BRITISH LABOR FOR RAIL NATIONALIZATION
Cossette, Winifred B.
British Labor for Rail Nationalization Byr Winifred B. Cossette THE SPEAKERS' HANDBOOK states: "The policy of the Labor Party, with regard to the railways is thai they should be owned and...
...The Report of the Select Parliamentary Committee on Transport, issued November, 1918, stated that there should be single ownership and single management of all the main railways...
...Sir George Beharrel in explaining the Railway Bill of 1921, said the pTe-war freight charges were higher than any other country, and as the policy of the government was private ownership there must be some inducement for capital to flow into the industry...
...the actual producer received three 2d.'stamps...
...Advantages of nationalization are shown by comparing third-class fares' (1914) for 370 miles: Belgium, 14s...
...Under nationalization the service could be criticised effectively in Parliament as the post office Is...
...The lot of the farmer seems the same, no matter what flag he farms under...
...4d., commission £316s., and railway charges £910s...
...They could not go back to the old system...
...In spite of this the Railway Act, 1921, , set up four railway trusts overlapping and coiftpettng with om another at various points, hut with permls-•fen to raise their rates until they are suf-ietent t» bring » sOmethmg more than tht profits ef 1*18, which were Che highest oil ttiati The trade and industry of Che country are thus sacrificed to private shareholders...
...Denmark, 14s...
...The professional and business classes are no doubt intellectually opposed, but they are out of sympathy wth the present railway management . . . and they will not be active in opposition...
...In every Way they are hampering us...
...Sir Eric Geddes Said of the 700,000 privately-owned freight cars: They are of poor type, not designed ' for economy in transportation, but to suit the particular needs of the owner...
...The percentage of saving in empty haulage and reduced shunting will be very great . . . They cannot be used for back loading, even with agreement it is very difficult to do it...
...English private ownership, 30s...
...I believe the railway employes, the shareholders, and tha mass of the voters are in favor...
...nor even if they were, would they have the political weight necessary for success...
...At the meeting of the American Economic Association, St...
...Labor says the partial unification of the railways into four big companies is a considerable improvement on the pre-war state "when they were split up among some two "hundred companies...
...The credit of the state would enable them to pay lower interest for borrowed capital, to pay better wages to railway workers, and to pro-ride better facilities to the traveling an* trading public...
...cartage came to £113os...
...A financial writer says: "There la some nervousness in the market and among shareholders lest the particularly distressing circumstances of the (railway) accident may not compel the Board of Trade .*o make more stringent regulations for safeguarding the traveling public, which would, of course, mean heavier expenditure for the railway in the near future...
...On state-owned railways greater care will be taken of life and safety of passengers and workers...
...In replying to a Trade Union Congress Parliamentary committee, March 20, lftlS, Lloyd George "referring to the nationalization of railways and canals said he was in complete sympathy...
...The Committee was composed of members of all parties and the finding was unanimous...
...Louis, December, 1910, it will be recalled that Sir W. M. Acworth reported: "Everything in England is making for railway nationalization as soon as political conditions will allow the government time to take up the subject...
...It is progressive that they should be controlled by 102 directors instead of 1000...
...A member of a Farmers' Association sent 7,200 cabbages to Covent Garden where they were sold for £150s...
...British Labor for Rail Nationalization Byr Winifred B. Cossette THE SPEAKERS' HANDBOOK states: "The policy of the Labor Party, with regard to the railways is thai they should be owned and operated as a national service in the interests of the whole community—the general public, the trades, the manufacturers and the workers...
...Under the old system they had an excess of trains serving one district on account of competition, but in another they had been in the hands of one railway, and there had been a dearth of facilities...
...Germany, 20s...
...Switzerland, 15s...
...Nationalization would stop the duplication of railway stations, rolling stock and management...
Vol. 15 • July 1923 • No. 7
