
Of troubles. There Is the most competent
evidence that the head which wearz q
crown rests uneasily and the same AKIN
appears to apply to the corporate public
servant. In this country today the cor.
porate public servants, the public utilities,
are going through a spell OF difficulty
which not only proves painful for them
but has repercussions against recoveryss
all through the economic fabric Of !
America y
There was . time when the railroad
was king, when to own or control q rail-
road meant rapid wealth and no little
power. Railroads not infrequently were
political bosses OF the regions through
which they operated. Railroad presidentss
and large stockholders were distributors
Of rich largesse. That time passed some
time ago. 1t began to pass with the en-
actment OF the act to regulate commerce
toward the close Of the last century. That
act was but the forerunner of many
others, all looking to the strict regulation
OF corporations which served the public.
The rates they could charge were fixed
by Government ukase, the valuation of
their investments was oficially deter
mined. 1t is true that, in one direc-
ton, regulation was a boon to railroads
through the stopping OF the wholesale Z
issuance Of passes.
Any oficeholder in the country, nearly,
could obtain pass on one or more rail-
roads. Holders Of national offices often got
passes on all railroads in the Nation. ip
they took the trouble to apply. They
could obtain trip passes or annual passes
1t used to be said that passenger train
conductor could collect in cash or paid
tickets an equivalent Of the amount which
would stick to the ceiling if tossed I'D
there. But, after all, this was not the
important end Of the railroad business :
and never has been. 1t is the hauling of :
freight which has paid the railroads
dividends. 81
During the past 20 years the volume OF
passenger traf1lc and revenues from pas
senger fares has been cut in half by the
competition of buses, the privately owned
automobile and, to lesser but growing
extent, by the airplane. The American /.
a. nnicky person who wants to control his
own transportation and the automobile p
gave him that opportunity. He no longer
Is dependent on trains which stop oniy
at certain places. That loss could have
been sustained without serious conse-
quences had freight trafflc held up. In
the freight field the competition was i.
more vital.
There has been cycle of water COM .,
petition. In the early years Of the last
century there was vast surge of canal
building and later OF river improvement.
Indeed, when the railroads were first
proposed scoffers said that they repre-
sented distorted vision and never could
survive against the steady reliability of
such arteries Of commerce as the Erie
Canal. the Chesapeake g. Ohio Canal,
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ana
other waterways. Not many years passed
before commerce was stagnant on the
canals but was burdening the railways
prof1tably. Now the evolution has come
full circle, and, once more, the canals and
the rivers are pressing hard In 1929 the
most prosperous of all business years in
America, the railroads hauled 100000.
600 600 ton miles of freight. In 1882 this
load had fallen to only 275 ,000, 900 900 ton
miles. There has been a recovery and
last year showed just over 900, 900 0O0, ,O0n
ton miles Of freight, load far short OF
1929
But the experience of the WATERWAYS
has been different. In 1929 trifie more
than 10000 100000 ton miles OF freight
were hauled. This was cut some IS per
cent by the great depression but now the
volume is well above 10000 900, 900 ton
miles or materially better than the high
lnf Nf
failed OF any such recovery.
NOW we come to the invisible freight
hauling. one Of the very important ele-
ments in competition with the railroads.
The pipe lines used chiefly for the
transportation OF crude OIL stretch under
the surface Of the land in a loose net
work over the country. There are tens
OF thousands Of miles Of them The
public does not see them, they make no
noise OF rumble and clatter as do freight
trains and no whistles blow. Yet 81
lently they transport billions of tons of
crude oil which formerly paid freight .
rates to the railroads. And even at the
pipe line stations, the product almost
never is transferred to railroad tank cars
but goes into tank trucks for local haul
age. The gasoline local distribution Is
almost entirely done by motor truck
Here is an outright and sweeping sub
traction from railroad freight revenues. q,
Then there are the power transmission
lines. Before they were constructed.
coal for the generation of electric power
locally had to be hauled-by the rail-
roads, OF course-to the various power
plants which were not operated by =
waterpower Now all those tons of coaf
are not transported at all. They are
consumed at a central plant and the.
power transmitted through the air or
underground long distances. It is
notable fact that while the railroads
failed to recover their 1929 peak of =
freight volume, pipe lines and trans :.
mission lines not only recovered but rose -
above that peak. The same Is true of
motor trucks. -
The motor truck lines are not wholly
happy. 1t is true that they have drawn
away All enormous amount of freight
business from the railroads, but they :
regulation as strict as that meted out to
the railroads. Moreover, they have beerns,
subjected to sort Of official persecution. :,
The public does not like motor trucks :.
save when it has job for them to do.
The motoring public begrudges themS
the highways and they are soaked right
and left with pyramid taxes, permits,
licenses and the like. Yet they continue; -
to operate In increasing numbers, car
rying increasing loads.