Milford chronicle., 1947-01-31
THE MOST COMPELLING argumel

in favor of laws which would permit unlfl-
cation of the nations transportation system,
is the public interest. Colonel j. Monroe
Johnson, director of the Office of Defense
Transportation, touched on this when he
said: "The justification of any transpOrta-
tiOn system lies in it's service to the
public. UnficatiOn must ultimately and
properly be adjudged upon the basis of its
possible public service rather than in the
light of it's effect upon the number OF sep
arate operating units of some particular
type of transport"
The essence of unified transportation is
to permit any agency of transport to utilize
whatever kind of carrier is best suited to the
desires and needs of the shipper. A railroad
for example, should be allowed to operate
air and truck lines if by so doing it could
lines, on the other hand should be allowed
to enter the field of transportation by rail-
All carriers would be regulated by the Inter-
state Commerce Commission which would
protect both the public and the competing
carriers from monOpolistic OF unfair prac-
ticeS.
At the present time, various laws, regu-
latOns and policies stand in the way of
the operation of multple-type transpOrta-
tiOn systems. AS a result transportation CO.
ordination is now impossible except to linn
by railroads to make dOOr-to-dOor delivery of
some classes of freight.
Coordination, therefore, must be pre-
ceded by enabling legislation passed by Con-
greSS. If that is done, the way will be
paved for providing the public with the best.
and most flexible kind of transportation pos
sible. The goal is maximum service with
maximum economy. The beneficial effects
would grow throughout the years.
A HIGH PROPORTION of the American
people have a terrifcally mistaken concep-
ton of the earning capacity of industry. And
many of those people are the ones who should
know better-the workers in industry
A survey made among thousands of en-
plOyes of the railroad industry is an inter-
esting case in point. This survey produced
twO remarkable facts. First, almost all the
employees answering believed railroad profits
to be far larger than they actually are OF ever
have been. Secondly, nearly all employees
also believed that the railroads should be al
lowed profits much greater than they ever
have received or even asked for.
Here is the way the picture shapes up sta
tistically: The average employee believes the
railroads earn profit of 27 percent on the
value of their facilities. That same average
employee thinks that the proper profit should
be 10 per cent. And the truth is that the rail
roads actually earned, in 1915, only 3.01 per
cent, and 3.97 per cent in 1914. Only three
times in the last 81 years have the lines
earned as much as per cent.
The true story of what happens to rail
road revenues is an interesting one. A typi-
cal large system, for instance, pays out $17
OF each 500 taken in, for supplies. More
than $500 goes for depreciation. Fuel and
power, and taxes each take more than $500
Bond interest demands about 81 25, and divi-
dendS account for something under S4OO
Slightly more than $500 is put aside as re-
serve, while $500 goes for miscellaneous ex-
penses. The balance-about $45.0O out of
that 500 earned for service to the public
goes into the pockets of employees in the form
of wages.
The railroads are representative of basic
American industry. The worker always gets
the biggest cut out of the earnings" pie
>se~&
CONGRESS is BEING urged to inves-
tlgate commercial aviation-just as though
that kind of an inquiry would solve the
reasons for all the tragic crack-ups. Aviation
concerns don't want to kill anyone.
The American people have good reasons
for being "afraid to fly
Congressman from South Carolina
told Congress the other day: "The American
people are Mortified and scared to death If
there is something wrong with the whole
doggone setup, then something should be
DONE"
He is "doggone" near right 1t is up tt
the aviation industry to find out whether
they are neglecting their responsibilities tt
protect the lives of their passengers. They
know why air travel has fallen off, and they
know that airplane crashes are the reasons
for the slump in their incomes.
Reforms in aviation must be devised
No one knows that any better than the air
line organizations. They'll have to tend to il
themselves. The Government has enough du
ties on hand without investigating thu
transportation companies.