Show ag national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington Washing tom As plans for the expansion par islon of the new deal program go on it t becomes more 1 railroad t I j and more evident legislation that the session of congress convening in january Is due to take up the ques tion of railroad legislation its nature Is yet ret undetermined its scope Is still veiled in secrecy there Is the certain ty however that the roosevelt Koo sevelt adroin Is prepared to present far reaching proposals dealing in a new way with the railroads of the country the first intimation of this probability came recently through it a visit to the president by joseph C B eastman fed eral era coordinator co of railroads mr eastman let it be known after an extended conference with the president that railroad legislation 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 Islat lon desired by the president since sir mr eastmann East mans visit to tho the summer white house at alyde park new york however it has been next to impossible to discover additional facts respect ing the railroad program being worked out by the brain tr usters and mr east zoan mail on unquestioned authority nevertheless th eless it Is made to appear that mr eastman East iaan 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 under the new deal have hare proved to be like railroad timetables time tables subject to change without notice are designed to give the federal government additional supervisory authority over the railroads indeed some insiders claim that mr eastman may go as far as proposing that the government buy the railroad properties and lease them bad back to the railroad corporations for operation this phase of the program remains wholly undisclosed beyond rumor and gossip but it seems proper to say that thus far there has been no dental denial issued from any responsible quarter it Is my understanding that numerous groups in the country are organ izing for a bitter tight light it Is well known of course that the railroads themselves have reorganized their associations tiong into one solid oil and tint agency which Is to act as their spokesman indications are that out 00 of the movement by the railroad man age ments will come it a trade body to be known as tile the american railway insel tute which will serve as the spokes man for all of the railroad plans call for establishment of headquarters in washington where the group will be in close contact at all times with tile the shifting trends of governmental maneuvers respecting the railroads ds coupled with the e certainty that there will he be railroad legislation considered by the forthcoming federal session of congress ownership is a strong renewal of activity among ado advocates cates of government ownership in previous letters I 1 have reported ownership advocates in and out of the administration were said to be working on plans for legislation designed dos ned eventually to result in federal ownership of the transportation systems flow far this has gone cannot now be stated slated it can be said definitely however that the movement Is 19 gaining force and of ob servers well acquainted with the un on der current of government plans insist that the railroads have a battle on their hands that Is larger than the am in Ine mediate diate prospect of additional cestr restrict it c lve ive to legislation I in some quarters in washington we hear bear the expression that tile the adminis plans to seek enactment of reg for the bus lines and other carriers that are in competition with th the e railroads this has been tried several times before but nothing has come of it because congress heretofore lias has refused to be serious about legislation for control of the bit bus lines hoes operating over state and national highways it Is to be recalled though that congresses heretofore have not been as ent to the chief executive as has been the ease case since the new deal became operative a year and a halt half ago so the extent to which the adminis tra tion will or can go respecting control of the bus lines seems at this writing to be highly problematical ault authora aorl ties tell me hovi however eer that the eastman plan which roust must be assumed to have presidential approval will be compre and of itself should give an indication of the severity of tile the fight that Is to come the argument that iam I 1 am told Is go lag ing to bo be advanced tor for further federal encroachment on in sorry L vate rate management of state the railroads ha has to do with the sorry 6 state late in which aich it Is claimed the roads find themselves as it a result of the de they have borrowed about OW from tile reconstruction finance corporation thus using govern ment credit to tide them over As a result of these borrowings a belief lift hn sprung up that the railroads lire are un on able to finance themselves longer rall rail r road oad corporation statements however see baem at to dispute this belief but it Is always difficult to offset argument of that kind government ownership nd ad vacates are using we argument and railroad executives find and their case Is difficult to prove because the average individual does docs not understand the ins and outs of such financial 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 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 if they are to earn sufficient revenue to pay their expenses Pell Ses there Is still another phase of the railroad question that Is causing some concern among students of the problem of transportation it Is that it the present setup set up of interstate commerce commission control over the railroads Is disturbed the chances are great that politics will again become involved I 1 think most persons agree that the railroads have kept out of politics to a large extent in the last ten or fifteen years but the students of transportation insist to me that it if such an office as secretary of transportation with cabinet membership Is created right then the railroads again will be in politics up to their ears cars politicians will not long overlook the opportunity port unity to dig their lingers fingers into such a luscious situation they will see how thep can manipulate freight rates to tile the benefit of the their irown own districts or states or other areas they will likewise see numerous jobs and politics without jobs sinks to a low ebb it is thus made to appear and in this statement I 1 am voicing the consensus of numerous observers th that at we are on the ver verge ge of a crucial decision it Is one that may mean as stated above transfer of a gigantic industry into the hands of politicians or the framing of a scientific policy for the future the forthcoming congress must decide 0 0 0 the agricultural adjustment administration Istra tinn has just published a treatise on the plan and phi AAA explains of the new itself deal for american agriculture in the form of a 52 page booklet which Is entitled achieving a palance balance in agriculture in issuing the booklet the adjustment administration at the same time released a statement describing the treatise as a statement in popular language of the principles of economics and social welfare which the agri cultural adjustment administration has bas followed in carrying out the adjust ment program in agriculture the booklet Is berng being distributed in numbers running into the tons tens of thousands as a means of getting tile the story over to the people it was printed at government expense in the government printing office the responsible officials in the ad administration say the booklet Is intended to place between two c overs covers a complete story of what we are trying to do observers in wash ington freely are saying that it Is one of tile the most elaborate documents to be released as a means of disseminating to the public the theories upon which a go governmental vern mentill activity Is based tire chitti chapters teis treat the historical backgrounds of american agriculture the development of the count rys economic system and emergency of the th situation which brought baroug forth the aarl agricultural lid adjustment act these sections are followed by an exposition of the powers of the Aarl agricultural cultural adjust ment act and an attempt then Is made to summarize the gains claimed to have resulted result ld from this experiment tile agricultural adjustment act the booklet says Is based on the ex per lence of tile past it was framed to treat the farm problem as a whole and to treat it tn in relation to the other basic elements in our national life the long time goal the national pol po ley icy of aich illch these measures wre were an increasingly clear expression Is a bi bal alced agriculture there must be ba balance between the production of tile the farmers holds and the consumption of their product there must be balance between tile the income of the farmers and the income of their neighbors in ID the cities find and towns insofar as ne e arp are successful in achieving and maintain ing such i a balance wo we shall insure a fair share of our national income come to the producers of the farm commodities on which our basic national nn tlona welfare to a large extent depends 0 the department of agriculture has made a complete compilation of stalls ties showing that farm production ln in tile the united states during 1033 was val aed at j OW or approximately tg greater than in 1 wa ia rul tile the farmers received an additional in cash payments from the government for co cc in restrict ing production in IW so that the tha gross grosh income was around the departments statistics indicate that the farmers fan nersi after paying thel theft production expenses bad net income in 1033 of about OW whereas where 9 their income after expenses I 1 in n 1912 2 was vas only about 1 l showing a definite improvement in I 1 the th e farmers financial status a w watern tern |