Show BUS col ga va F n ri US W I 1 danke bankers s association president asks if unfair aid la Is given transport for rail Mer gera YORK fair treatment for or the ahe NEW railroads la in respect to highway Y motor a was has cal called ledfor tor by rome C stephenson president american bankers Asso association bation in Is a recent address here ro he also itron strongly gly endorsed sound economic railway consolidation soli dation dud and praised president KOO vei ver for his initiative in this respect t 1 I 1 I am very strongly of the opinion th that atone one of 0 the measures which wo bould u id help materially tally to put back business where if ought to be la Is the eastern four system plan of ralli oud consolidation as announced recently following negotiations instituted by president hoover sala Mr stephenson its adoption akl bulhe tile commerce commission would tend to stabilize the transportation industry fa a cili tato operation and exert a favorable lavoi aDio influence on business in general if la a tact fact well know nto to business busine sd leaders that our railroads are now fac ing a crisis not only do they need protective laws to meet competitive situations arising from increased use of 0 our highways and waterways by other carriers carr leis but they need unification guch cuch as the proposed tour four system plan I 1 provides our president has acted a C ted wisely in assuming a leadership la in this respect and his move deserves the support ot of every clear thinking citizen mr air stephenson declared that the tha railroads have served this country so superlatively well that we are prone in our public affairs to overlook our dependence pen dence upon them and our obliga tion to them the past present and 1 fluture ture progress ol of the united states la is in inseparably bound up with their welfare in neglecting just consideration lor for them we are even eve a more neglectful neglect lul ot of the publics best economic interests A question of public interest we are confronted with the question as to how much more the public economic interest will stand an inva bion lon of 0 the welfare ol of the oy by sl forces arces and difficulties not of 0 their own creating and not willita the scope ot of ch their air own unaided powers to combat said mr air stephenson 1 I reler refer especially to new competitions that are undermining tho the hard haid earned position posidio 0 ol 01 f the railroads not only with the arl aid d ot of natural al economic forces but also through tile the aid aadot of government policies which positively or negatively ively tend to give these I 1 competitors undue advantages over the railroads ralli oads it goes without saying t that h at the tha railroads ro ad s nave have no rig right ht nor cl claim airi any so BO far as I 1 have been ablo able to discern to comp complain liin at legitimate competition in the field ot of transportation for the public is entitled to the best possible possibly pos transportation por tation at the lowest practical cost but equally does it go 90 without saying that this cannot be fairly brought about by using or 01 by falling failing to use the taxing powers of to enable competitive methods of transportation to do things they could not otherwise do as unaided private enterprises par pai ticul arly when ft hen such action impairs the tha invested rights held la in good faith by great masses of 0 our people in established enterprises that are the pub public lie well ft ell mr air stephenson said it was not his purpose to argue against such competitive peti tive transportation as the tha highway passenger motorbus molo ibus and motor truck as such when conducted under proper conditions and in keeping with public welfare and benefit he declared however there Is need for or serious consideration whether such competition Is being developed under conditions that are unfair to lo the railroads because either the outright or 01 obscure aid of 0 government go eminent policy Is the deciding economic factor in that competition would investigate bus bui traffic railroad rights of 0 way he declared represent tremendous capital investments on which the railroads have also heavy current costs to meet they pay every day a million dollars in taxes and most ot of this Is on their rights of 0 way he said bald also th they ff spend dally daily over two aft 0 million dollars additional dit ional for or the proper main maintenance tena nee 0 f way he asserted that the me motor ter buses have not had to pay for or their rights 0 of way w ay in any sense that the railroads paid tor for theirs they have simply taken possession ot of public highways built by public funds both state and national he continued and they have extensively made those highways vastly less lesa comfortable for table less sate safe and less serviceable for or private motorists and others who are contributing chiefly to their creation and maintenance I 1 mr air declared that nil all these matters should be thoroughly inquired q u ired into by competent public b bodies both state and national with a view ot of determining the equities and basic public eco economic interests involved particularly in respect to their effects upon the nations railroads 1 I v venture e iture to say eay he added that such inquiries would show whether it la is to tho the public interest to let things thing remain as they are whether the situation 11 calls for a new basis of motorbus motor bua and truck ruck taxes to satisfy the equities of the tha case or whether it would call for such drastic action as the exclusion of 0 this traffic from our public general highways and tho the requirement that even as the railways it provide as a part 0 its own private capital investment its own rights of 0 way and for or ita tn own maintenance ot of way out ot 0 f op erst ing frig income |