NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 425 



The British government adopted the policy of not making any advance 

 in rates to take care of the extraordinary war expenditures occasioned 

 on the railroads of that nation. In this country you have been hauling 

 soldiers and sailors for less than cost. Is it right that a relatively small 

 group of shippers have to absorb the difference and can not pass them on, 

 to bear the cost of the soldiers' and sailors' transportation? Shouldn't it 

 fall on the country as a whole? Isn't it a legitimate part of the general 

 war policy of the United States government? 



Again, you have had congestion at the terminals in order to permit 

 the exportations, transportation of troops and munitions. You have had 

 to build extra terminals in order to expedite the movement. I do not 

 believe you will be called upon to pay the deficit of the past year. As 

 to the future, I do not know what will develop; you and I can not tell. 

 If business falls down, the railroad rates may advance. If business 

 revives after a short period, then we can expect normal conditions 

 again. If the volume of traffic is equal to that of last year, the present 

 rates should be sufficient to take care of the situation, and no general 

 advance in charges should be made upon the American people. It took 

 about six months or a year after the Civil war, and a year after the 

 Napoleonic war, to get back to normal conditions. People have to eat 

 and have to have clothes, furniture, equipment. I think that industry 

 will get back to a normal basis, but we can not expect wages to decline 

 to take care of that. 



In the face of the situation as I have described it, it is not fair for 

 any man to make the claim that regulation has been hard on the rail- 

 roads. As a matter of fact, the average rate on all the outstanding stock 

 at the close of thirty years of regulation was practically twice as great 

 as the average rate at the beginning of that period of regulation in 1890. 



At the present moment there is pending before congress some legis- 

 lation as to the future disposition of our railroads. It will be impossible 

 for us to determine what policy should be adopted inside of six months 

 or a year from this time. The transportation question is going to be one 

 of the greatest issues before the American people in the next twelve 

 months, and will be discussed in the magazines, newspapers and halls of 

 congress. During this period of discussion, it is of absolute, supreme 

 importance that we immediately restore the powers of the courts and 

 commissions over the common carriers of the United States. 



I am going to make three statements that are rather strong, and I 

 want you to follow them, and I am going to prove they are true: 



First, the Director General of Railroads has defied the state and 

 federal statutory provisions and the common law of this nation, and has 

 acted in disregard of what the law says. 



Second, the Director General has proposed and is now proposing gen- 

 eral sweeping advances in charges for the shippers in this country to pay, 

 without a semblance of hearings before a disinterested tribunal. 



Third, the Director General has proposed and is now proposing revo- 

 lutionary charges in rate relationships without a hearing before a disin- 

 terested tribunal — changes that will disturb the American industries of 

 various kinds throughout the country. 



