Newspaper Page Text
TRUTH, JUSTICE
Let Us Take No Half- Way
Steps to Public Ownershi
Steps to Public O hip
‘ Recently The New York Sun printed an article written by Becretary
| MecAdoo, in which Mr McAdoo explains why the Government took over con
» trol of the railways, and in which he also opposes fixing a definite time limit
! upon Government control.
? Mr. McAdoo, in explaining why the Government was compelled to take
| over the operation of the railways, very ably says:
‘ ““It was obvious that Federal control would have to be asserted
over the transportation systems in order to get more efficient operation
and to get increased facilities for the demands of the war. ® ® ®
| ““I think that under the competitive system of management it was
i impossible to get the co-ordination of facilities which is essential at
this time.
l, “‘I may cite some of the compelling needs which could only be met
. by putting the power of the Government back of railway operation :
i ‘““The absolute co-ordination and, as far as necessary, common
| use of all railroads and their rolling stock, regardless of any private
i interests; the entire disregard of established routes for the movement of
! traffic when other routes would insure more or quicker service; the nec
| essity for economy in the use of labor and material, so as to do all that
‘ might be necessary for transportation with the least drain on the coun
’ try’s other demands for labor and material; the need for insuring the
g supply of capital necessary, notwithstanding the impaired credit of
‘ many railroads; the co-ordination of the Government demands for
. priority in shipment, impossible under private railroad management;
l the absolute necessity for assuring railroad labor that its just demands
3} would be met without necessity for strikes or threats of strikes. * © @
‘“The period immediately succeeding the war will present numerous
.- problems of the gravest sort, some of them very grave economic prob
i lems, which will demand immediate comsideration by Congress.
! ““In such circumstances it is not only probable, but almost certain
that congress will not find the time immediately after the close of the
{ war to adopt a comprehensive plan for controlling the railroads in the
| mew environment in which they will then find themselves, and at the
' same time to deal with all the other complicated economic problems
which will undoubtedly confront it. ® * *®
¢“Jt should be borne in mind that shippers and the public generally
will be accustomed to new methods of doing business with the railroads.
They will find that the old methods under which they have been rout
ing freight and have been doing business will be substantially and per
haps permanently altered, and the confusion which wowld arise frqm the
attempt suddenly to restore the old competitive status—the status that
existed prior to December 28, 1917-—would be aggravated very greatly,
and perhaps would offer quite insuperable difficulties if legislation was
/ mnot exacted in the light of conditions as they exist at that time, such as
would facilitate that process of restoration and conserve the interests
of the shippers and the public generally. I think, myself, that, ample
time will be required to deal with the new railroad status with which
the country will be confronted after the return of peace.’”’
Apparently Mr. MoAdoo is disposed to favor Government ownership,
but for some reason deems it unwise to declare for it, believing, either that
it is unwise to inject an issue of this kind into the war period or else, that
the constitution of Congress is such that he would not be able to get a Gov
ernment ownership measure passed.
Mr. McAdoo is a very able man and he doubtless has his own ways of
accomplishing his objects, but it seems to us that it is unfortunate, if Mr.
McAdoo is, as we assume, in favor of Government ownership that he does
not declare DEFINITELY and POSITIVELY in favor of Government owner
ship. :
We do not think any real progress can be made by the administration
toward Government ownership unless that goal is definitely set up to work
toward. At present all the forces OPPOSED TO GOVERNMENT OWNER- i
SHIP know what they are working for. They are working to discredit Gov- ‘
ernment control of railroads while these roads are in Government hands, and
to return the railroads to private hands as soon as possible. |
Unfortunately, Mr, McAdoo does not raise a banner for the Government
ownership forces to rally around; he does not set them any definite object to
work for. He declares in favor of a continued Government DIRECTOR
SHIP, a policy which has no supporters, either among advocates of private
ownership or the advocates of Government ownership.
Mr. McAdoo would find his present task more easy and his ultimate ob
ject of Government ownership, if that is his object, more assured if he would
declare positively for Government ownership and present to Congress and to
the country A DEFINITE PLAN FOR GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP,
If the Congress does not favor this plan, it would have to reject it, and
the issue would be squarely before the public.
If Congress should reject this plan, the country WOULD REJECT CON
GRESS, because the country is overwhelmingly in favor of Government
ownership.
At present the Congress can safely pass a bill limiting Government direc
_torship of the railroads, because if Government directorship is all that is
advocated by the administration there is no reason why a limit should not
be put to such a policy. : .
But if Government ownership were the announced policy ‘'of the admin
istration, Congress would oppose it at its peril, and the next Congress of the
United States would be returned on a Government ownership basis.
Secretary McAdoo makes in support of continued Government DIREC.-
TORSHIP an argument that is much better as an argument in favor of per
manent Government OWNERSHIP. ;
Indeed, it seems to us that EVERY ONE OF THESE REASONS with
which Secretary McAdoo justifies TEMPORARY Government operation of
the railways is a more conclusive argument for PERMANENT Government
ownership and operation. ;
_ We have had many years of private ownership and operation of railways
under Federal and State supervision and regulation, and the result of it all,
88 Secretary McAdoo well says, was that the Government was compelled to
Let the Husband Render Unto the Wife Due Benevolence: and Likewse Also the Wife Unto the Husband.—l. CORINTHIANS, VIL, 3.
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step in and set up temporary ownership, operation and financing of the roads
in order to get reasonably good service at a reasonable cost to the people
of the United States.
In other words, the scheme of private ownership and Government super
vision has proven to be a COMPLETE and a CONFESSED failure.
We can not understand why anybody should desire to return to a scheme
of private ownership and operation which has had such ample time to prove
its merits and its demerits, and which has been confessedly so costly and s
disastrous. p
If private ownership with Government supervision has been a wretched
and a costly failure in the past, what reason is there to hope that it will be
anything but a wretched and a costly failure in the future?
The success of the present Government control and operation of the rail
ways is in exact proportion to the Government’s assertion of the attributes of
OWNERSHIP. And whatever measure of failure there has been has been
in exact proportion to the recognition of and the interference by PRIVATE
OWNERSHIP.
Mr. Hearst has repeatedly pointed out, in his signed editorials, in mag
azine‘articles, and in public addresses, and the Hearst papers have over and
over again emphasized the fact that there is NO HALF-WAY POINT be
tween private ownership and public ownership of the railways.
Any half-way measure tried in the past has proved to be a failure. And
any half-way measure tried in the future will prove to be a failure.
There are only two systems of railroad operation between which to
choose.
One is private ownership, unhampered by the restrictive legislation of
which it so loudly complains; the other is the full ownership and operation
of the railways by the people of the United States themselves.
The country has had enough, and too much, of compromises.
The issue between private owmership and public ownership is sharply
defined, and the Hearst newspapers mean to kbep that issue clearly before
the attention gnd the thought of the American people until it is finally de
cided.
The attitude we takeé, and the attitude which we are sure an overwhelm
ing majority of the American people take, is that the Congress ought AT
THIS VERY TIME to declare plainly for permanent Government owner
ship, and to notify the private owners of the railways, not that they will get
them back again in two years or in three years, or after an indefinite time,
but that they will NEVER GET THEM BACK AT ALL.
We are equally opposed to the legislation setting a time limit upon Gov
ernment control, and to the legislation making Government control indefinite,
because BOTH are hybrid, half-way measures, INTENDED EVENTUALLY
TO RE-ESTABLISH PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.
WE FAVOR GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP—AND GOVERNMENT
OWNERSHIP ONLY.
We urge Secretary McAdoo to present the issue of absolute Govern
ment ownership and operation boldly to the American people, and we have
no doubt at all that upon that issne the American people will eventually win
a great and decisive victory. :
Wednesday, February 20, 1918
Letters From the
People
THAT ORGAN.
Editor The Georgian:
It is with a feeling of the greatest
surprise and keenest regret that I
note the announcement of the proba
ble Giscontinuance of the organ re
citals at the Auditorium.
Why the Council should accept the
gift of probably the most comprehen
sive organ in the South—an organ
noted all over this country for its
mechanical excellence and great scope
—an instrument which excels that in
the famous Temple in Salt Lake City,
and which comnares favorably with
that in the Auditoriumn, Chicago, one
that is superior to 85 per cent of or
gans found in ordinary churches, the
aters, etc., here and abroad—and then
refuse to provide anmrappropriation for
an organist—what's the idea?
While I have not' the honor of
membership in the Atlanta Music
Festival Association, as a citizen, at
least pro tém, I consider it would be
tnwise and -exceedingly unfortunate
should the Council remain obdurate
in this matter.
While I have met Organist Sheldon,
the most patriotic organist or musi
cian I have found anywhere—for he
plays the national anthem standing—
this ils not meant as a plea in his be
half.
The crux of the whole matter is,
Of what use is this or any other organ
without an organist to play it?
Atlanta and its week of opera, its
famous organ and the Auditorium—
who has not heard of them? Purely
as an advertising proposition, it
should appeal to the Council and as
sure good results. Already so great
has been the publicity that most of
the residents of the Northern States,
and even of the principal cities of
Canada, are thoroughly posted re
garding the Atlanta Auditorium re
citals.
Just imagine! Philadelphia has
nothing of a similar nature. And
even Boston—musical Boston—has
nothing of a similar nature. (Of
course, I am not referring to either
the FPhiladeiphia or Boston Sym
phony Orchestras—which are in an
entirely different class.)
Shall it be said that the spirit of
musical appreciation in Atlanta has
so far vanished that a magnificent
$33,000 organ shall be allowed to fall
into disuse and decay simply because
the Council or some public-spirited
citizen refuses to provide funds with
which to pay an organist,
In the past Atlanta has contributed
robly to many worthy causes. Shall
an exponent of “the art divine” upon
the king of instruments go unre
warded? Even if public subscription
has to be resorted to this matter
should be finally settled at the earliest
possible moment.
If a suggestion may be permitted—
would it not be a fine thing to create
an endowment fund providing for
the Auditorium organist’s salary?
By all means provide for the con
tinuance of the Auditorium organ re
citals.
Assuring you of my willingness to
aid in the accomplishment of thig
laudable purpose, I am,
CHARLES I. HENDRICKS.
Atlanta, Ga.
PUBLIC SERVICE
. -
1 Timely Topics \
| of Today
EM‘—————_——_—___————’J__————'—‘
By Arthur Brisbane.
USAN B, ANTHONY was the
S mother of political freedom for
American women.
The red-skinned
young American M
of former days ;;,mfi‘«-’ j
would pile up the
tepee poles on his %
mother’s back, or [Eta t i
~ on the back of the ”@
spotted p o ny, |#E LG
h %;.,\5;9-:“\ B
Jooking on both o 8 Lo &*e
~ beasts of burden. \’%\
The same In- o,"’:(r
dian would shiv- | ¥
er In wonder and |fi «.RS E,
awe as his father
came whoopifig | {HEETE HM §
into camp, hold: N\ %" am..
ing up a handful “REN~ZEY
of bleeding scalps.
Many Indians still live in America
—with white faces and intense admi
raticn for viclent deeds performed by
OTHERS, whether in football, base
ball ,or prize fighting.
These modern white Indians, old
and young, see little that is impor
tant or interesting in Susan B. An
thony's birthday.
But the intelligence of the world
sees it, and will see it more and more.
Giving to woman political freedom
that is dawning, was not Susan B.
Anthony’s most important work. Her
work was done especially’ tor men.
She taught them to respect their
<»n mothers—many of them still need
that teaching. And she taught them
to be sober.
She endured the ridicule of igno
rant men and the abuse of vicious
women all the 86 years of her life,
working at the task destined to give
freedom and equality not to women
only, but to men especially.
There is no freedom where there are
any slaves. There is no equality
where there are any inferiors. There
is no decency where masculine bru
tality looks down upon women.
Ninety-eight years ago, a Quaker
mother in New England saw her
littlé girl baby just born, and, per
~ baps, wept because it was not a boy
~ “to do some great work in the world.”
| The world might well have wept
% had that child been a boy instead of
. being Susen B. Anthony, one of the
greatest, noblest, and most useful of
all human beings born in this conti
nent.
Henry Ford is building submarine
‘ chasers so rapidly that they are to be
numbered instead of named.
The plan was to paint on each
fighting ship the pame of a hero, a
man, of course.
i But, the “number of heroes being
‘ limited,” the plan is to be given up.
Why not try a list of heroines,*for
a change? That supply would not
rin out until there had been built as
many submarine chasers as there are
1 and have been good mothers in the_
United States.
Ask your doctor which endures suf
fering more courageously, the héto of
the battlefield, who gets praise, cross
of honor, bronze statue, or the heroine
ot child birth, whose reward is nurs
ing and rearing the child, worrying
about the grocer's bill, and an incom
petent husband.
The biggest, ‘most powerful- battle
ship or destroyer should be named
Susan B. Anthony, for such a ship is
l intended to make the Prussians be
have decently to all the world, as Su
| san B. Anthony made the men of this
l country behave decently to the wom
en,
Washington has a baby exhibition,
Not an exhibition of grown up, intel
lectual babies dealing with the great
est problem the world has ever seen,
Not an exhihition of industrial trust
babies, steel, copper, etc., saying,
“Please give us a chance to get big
and strong.” §
" This was an exhibition of regular
babies, ten of them, from the Florence
l Crittenton Home, crawling around be
hind plate glass in a show window at
the corner of Fifteenth and F. streets,
to arouse charity.
The habies behaved well, especially
the smallest, in a white ecrib. The
others crawled and aroused $341 worth
of charity.
Write your own editorial on this
civilized display.
The Neapolitan beggar holds out his
deformed hand to touch your heart
and get your money. The richest na
tion in the world, where even the poor
gre well-to-do and the powerful
amass billions, put homeless babies
on show tc stir the generous nation
al heart.
One good soul—masculine, of course
—looking sleek, pale, and sanctified,
said: “Poor little creatures, they are
ali illegitimata. It would have been
better perhaps had they never been
born.” ’
How interesting and important, it
true. William the Conqueror was il
legitimate, and Leonardo, with one
exception, the greatest artist, and, by
the way, our own dear ancestors, Cain
and Abel. For it says “God blessed
them, and God said unto them, be
fruitful and multiply, and replenish
the earth and subdue it, and have do
minion over the fish—etec.” But it
doesn’t say anything anywhere about
marrying them.
i
Busy and Happy |
H
By Winifred Black.
: ARY'S husy. .
M I knew she must be, be- |
cause she’s so happy. I saw '
her slipping by in a car the other day. 1
No, she Wasn't s ‘
laughing, or eve M '; i
smiling, but ther 4 “’*;;\,M ,‘wfi
was somethin e ’m"’f = i
about her tha i #@amfi%% Al
made me si Boare. 1
straight up anc -.~;-<-,'s;%; i
bend forwatd an |EEEL.. S| |
say: E ‘ ] J
“How much tha |§See . gLI |
woman looks lik /‘H%:-"« j
Mary, but it can® |, | |
be. She's younge: |i 4 |
than Mary, anc e iß] |
prettier, but—yes |2 o@l |
it Is. Why, wha |{sSeaseni Y |
in the world’s hap- \-{'"\'.///' = ||
pened?”’ G I
Today I heard. Mary’'s busy. That's |
why she looks so young and so differ
ent, and so important and so delight
ed, and so earnest and so interested
and so—happy.
Mary's people are happy, too—
there's such a difference in Mary.
EVERYTHING WRONG. |
“I never saw anything like it,” said
Mary's sister, when she was telling
me about it. “Mary always was the
salt of the earth, but sife hasn’'t had |
anything to interest her spedially
since she broke her engagement with ||
that fool who played the mandolin |!
and sang ‘Eyes of Blue,’ and thought ° I
that was enough to justify his exist- |
ence. |
“And Mary has been growing into 2 L
good deal of a trial. | 5 r
“Bhe wouldn’t call herself ‘in’ on |
anything, don’t you know? She was |
always an outsider looking on at |
whatever happened. {
“There was the Girls’ Club, for in- |
stance. Mary could always think of |
something to criticize in the way they
ran things, and yet she never did any- |
thing for it herself. '
“There was the dancing class for |
the younger set. Mary didn't ap- 4
prove of that. She thought it was
silly, and little Sarah—my little girl— |
irritated her. She said Sarah was :
selfish and. egotistical, and as for
John, Jr.,, she simply couldn’t sit still |
when he was in the room. |
“She said he made her nervous, just |
by the way ‘he breathed. |
“She hated his hats and she couldn’t |
bear his ties, and the way he smoked ;
cigarettes all over the place was sim- |
ply too unbearable. |
“John, Sr., she wasn't so crazy |
about, either. Oh, yes, she knew he |
was good enough, and he was my hus- |
band, and all that—and, of course, I
had to make the best of it, and she |
didn't want to be disagreeable, but ;
where on earth did he get his taste :
for books, and who encouraged him to
think he could play the violin, and |
what a perfect boor that partner of
his was that he was always bringing !
home to dinner, and how on earth did |
I put up with his relatives? ;
“That mother of his was really past *
belief. She was like someone in a
Dickeris novel, only worse, |
“And John's younger brother, well, |
how he kept out of a home for the |
feeble-minded she simply couldn’t un- !
derstand. \ |
A CHANGED WOMAN. |
“The cook was impudent, Mary said, l‘
and the cook was—to Mary—which |
wasn’t astonishing, seeing that Mary
was always trying to give her orders i
and the cook knew Mary didn’t have !
a thing to do with the running of |
the house. The parlor maid was |
‘flighty’ and irresponsible, Mary said, |
and as for the chauffeur, he had about :
as much idea of manners as an Aire- !
dale pup who'd been brought up in |
the kennels and never even seen a t
leash. Oh, Mary was a good deal of |
a trial! ;
“Sometimes I used to wonder how |
long we were going to be able to stand ‘
it, and then one evening she hap- |
pened to hear a war talk, and she ;
went to a Red Cross meeting, and she [
joined a canteen club. And now she's :
knitting at home and answering tele- 3
phones at headquarters, and writing !
letters to the soldiers and visiting the |
sick, and rolling bandages and giving |
dinners for the enlisted men, and f
parties for the saiiors, and she just |
loves everyone and everyone is begin- :
ning to love her! |
“Why, the other day she took little |
Sarah downtown shopping, and little i‘_
Sarah actually wanted to go with her, |
and John, Jr, told me this very |
morning he had never really under
stood Aunt Mary before. And Billy, ||
the brother, says Mary is what he |
calls a good sport. .i
“John, Sr, says Mary is just the |
same as she always was, only now she |
has an outlet for her energy.
‘“He says when the war is over he's l
going to give her a job down at the {
office, and keep her writing letters ‘
and answering telephones, and obey,a“ 1
ing orders from 9 till 5, just to kee‘!& i
her happy.” i
I wonder if there .aren't a good !
many Marys in this country, right |
now, and if their families don't begi%_ ;
to see a great light—all at once—just |
because Mary is busy—at last, |