Show Bruc karfs washington digest president promises legislation LegA to relieve railroad Situ situation aLion thoroughgoing reexamination examination re of rail problems essential to finding reasonable solution competition Corfi petition cuts Earh earnings ings public has responsibility to bear by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington 1 l D 0 WASP washington INGTON I 1 believe it can be b said that most readers of newspapers digest their news rather slowly it is not their fault entirely that the full significance of a news story escapes them even though it may be spread under black headlines on an the front page nor do I 1 me mean deanto anto to say that all readers are tax fax it seems to bs be true nevertheless th eless that days or weeks or even months and years may pass sometimes before the intangible personality that we call the public has considered fully the significance ot of reported events existence of this condition condit fon however is warrant for an attempt at analysts analysis of what has happened what is happening and what is likely to happens happen in the railroad industry perhaps that thai statement should have added to it the suggestion also that there will be something affecting the public too in connection with the recent series of incidents Inci denti and events directly concerning the rail indus try indeed prospective developments portend even more 1 there were of course the many dangers of a financial character with which the railroads were beset there followed the attempt ot of railroad management to reduce expenses by a program pro cutting wages offee of i the workers ii by jo 15 abr per cent and there came almost immediately thereafter the dread specter of a strike threat by the million or more rail workers who are highly union iced after that in the sequence of events was president Roosevel ts utilization of I 1 the law providing for or cons i tion of the diff differences eren cels by a fact finding commission for the first time it Is necessary only as a further review to recall that the fact find ing commission heard days of test arnony and reported to the president that a wage cut was unjustified but the commission commissio n made no con n tive suggestions As a matter of fact it added nothing to teetotal the total of human knowle knowledge oge but it got a lot of publicity for its findings legis legislation lation to relieve 1 I railroads Railroad sUp up to fo congress the problem wai was thereupon left in mr Roosevel ts lap he called in the representatives of the rail managements and the leaders odthe of the unions the rail executives were willing to call off the proposed wage cut if there are were any way to be fo found hd to keep the railroads from 9 going bankrupt more more than half of the mileage being already in the hands of receivers union leaders reiterated they did not want to strike and they did want the therall railroads roads to get on their feet Jeet because it meant jobs J J pelley spokesman for or the rail ial flins lines asked askea then wh what atthe the government could or r would do and mr roosevelt promised legislation sa there we wd are tada today y there will be na no strike there 1 will be consideration of rail legislation in the next session of con congress greis de signed to help the ri railroad so they will have atlease at least as much income i as expense and at lt will be supported by mr Roosevel ts administration tra tion by bi the railroads and bythe by he railroad unions but im I 1 am wondering n g whether the country as a whole i is s fully aware of what is behind the troubles that formea formed the immediate basis of the I 1 news developments recorded above 1 anai and I 1 am wondering urther e r cheth het ie er 1 1 t the ha shock athe of ft the he strike threat hit hai awakened the country as a whole bhole to the need for a thorough going reexamination examination re of the situation ip in which the railroads and 1 because lt it is l in tha underlying 4 der lying c conditions ahat wa adeeb are going to find a solution none can deny that hat we need rail transportation bone none can deny that they either must operate without losses ases or else they are going to be left in the lap of the government and what a terrible mess that would be for govern i ent seldom r runs u ns a anything i ny without making a mess amess of it the tall rail problem n its sr relation elation to other forms of transportation I 1 the public interest national policy all must be threshed out very soon it can not be longer avoided without increasing chedan n nati national suffering effi ge gers rs of gen genuine P public 19 alic has tremendous R responsibility to bear when consideration of the various ahn phases es of the condition gets under wa way y if it is d done one thoroughly congress must give alve attention to AM a revision of some of 61 its long established politics policies the they y are rb basic vlen en I 1 am talking about the plight of the railroads I 1 am m at the same time condemning to the very core core some of afie high handed hande d brigandage ge thievery corruption that went on among so called captains of industry a few generations ago that stealing that corruption irk in which politics figured amazingly put the railroads in disrepute as BLI most 0 f that has ended respected interstate commerce commission saw to that job yet the stigma and lack of public good will remains to curse the carriers that operate over steel rails so there is first the need tor for a nit national ional acceptance of the good faith which most of the railroad managements now display the public must give credit where credit Is due and the public has a tremendous responsibility lity to bear in connection with this phase next and without doubt one of the really important phases Is the question of continued subsidy both direct ind and indirect that has been given by the government to competition of the rail lines competitors like the bus and the truck and the automotive industry generally there can be no dodging the fact that this subsidy exists under various guises and the great motor industry which bred busses and trucks and private automobiles hy by the mil lions stands as a monument a marker showing where that subsidy was distributed the thousands of af miles of hard roads all year roads are a part of the pie subsidy that went to competitors competitor of the carriers and who can say that such an expenditure by government was not one of bf the afie greatest steps for progress monster of competition cuts railroad earnings of course road construction w was as necessary it was vital the national policy for good highways can only be praised yet their very existence Is one of the reasons why the railroads income has fallen off or I 1 more po properly perly the nor normalyn norm malIn alln crease crease in receipts was not realized we see therefore a great monster of competition set up with money from tak taxpayers payers pockets the railroads long have been the most heavily taxed of any industry which Is to say they helped pay tor for creation of of competition there was the creation chetion of the in teri ter state tate commerce c commission om mission some years ago as s a unit of government tor for supervision of the rall rail lines it was and is still needed B but u t its existence too has held down aown rail earnings this has res resulted 1 bulted from the control of rates no railroad is 14 permitted to charge more than ii a rate approved by the he I 1 C C lethe letfie competitors were creeping forward under governmental blessing the L I 1 C C was saying to the rail lines you fellows oj obey ey our orders or else subsidies out of taxpayers pockets ha have ve gone to build up another competitor comer also iso I 1 ref refer er to inland ws waterways ter ways and to coastwise shipping this means of transportation has a value that hardly can be measured it is as much a part of our our national economic life as the highways ind and the attendant motor transport but it exists and it is ablerto operate as a competitor of the railroads because of a paternal government that made things easy and gave a help hand wherever it could do so air transportation no I 1 w 1 1 steps stepi into the picture lately air rip transportation a 7 has hais been expanding with ith remarkable r rapidity NO nation in the world has such efficient air service nor as sate air service gervice as ts is to td be found in the united states ii if is carrying increasing amounts of reighl and express it is transporting transport iii thousands upon thousands of passengers these passengers are of the type g generally ci n a 19 speaking will willing fiig and able edba to pay for the luxury train service which is IJ profitable when the trains are filled Ille iii these dir air lines are government subs idy in li several everal ways the alf air rail mail bonc begin to pay agway its way tho th gov government emment makes up the ahe differed dif difference feren ce by cont con t tracts that th t call tor stated pay ment abid apa consider 1 the ac scores dres ot of gre atair fields throughout ut the caun try tayl The bulk oi them are built at public ex expense tru the air lines pay tor for I 1 the hd ot of the ahe field but does I 1 anyone think that th the air lines could at afford to spend to build such u ch a field as as that which serves metropolitan new york funds tor for it came largely from a federal government grant the tnie same ber Scent ajic uncle 6 sam datil is putting out several millions s a athe doorstep of the national capital here to build a proper alk airport port there are other things that could be taken up and set apart to show chow how the government has helper hellec competitors of the rail lines in most mosi practical fash fashion lon questions question s of taxation grade crossing construction of an expensive afia character forced upon the carriers requirements lequire ments for terminals of luxury type construction and so on I 1 believe jt unnecessary to recount them those that have been enumerated serve to show where the trouble is it does not show the answer but I 1 believe U t points the way to an answer an the answer ns as I 1 have mentioned above certainly cani b e found 1 however er unless there is genuine study of an unselfish sort undertaken by con gress 6 0 western newspaper union |