any skilled persons sifted out in the hard school of
competition, and even then the government operation of these enterprises
is not proving satisfactory. Therefore, the ultimate inefficiency that
would arise from the deadening paralysis of bureaucracy has not yet had
full opportunity for development. Already we can show that no government
under pressure of ever-present political or sectional interests can
properly conduct the risks of extension and improvement, or can be free
from local pressure to conduct unwarranted services in industrial
enterprise. On the other hand, our people have long since recognized
that we cannot turn monopoly over to unrestrained operation for profit
nor that the human rights of employees can ever be dominated by
dividends.

Our business is handicapped on every side by the failure of our
transportation facilities to grow with the country. It is useless to
talk about increased production to meet an increased standard of living
in an increasing population without a greatly increased transport
equipment. Moreover, there are very great social problems underlying
our transport system; today their contraction is forcing a congestion of
our population around the great cities with all that these overswollen
settlements import. Even such great disturbances as the coal strike have
a minor root in our inadequate transportation facilities and their
responsibility for intermittent operation of the mines.

We are all hoping that Congress will find a solution to this problem
that will be an advanced step toward the combined stimulation of the
initiative of the owners, the efficiency of operation, the enlistment of
the good will of the employees, and the protection of the public. The
problem is easy to state. Its solution is almost overwhelming in
complexity. It must develop with experience, step by step, toward a real
working partnership of its three elements.

The return of the railways to the owners places predominant private
operation upon its final trial. If instant energy, courage and large
vision in the owners should prove lacking in meeting the immediate
situation we shall be faced with a reaction that will drive the country
to some other form of control. Energetic enlargement of equipment,
better service, cooeperation with employees, and the least possible
advance in rates, together with freedom from political interest, will be
the scales upon which the public will weigh these results.

Importa