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Show National Topics Inters - by William Bruckart Stt$m. Washington. As plans for the expansion of the New Deal program pro-gram go on, It be-Railroad be-Railroad comes more and Legislation nl)re evident that the session of congress convening In January Is due to take up the question of railroad rail-road legislation. Its nature Is yet undetermined. Its scope Is still veiled In secrecy. There Is the certainty, cer-tainty, however, that the Roosevelt administration is prepared to present pre-sent far-reaching proposals, dealing In a new way with the railroads of the country. The first Intimation of this probability proba-bility came recently through a visit to the President by Joseph b. Eastman, East-man, federal co-ordinator of railroads. rail-roads. Mr. Eastman let It be known after an extended conference with the President that railroad legislation legisla-tion was being drafted, and that It would be presented to congress with the request that it be placed near the top of the "must" legislation legisla-tion desired by the President. Since Mr. Eastman's visit to the summer white house at Hyde Park, New York, however, It has been next to Impossible to discover additional facts respecting the railroad program pro-gram being worked out by the brain trusters and Mr. Eastman. On unquestioned authority, nevertheless, never-theless, It Is made to appear that Mr. Eastman, or his professor aides, have an idea that there ought to be another member of the cabinet and that this member ought to be the secretary of transportation. On equally good authority it can be stated that the present plans programs pro-grams under the New Deal have proved to be like railroad time-tables, subject to change without notice no-tice are designed to give the federal fed-eral government additional supervisory super-visory authority over the railroads. Indeed, some insiders claim that Mr. Eastman may go as far as proposing pro-posing that the government buy the railroad properties and lease them back to the railroad corporations for operation. This phase of the program pro-gram remains wholly undisclosed beyond rumor and gossip, but it seems proper to say that, thus far, there has been no denial issued from any responsible quarter. It is my understanding that numerous nu-merous groups In the country are organizing fcjr a bitter fight .It Is well known, of course, that the rail-, roads themselves have reorganized their associations Into one solid and substantial agency which Is to act as their spokesman. Indications Indica-tions are that out of the movement by the railroad managements will come a trade body to be known as the American Railway institute, which will serve as the spokesman for all of the railroads. Plans call for establishment of headquarters in Washington where the group will be in close contact at all times with the shifting trends of governmental maneuvers respecting the railroads. Coupled with the certainty that there will be railroad legislation considered by the F ederal forthcoming ses- Ownership sion of congress Is a strong renewal renew-al of activity among advocates of government ownership. In previous letters I have reported ownership advocates In and out of the administration admin-istration were said to-be working on plans for legislation designed eventually to result in federal ownership own-ership of the transportation systems. sys-tems. How far this has gone cannot can-not now be stated. It can be said definitely, however, that the movement move-ment Is gaining force and observers well acquainted with the undercurrent undercur-rent of government plans Insist that the railroads have a battle on their hands that Is larger than the immediate im-mediate prospect of additional restrictive re-strictive legislation. In some quarters In Washington we hear the expression that the administration ad-ministration plans to seek enactment enact-ment of regulation for the bus lines and other carriers that are in competition com-petition with the railroads. This has been tried several times before, bnt nothing has come of It because congress heretofore has refused to be serious about legislation for control con-trol of the bus lines operating over state and national highways. It Is to be recalled, though, that congress con-gress heretofore has not been so subservient sub-servient to the Chief Executive as has been the case since the New Deal became operative a year and a half ago. So the extent to which the administration will or can go respecting control of the bus lines seems at this writing to be highly problematical. Authorities tell me, however, that the Eastman plan, which must be assumed to have Presidential approval, will be comprehensive com-prehensive and of Itself, should give an indication of the severity of the fight that Is to come. The argument that, I am told, Is going to be advanced for further federal encroach-In encroach-In Sorry ment on private State management of the railroads has to do with the sorry state In which It Is claimed the roads find themselves them-selves as a result of the depression. They have borrowed about $100,-030,000 $100,-030,000 from the Reconstruction Fi nance corporation, thus using government gov-ernment credit to tide them over. A a result of these borrowings a belief has sprung up that the railroads rail-roads are unable to finance themselves them-selves longer. Railroad corporation corpora-tion statements, however, seem to dispute this belief, but It Is always difficult to offset argument of that kind. Government ownership advocates ad-vocates are using the argument and railroad executives find their case Is difficult to prove, because the average av-erage Individual does not understand under-stand the Ins and outs of such financial finan-cial problems. On the side of the railroads, the argument Is being advanced that the carriers for the most part are in fairly good financial shape and that as soon as there is any sign of recovery they will benefit by an Increased In-creased volume of traffic which, of course, means more revenue. The railroads claim further that there Is too much restrictive legislation anyway, and that additional steps by the government In the nature of supervisory control Is going to make their Job more difficult lf they are to earn sufficient revenue to pay their expenses. There is still another phase of the railroad question that is causing some concern among students of the problem of transportation. It Is that, if the present set-up of Interstate In-terstate Commerce commission control con-trol over the railroads Is disturbed, the chances are great that politics will again become Involved. I think most persons agree that the railroads rail-roads have kept out of politics to a large extent In the last ten or fifteen fif-teen years, but the students of transportation Insist to me that lf such an office as secretary of transportation trans-portation with cabinet membership is created right then the railroads again will be in politics up to their ears. Politicians will not long overlook over-look the opportunity to dig their fingers into such a luscious situation. situa-tion. They will see how they can manipulate freight rates to the benefit bene-fit of their own districts or states or other areas, they will likewise see numerous jobs, and politics without with-out jobs sinks to a low ebb. It Is thus made to appear, and In this statement I am voicing the consensus con-sensus of numerous observers, that we are on the verge of a crucial decision. de-cision. It is one that may mean as stated above, transfer of a gigantic industry Into the hands of politicians politi-cians or the framing of a scientific policy for the future. The forthcoming forthcom-ing congress must decide. The Agricultural Adjustment administration ad-ministration has just published a r i tl'e!tise on the AAA Explamspian and phlloso-Itself phlloso-Itself Phy of the New Deal for American agriculture in the form of a 52-page booklet which is entitled "Achieving "Achiev-ing a Balance in Agriculture." In issuing the booklet the Adjustment administration at the same time released re-leased a statement describing the treatise as a statement "In popular language of the principles of economics eco-nomics and social welfare which the Agricultural Adjustment administration adminis-tration has followed in carrying out the adjustment program In agriculture." agricul-ture." The booklet Is Teing distributed distrib-uted In numbers running Into the tens of thousands as a means of getting get-ting the story over to the people. It was printed at government expense In the government printing office. The responsible officials In the Adjustment administration say the booklet Is Intended to place between two covers a complete story of "what we are trying to do." Observers Ob-servers In Washington freely are saying that It is one of the most elaborate documents to be released as a means of disseminating to the public the theories upon which a governmental activity is based. Five chapters treat the historical backgrounds of American agriculture, agricul-ture, the development of the country's coun-try's economic system and emergency emerg-ency of the situation which brought forth the agricultural adjustment act. These sections are followed by an exposition of the powers of the Agricultural Adjustment act, and an attempt then Is made to summarize the gains claimed to have resulted from this experiment. "The agricultural adjustment act," the booklet says, "is based on the experience of the past; It was franjed to treat the farm problem as a whole and to treat It in relation rela-tion to the other basic elements In our national life. "The long time goal, the national policy of which these measures were an Increasingly clear expression, is a balanced agriculture. There must be balance between the production of the farmers' fields and the consumption con-sumption of their product. There must be balance between the Income In-come of the farmers and the Income of their neighbors In the cities and towns. Insofar as we -are successful in achieving and maintaining such a balance, we shall Insure a fair share of our national Income to the producers of the farm commodities on which our basic national welfare to a large extent depends." . Western Newspaper Union. |