OCR Text |
Show The Butter for Your Bread The railroads are in the worst condition of any major American industry. The natural question is, "Why'" Ever since they were returned to private hands at the end of the war the rails have raised their standards of efficiency, cut costj and made tremendous strides in improving their service to the public. Yet in not a single yea; since then havj they been able to earn the "fair return" of 5 3-4 per cent stipulated by the Transportation Transpor-tation Act. During the very height of the boom, in 1928-29, their net return on investment was between four and five per cent. Now a number of important lines have passed dividends. Others are planning to pass them when next they fall due. Many have been forced to borrow money from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Corpora-tion in order to pay fixed charges, such as taxes and bond interest. The average American road is earning less than one per cent on its invested capital. Five hundred thousand railroad men are out of work the jobs of thousands of others are in a precarious position. The major cause of all this has been our transportation policy. We have raised railroad taxes tc the highest point in history and passed law after law regulating one phase or another of operation. At the same time, we have permitted per-mitted competing agencies to operate op-erate without corresponding regulation regu-lation and, in the case of the waterways, wa-terways, have actually financed them from the public treasury. Here is a real public problem in a nutshell and it is a problem that, directly or indirectly, affects the jobs, pocketbooks and savings of us alL |