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Railroads Can Aid U. S. Shipping band Carriers Have Opportunity to Promote Development of Merchant Marine--What Railroad Executives Think of Alliance EEN appreciation of the mer- K chant marine problem is held in railroad circles, and yet rail- road officials as a class have had prac- tically nothing to say regarding the maritime legislation which has been constantly before congress ever since the summer of 1914. To the railroads, the merchant marine is looked upon primarily as a traffic feeder, an agency to develop business for themselves. Whether or not the fleet should be under the flag of the Unietd States is a thing which not all railroad execu- tives are convinced is essential. For instance, Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, said: "The American railroads are, of course, interested in the volume of for- eign trade primarily to the extent that they participate in the land movement of such tonnage, and indirectly to the extent that such business is helpful to all interests in this country. If the effect of an American merchant ma- rine would be to increase our foreign trade, the railroads would, of course, be benefited by that fact." Mr. Willard' made a blunt state- ment of railroad policy. But undoubt- edly there are extenuating circum- stances concerning which the railroads have not had. an opportunity as yet to satisfy themselves. As a prominent railroad official pointed out, the roads have had sufficient worries of their own during the past three years and are having the greatest worries of their existence today. They are soa consumed with their own problems that they have not had time to con- sider, much less study, the merchant marine question. Freight Tonnage Slackens As feeders of traffic, it is doubt?- ful whether the merchant ~. ships serving American ports are today de- veloping the volume of commerce they fostered prior to the war, despite the fact that the American marine is many times over again as large as during the prewar days. In 1910, a total of 7961 merchant ships entered the port of New York, representing in all 20,933,278 net tons of shipping. The volume of entrances during the current year of 1920 will be less than this amount. Approximately, the American merchant fleet increased dur- ing this time from 2,000,000 gross tons to 12,000,000 gross tons, but despite its growth the traffic moved in and out of the ports of the United States has apparently not been appreciably in- creased. The railroads are forced to measure the value of anything in terms of results in freight movement and on the face of it they «are not. ..con- vinced that all the great expenditures made in shipping by the government, despite the nation-wide hurrah made for the support of an American mer- chant marine, has established the value of that fleet. This seeming indifference on the part of railroad men toward the mer- chant marine development, which the figures would apparently prove to be a business ike stand, is, however, forced upon the railroads by circum- stances. The inland transportation problem is today most serious, The trafic experts of the country believe it is the more acute problem and the one which is fraught with the greate danger to the public. The railroads are today in no position to move an increased volume of freight. They will not be in any position _to in- crease the freight movement apprecia- bly during the next nine months. Even should the merchant marine develop- ment be such as to lay down on American shores vast supplies of new trafic and to move other great piles away, the railroads would not be able to keep the port cities cleared of the traffic thus offered .them. The American railroads scrap nor- mally 100,000 freight cars a year. Just that many cars wear out annually. This means that at least 100,000 new freight cars must be purchased every year if the normal freight movement is to be maintained, and even more than that must be' built if traffic fa- cilities are to show a normal and necessary growth. During the war, it was difficult to have new cars and locomotives built, even when the government finally de- cided to order them. During the 26 months the railroads were under gov- ernment control, only 100,000 freight cars were built and added to the equipment of the roads. This number did not take care of normal replace- ments. Consequently, today the rail- roads are conservatively estimated to be short 250,000 freight cars, 4000 locomotives and 10,000: passenger cars ene Fullmans, .The nation is' con- fronted with a serious menace to its business and with great delays in railroad operation and freight move- 376 ment. With the consuming public pe. seeching increased production to bring about lower prices of essential com- modities, the railroads discover them- selves in a position where they wil| not be able to. move the increased production even should the output be- come an actuality during 1920. The domestic trafic of the railroads is a problem of sufficient magnitude to turn the hair of railroad men gray. Immediately after their release from government control, the railroads set about adjusting their affairs: The first need was capital for new equip- ment. The New York Central and the Pennsylvania, the two strongest of the American railroads, made the first attempt to attract investors. The Pennsylvania offered the public a new $50,000,000 issue, but was compelled to offer 7 per cent interest in order to raise the money. If the strongest of the railroads must pay 7 per cent for money, the weakest of the roads will be compelled to borrow at pawn- Brome: tates. So long as. they are forced to pay so dearly for money the railroads will be in no position for joining in the larger development of American transportation by encour- aging the sending of the American mae across the sea*to carry and to bring back additional freight. Encouraged by Merchant Marine On the other hand, there are some railroad executives who undoubtedly foresee a betterment, an improvement of traffic conditions by this larger development. And _ this - improvement will most likely redound to the benefit of the railroads themselves. "It is doubtless patent to everyone,' said F. D. Underwood, president of the Erie Railroad Co., "that the railroads are interested in any scheme of trans- portation that will relieve the port terminals of Greater New York (which includes the Jersey shore), and in fact the whole Atlantic seaboard, through any medium affording facilities which allow the prompt transfer of commod: ities from cars to the ship's side. "There is no doubt that railroads would be benefited by the operatiou of an independent marine fleet, rathet than one operated under government auspices. Government processes 4P" plied to ordinary business operation® are blighting." Mr. Underwood's views on blighting influence of government owl the