Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1917 — Government Ownership of Roads Would Be a Political and Economic Tragedy [ARTICLE]

Government Ownership of Roads Would Be a Political and Economic Tragedy

By FRANCIS H. SISSON

A Mutant Chairman Railway Executive*’ Advisory Committee

Government ownership of railroads is a popular fetich to which the Unthinking turn whenever baffled by some pressing railroad problem. Yet there is no experience in history to justify the assumption that «uch a plan would be a success in this country. In our unco-ordinated democracy it would be a political and economic tragedy. The evils of the .‘•pork barrel” would be intensified a hundred fold. The political menace of the office holder would be increased a hundred fold again, |nd in the grasp of governmental inefficiency and red tape transportation would become constantly more expensive and less serviceable. Only in a highly centralized and autocratic government has government ownership achieved any degree of success, and in Germany, its chief exponent, freight rates are nearly double those charged in this country. Too long the attitude of the public toward the railroads has been one of detached criticism and punitive legislation, treating the railroad interests as though they were something apart from itself, from which it might properly wring the last possible ounce of service at the lowest possible cost, with eyes fixed solely upon immediate local and selfish interest. Impaired railroad credit, reduced efficiency and transportation facilities inadequate to the needs of commerce are the harvest we are reaping from thb years of discord, often unintelligent, manysided and punitive regulation.