512 History of Inland Transport 



confirmed by the actual experiences of Holland, Hungary, 

 Victoria, Italy and France. There is no suggestion that, if 

 the railways were owned by the State, the railwaymen would 

 voluntarily abandon the right to strike ; but State ownership 

 fo favoured by the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants 

 (which passed a resolution approving thereof at the annual 

 conference at Carlisle on October 4, 1911), in the expectation 

 (i) that, under these conditions, the unions would be certain 

 to get " recognition " ; (2) that they would then be able to 

 bring such pressure to bear on the Government that they 

 would be sure to get what they wanted without having to 

 strike ; and (3) that, owing to the economies to which State 

 operation would lead, the Government would be in a position 

 to give the railway workers higher pay and shorter hours. 

 Here, however, the questions arise whether the country would 

 be willing to allow the railway unions practically to control 

 alike the Government and the economic situation ; whether 

 the assumed " economies " under State ownership and opera- 

 tion of the railways would really be effected ; and whether 

 any such changes in railway service conditions as those 

 that were demanded in the National All-Grades Programme 

 could be conceded even under a nationalisation system 

 without imposing on the railway users greater burdens in 

 the way of higher rates and fares than they might be disposed 

 to tolerate. 



On the other hand there is the consideration that if the 

 working expenses of the railway companies are to be swollen 

 to still greater proportions by heavier wages bills, abnormal 

 taxation, public demands for greater facilities, and State 

 requirements in equipment or operation ; if, at th@ same time, 

 the companies are to be subjected to statutory restrictions 

 in regard to the charges they may impose for the services they 

 render ; and if, also, the danger of strikes and of outside 

 control or interference is to be increased, the day may con- 

 ceivably come when transfer of the railways to the State, 

 under, presumably, fair and equitable conditions, would be 

 the only effectual means of relieving the railways themselves 

 from what might then be an otherwise hopeless position. 



While the outlook for the future has various elements of 

 uncertainty, and, in regard to matters of detail, gives rise 

 to some degree of concern, a review of the conditions 



