The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 21, 1919, Page 8

"The Swiss Publicly Owned Railways " With a Cost of Construction Several Times That of Our Roads, Switzerland Charges Lower Fares—Profit Eliminated for Service 2 ATt ST e A. M. Todd is a manufacturer in Kalamazoo, Mich., who is widely known as an advocate of important reforms such as public ownership of utilities” and proportional representation. He is now president of the Public Ownership League of America. BY A. M. TODD HE republic of Switzerland well illustrates the beneficent results of public ownership which pre- vails in the various countries of the world outside of the Unit- ed States, England, Spain and a few other coun- tries. Traveling through this “Mountaih Republic” one is immediately impressed with the industry, dignity and the liberty-loving spirit of the people, evidenced by their every act and word. The locomotive engineers, the conductors, the firemen, the brakemen and the men who construct and maintain the railway tracks know that they are not mercenary em- ployes, but are part owners of the railways and of the other public works, and as such they take a just pride and interest in their duties and labors. Under this system strikes and lockouts are unknown, for each employe realizes that in giving his best serv- ice he is rendering a service to the state, and, as a citizen of the state, to himself. It will thus be seen readily how, with each employe giving his best possible endeavor as a ‘“citizen partner,” the state secures much higher efficiency with proportionate decrease in cost to the public, and relative increase in wages. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP SAVES MANY EXPENSES As the enormous salaries paid in America to presidents of public corporations (whose energies are often spent in controlling politics H ; and elections), are unknown in Switzerland, and as all officers and employes are co-work- ers under civil service rules, “soldiers of the -common good,” private graft and plunder are impossible and unknown. To illustrate the results under this system, I purchased a ticket for 42 days’ continuous or in- termittent rides in Switzerland at the pleasure of the holder, any number of miles a day, over any or all of the federal railway lines, more than 1,700, miles in length, including also transportation on the hundreds of beautiful passenger boats on the Swiss lakes, for the equivalent of $27, or at the rate of about 67 cents a day. Tickets are. also is- sued for three, six and twelve months at still lower rates; the regular fares are lower than ours; and yet, although these roads (in some places tunneling through giant mountains, skirting precipitous cliffs and spanning wild canyons at dizzy heights) cost a million dollars per mile to construct in places, and averaged over five times the actual cost per mile of American railways, the results are so highly satisfactory that the republic is constantly build- i ing extensions and making first class improvements. i Besides the season ticket for six weeks referred to, the Swiss federal railroad administration issued until after the beginning of the présent war, “abonnement” . (special season) tickets, good for unlimited travel on all the federal lines and on all the steamers of the Swiss lakes (Geneva, Zurich, Lucerne, Neuchatel, etc.) The rates are as follows: First class Second class Third class Two weeks .....$ 13.50 $ 9.65 $ 680 One month .... 21.25 1450 - 10.60 Three months .. 52.11 36.67 26.05 Six months .... 81.56 56.94 40.53 One year ...... 12931 90.71 64.66 Respecting the quality of service of the various B e classes, let me say that the native Swiss ride quite generally third class. It is clean, sanitary and comfortable, lacking only upholstery. The second class is used largely by the wealthy Swiss and foreign tourists, including Americans, except the very wealthy, and those who desire to APPEAR wealthy. in America. The first class is but very little different from the second, and in many cases the first and second are precisely the same, the only thing which dis- tinguishes them being the label. Train emerging from one of the wonderful “corkscrew” tunnels of the St. Gothard line of the Swiss federal railway system. mountain many hundred feet directly below where the bridge crosses the mountain stream. great cost of such railroad building and to charge pas- senger rates below ours through public ownership. It entered the Switzerland has been able to meet the Both classes are often in the same car, divided by a partition; and the “poster” showing the class is often changed as circumstances require. The first class is ordinarily used by the very wealthy and by some foreigners who have not learned all the conditions; often by Americans with women in the party. But the services of the first and second classes are usually identical. I usually used the second class. There were always reputable, in- telligent and delightful people to meet, and the atmosphere seemed entirely democratic. For reg- ular journeys the rates per mile were for first class, 3.2 cents; second class, 2 cents; third class, 1.6 cents. The rates for round-trip tickets were little more expensive than one-way fares. The Swiss railways put public service, not prof- its and plunder, first. The people, with-their truly democratic system of government squeezed the loot out of the railway business many years ago by honest and efficient regulation. The rail- way speculators, the great financial barons of Europe, soon had to look elsewhere than to the Swiss railways -for doubling their money and “cutting melons” every few years. AMERICA NEEDS THIS FREEDOM When the chance of loot was removed, gov- ernment ownership was easy. Honest people, content to live without gambling gains, are satisfied with govern- ment bonds. We need a new Liberty loan in America to buy our railways and free us from those financial in- terests which have for years wasted the Amer- ican people’s money recklessly, raising the PAGE Swiss federal railway Zurich. e et A A 25 It is practically equal to the first class ‘ cost of living thereby, and have systematically de- bauched our legislatures, state and national, to the lasting shame of our people. Results in efficiency and economy equally mar- velous, as compared with our corporate-owned sys- tems, prevail in the Swiss telegraph, telephone, ex- press and street railways. In comparison \zvxth. such public service one wonders how the American people, in the face of the reckless speculating gnd plundering of the public utilities by so-called “high financiers,” can be induced to permit the functions of their life to be thus controlled and abused. It seems incredible that intelligent men engaged in agriculture, manufacturing and other legitimate lines of business should not join the farmers and wage-earners in the demand for public ownership. Under the present corporate system, the rule of the railroads is to charge “all the commodity will bear,” thus limiting both the profits of the produc- ers and the power of the consumers to pay, while they levy the largest tax possible without entirely killing the industry. Either we must own these transportation and communication utilities or we shall be made complete slaves of the profiteers, and democracy will die within the land which hopes / today to spread it througheut the world. Public Ownership Urged by Railroad Employes “Yours for Government Ownership of Railroads,” is the slogan printed across the top of each num- ber of the Official Circular issued in Washington, D. C., by the railway employes’ department of the American Federation of Labor. A recent number was illustrated by a cartoon, showing the “Rail- way Employes,” personified by a husky brakeman in overalls and hickory shirt, joyously kicking “Pri- vate Owner” out of the open doorway of a boxcar on a rapidly moving train, each car of which bore the letters “U. S. A.” The “Private Owner” was a hugely fat individual with dollar marks on his vest, and he was landing on his head in a snowbank. That slogan and cartoon fairly reflect the view taken by the vast majority of the railroad workers toward the railroad problem. They have taken a secret referendum in all the organizations of rail- road workers except the train crews, and it shows from three-fourths to nine-tenths of the men in each trade and in each region to be anxious for public ownership and democratic control. Their Official Circular has just published a dis- cussion of “Public Ownership and the Railway Speculators,” by A. M. Todd, president of the Pub- lic Ownership League of America, as follows: “The railway workers of the country will not be fooled by the camouflaged attacks on government ownership appearing like locusts everywhere in the public press. Neither will they be diverted from their course by trouble stirred up by railway offi- cials who wish to discredit the present government control. They are going to receive such - justice as the railroad administration is capable of rendering 1 trains entering at the rear of the central sfifion at In that city the street car service, gas, plied by the city itself, and it also provides A poor pgople like the Swiss can not private profiteering in the necessaries of life. electricity and water are sup- a publicly owned theater. afford the luxury of