RAILROAD RATES

At a time when the public is already burdened by the many demands of the war, Secretary McAdoo announces a measure which means a very considerable raise in railroad rates, both freight and passenger. To observers of railroad history, it offers an interesting commentary on Government regulation of the transportation industry.

The early years of unbridled expansion and cut-throat competition gave way in the late eighties to public control. Since that time concession after concession has been demanded of the railroads until just before our entrance in the war they were scarcely able to make both ends meet. Rates had become so low and restrictions so stringent that all improvements or new investments were impossible. The point had been reached where private industry and even a fair transportation efficiency were incompatible.

It is under these same conditions that the Government has found it necessary to increase rates and terminate the crushing force of overburdening restrictions. People may find increases in rates oppressive, but they must not fail to realize that increased railroad wages and the elimination of sub-normal charges mean an increased cost of operation.