Show BUSINESS DECLARES WILSO PRESIDENT ORE IDENT APPEALS FOR foh RELIEF ll 11 EF AND elimination OF FINANCIAL uncertainty A anti inti explains why government took possession and assumed control of railway lines and systems of water transportation washington with wide appeal for immediate R notion in ili the face of 0 le de mands for nn nationwide nation tion wide relief and elimination i of financial a 1 uncertainty president tWilson at on friday january aryl 4 outlined before congress congress ills his rall railroad roal legislative program the president arrived at the capitol sh shortly artly before 1130 and was escorted to the speakers rostrum of the house Oa chamber amber the presidents address follows gentlemen of the congress I 1 have asked the privilege of address addressing I 1 ng you in order older to report to you that on the twenty eighth of december last adur lur ing we the recess of the congress acting through the secretary of war and under the authority conferred upon me by the acal act ot of congress approved august 29 1010 1910 1 I took possession and assumed control of bf the railway lines of the country and the systems of water transportation under their control tills this step seemed to be imperatively necessary in the interest of the public welfare in the presence of the great tasks of war with which we are now dealing As our own experience develops difficulties and makes it clear what they are I 1 have deemed it my duty to remove those difficulties whereby I 1 have the legal power to do so EO to assume sume control of the vast railway systems system S of the country Is I 1 realize a very great responsibility but to fall to do so in the existing circumstances would have been much greater I 1 assumed the less lass responsibility rather than the weightier I 1 am sure that I 1 am speaking the mind of all thoughtful americans when I 1 say that it Is our duty as the representatives of the nation to do every everything thing that it Is necessary to do to secure the complete mobilization of the whole resources of america by as rapid and effective means as can b be e round found transportation supplies all the arteries of mobilization unless it be under a single and unified direction the whole process of the nations action Is embarrassed embarras sea hallway meads heads praised it was in the true spirit of america I 1 ca ilk and it was right that we should first try to effect the necessary unification under the voluntary action of those who were in charge of the great railway properties and we did try it the directors of the railways respond responded nl to the need promptly and generously the group of railway executives who were charged with the task of actual ordination coordination co and general direction performed their difficult duties with patriotic zeal and marked ability as was to have been expect expected eL and did I 1 believe everything that it was possible for them to do in tile the circumstances if I 1 have taken tile the task out of their hands it has not been because of any dereliction or failure on their part but only because there were sonie some things which the government can do and private management cannot we shall continue to value most highly the advice and assistance of these gentlemen gentle men and I 1 am sure we shall not find them withholding it little disturbance in operation it had become unmistakably plain that only under government administration can the entire equipment of the several systems of transportation be fully and unreservedly thrown tin own into it a common service without injurious discrimination against particular properties only under government administration can absolutely unrestricted and unembarrassed common use be made of all tracks terminals term terminal inal facilities and equipment of every kind only under that authority can new terminals be constructed and developed without regard to the requirements or limitations of particular roads but under tinder government administration all these things willbe will be pos sible not instantly but as fast as p practical rac difficulties which cannot be merely medely conjured away ghe way before the new management the com common mon administration will be carried out with its as little disturbance of tile the present operating organizations and personnel of the railways as possible sible nothing will be altered or disturbed which it is 19 not necessary to its we are serving tile the public interest and safeguarding the public safety but we are also regardful of the interest intel est of those by whom these great properties are owned and adad to avail ourselves ourse hes of the experience and trained ability of those who have been managing them it Is necessary essaiy that the transportation t I 1 on of troops and of war materials of food and of fuel and of everything that Is necessary mobilization ot of resources i of the country should be first considered but it Is clearly in tho iho public li interest derest also that tile the ordinary activities and the normal industrial and commercial life of the country should be interfered with and dislocated as litt little leIs as possible and the alie public may rest assured that the interest and convenience of the private q shipper hipper will be as carefully served onil safeguarded as it Is 1 13 possible to t 0 borve 0 r yel saiu 11 safeguard it in the present extraordinary circumstances 1 while the present authority ot of tha execute executive ive suffices for all purposes of administration and while of coursie cours cour enil nil private interests must for the present it give way to the public necess necessity ily itis I 1 am sure you will agree with ina right and necessary that the owners owned 9 and creditors of the railways rall ways ilio iho holi hole ers of their stocks and bonds should receive from the government an unqualified guarantee that their proper ties will be maintained throughout tho thin period of federal control in ili as good repair rep air and complete equipment as in present and that the several roads will receive under federal management such compensation as Is equitable and just alike to their owners and to the gen eral public I 1 would suggest cheaver th alie eaver average net railway operating income of the three years 1 ending june 30 1017 asks guarantees 1 I earnestly recommend commend le that these thee guarantees be glen given py by appropriate leg isolation and given as promptly as cir ir permit i 1 I need not point out ithe the essen tim justice of such guarantees and their great influence and significance as elements in the present financial and industrial du situation of the country indeed one of the strong arguments f for 0 r assuming control of the railroads at af this time Is the financial argument it Is necessary that the values of railway securities should be justly and fairly protected and that the large financial operations every year necessary in cort con with the maintenance opera tion and development of the roads should during the period of the war nar be wisely related to tile the financial oper allons of the government our first duty Is of course to conserve the common interest and the common safety and to make certain that nothing stands in the way ay of the successful prosecution of the great war nar for liberty and justice but it Is also an obligation gation of public conscience and of public honor that the private interests yc wo disturb should be kept safe bare from unjust injury and it is of the utmost consequence to the government itself that all great financial operations should be stabilized and coordinated co with etith the financial operations of the government no borrowing should raa athwart tile the borrowings of the federal tre treasury sura and no fundamental industrial values alues should anywhere be unnecessarily impaired in the hands of many thousands of small investors in the country as well as in national banks in ansur J ance companies an fn in savings banks lif trust com companies campania pania in financial agencies agen cled of every kind railway the sum total of which runs up to some ten or eleven thousand millions constitute a vital part of the structure of credit and the unquestioned solidity of that structure must be maintained reason for mcadoo tha the secretary of war and I 1 easily agreed that in view of the many complex interests which must be safeguarded ana and harmonized as well as because of ills his exceptional experience and ability in this new field of governmental action pahe hon william G mcadoo was the right man to susuma direct aarn administrative control of this new task at our request he be consented to assume the a authority and duties ot of organizer and director general of tha new railway administration he ha hai assumed those duties and his work is 13 in active progress it is probably too much to td expect that even under tinder the unified railway administration which will now be possible sufficient economies economics can toe be effected in the operation of the railways to make it possible to add to their equipment and extend their ope operative facilities as much as the present extraordinary tra demands upon their us will render desirable without resorting to the national nati treasury for tho funds if it Is no possible it will of course be necessary to r resort e sort to congress congi for grants of money for th that purpose the secretary of the tr treas f ns ury will advise with your committees with regard to this very practical us its of the matter for F or the present I 1 suggest only the guarantees I 1 liae have in ill dilated and such appropriations fis as are necessary at the outset of the task I 1 take the liberty of expressing the limpo that the congress may grant promptly and lin ungrudgingly grudgingly wi we aro are dealing with great I 1 matters da aters and a mi will I 1 am I 1 sure deal with them greatly |