Whately C. Arnold

“ My reply is that in the case of the company it is the duty of the directors, as trustees for the shareholders, to so carry on the business in question as to produce the most profit, irrespective of any benefit to the community, or, indeed, to any persons other than the shareholders. Railway companies, it is true, provide the benefit of transport, and various advantages held out by the companies as inducements to use their particular lines, but these are, of course, solely offered with the view of increasing the profits. ”

“ As a general rule, any concern which involves a right or easement over land, must be in the nature of a monopoly. Thus the supply of gas, water and electricity, all of which must be conveyed by pipes or wires into houses, are in the nature of a monopoly, but the fittings used in the houses are not, but are susceptible of very efficient competition, both as to workmanship, manufacture and design. ”

“ I do not pretend to be a railway expert, and have only been able to devote the small leisure time available from an exacting business to putting into writing the thoughts which have exercised my mind for many years past. ”

“ This scheme will, in effect, remove the principal obstruction to free circulation of passengers and goods, namely, expense. Cheapness of transport is “twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes”—in other words, it enables the producer, whether agriculturist, manufacturer or merchant, to increase his market for goods, and enables the consumer who requires those goods to purchase at a lower price. It is common knowledge that agriculture in particular in this country is hampered and restricted by heavy charges for freight. ”

“ If, on the other hand, the profits are devoted to improving the efficiency of the service or cheapening the charges, then, not only are there no profits to excite the cupidity of various sections of the community, but the workers do, in fact, benefit by themselves and their families, as well as the whole of the public for whom the services are worked. ”

“ In most parts of the country there never has been any competition, as one company only is available. In others, where more than one company operates, working arrangements have been made not only as to the fares and rates but also as to time of trains, thus precluding any effective competition. In the very nature of things no competition can be effective in a system of railway transit. ”

“ In our Navy, when new inventions are found which increase its efficiency, no time or money is lost in adopting them, even at the expense of discarding comparatively modern men-of-war or appliances. The risk to the nation of not doing so is too great to allow considerations of expense to stand in the way. ”

“ It has no doubt been adopted on the assumption that the greater the cost of production the greater should be the charge, and, therefore, that as it costs more to build 100 miles of railway than one mile, and takes more coal or electric current to haul a train for 100 miles than for one mile, it is necessary to charge more for the longer distance. Even the Post Office still clings to the same idea, in charging higher rates for the telephone trunk service according to distance, although the charges for telegrams are the same for any distance! ”

“ Many inventions for automatic signalling, instantaneous brakes, and other life-saving appliances have been from time to time submitted to railway companies, but the initial expense of installation throughout the many miles of railway of each company has been so great that one hardly wonders at the hesitation of directors in laying out money belonging to the shareholders, especially when, notwithstanding a small normal increase of traffic, the working expenses have increased to a greater degree. ”

“ For instance, if too high a rate is charged for goods of comparatively small value, traders prefer to send by the cheaper modes, namely, by sea or by road, and in many cases it would not be worth while to send at all, whereas in the case of an article like silk or bullion of considerable value the extra cost of carriage even at a high rate would not add appreciably to the price. Therefore, the railway companies are compelled to make lower charges for low-priced goods, otherwise they would lose the traffic altogether. ”

“ As to the questions of officialism and difficulties of obtaining redress, can anyone suggest that these are less in the case of private companies, responsible to no one but themselves, than in the case of a Government Department with a Cabinet Minister at the head who is responsible to Parliament? A vote of censure is one of the most powerful weapons in Constitutional countries against any serious abuse in a Government Department. ”

“ If mail trains can carry mails, with parcels up to 7 lbs. in weight at the same price for any distance, why cannot all trains carry passengers and goods of any size and weight at the same price for any distance? ”

“ Edwin A. Pratt, in his book before referred to, cannot but admit the cogency of the argument in favour of the amalgamation and unification of the railways, but urges that this should be accomplished by the amalgamation of the whole of the existing railways into a Trust or Traffic Board. The answer to this is that when once constituted, even though appointed by Parliament, such a Board is responsible to no one but itself, and, however eminent may be the directors or managers, the want of ultimate responsibility inevitably and unconsciously leads to abuses. ”

“ It is quite clear that the actual cost of haulage for the same distance of say a ton of coal is no more than that of a ton of bricks or of manufactured iron, or of sand, or of a pantechnicon full of [29] furniture, all of which can be carried in open trucks, yet the rates for all these various goods, even for the same distance, differ widely from each other under the present system, and differ again not only according to distance but actually according to the different towns between which the service is rendered. ”

“ Nor is there any reason why this opening up of new markets should be confined to the United Kingdom, for if other nations find that a system of small uniform fares and rates is not only practicable but remunerative here, they will surely follow our example, as in the case of Penny Postage, and the day will not be far distant, after the system has once been adopted in this country, when it will be possible to travel all over Europe at the cost of a few shillings, and to transmit and receive goods at correspondingly low rates. ”

“ In the event of any invention or improvement being made, and proved to be commercially successful, whereby the benefit to the community can be increased, and provided the concern remains in its nature a monopoly, such improvements should be taken over and worked by the State or municipality, and meantime there should be no prohibition of any private enterprise carried on in competition apparent or real. ”

“ Fruit and fish is often thrown away on account of the cost of carriage being more than the value of the goods. On the other hand, the price of food and every commodity has been gradually increasing. With the removal of this obstruction of expense of carriage there must be an increase in the supply of goods, and increased supply means lower prices.
As to passenger traffic, traders will appreciate the great benefit of nominal fares for themselves and their commercial travellers. ”

“ It must be remembered that a sufficiently powerful locomotive and sufficient coal must be provided for every passenger train, on the assumption that it will be full, whether it leaves with a full complement of passengers or not. Therefore, even though the number of passengers now carried were to be doubled in the case of all Main line trains very little increase in the working expenses would result, certainly not so much as the saving effected by the various economies mentioned. So far as goods traffic is concerned, an increase of 10 per cent. ”

“ A further suggestion is that a special Railway Court should be established in London with branches in every important centre, and presided over by competent arbitrators to determine and adjudicate upon claims against the Department for personal injuries to passengers and servants, or for loss of or damage to goods, or by reason of delay, any one accident, involving a large number of claims, being dealt with by the same Court instead of being, as now, the subject of innumerable actions at law in the ordinary Courts. ”

“ No strike is ever successful which does not gain general public support, and even under existing conditions there is much less likelihood of strikes in the case of Civil Servants or postal or municipal employees, partly on account of the better wages paid, the certainty of continuing in employment except for misconduct, and the prospects of a pension, but still more on account of the practical certainty that public support would not be given to a strike which interferes with one of the most important of the public services. ”

“ Other examples of waste under the present system, although not so apparent to the public, are well-known to the railway expert, and involve much greater expenditure of time and money.
I refer in particular to the waste of rolling stock, especially of goods wagons, occasioned by the multiplicity of goods stations, the transfer of rolling stock to and from the lines of different railway companies, the shunting of trains, and the large number of road vans used by the various companies. ”

“ True principle advocated by Sir Rowland Hill in Penny Post—whole country suffers by neglect or expense of transport to distant parts, and gains by including small districts with same rates as populous parts. ”

“ Even those few who might suffer loss by the reform will recognise that the increased facilities of transport, with accompanying decrease of expense, will inevitably result in a great increase in and expansion of trade, by reason of the opening up of markets which have hitherto been practically inaccessible. ”

“ This does not appear to me so formidable an objection as the first, but it is quite possible that a large united body of Civil servants might have power to so influence the Government as to extract higher wages or less hours, if they discovered that by their exertions a very large profit was derived by the railway system.
Some writers have gone so far as to suggest that all persons employed by Government should be disfranchised. Others suggest that special representatives of Government officials should be returned to Parliament. ”

“ A similar proportion of railway passengers to the population of the United Kingdom of nearly 50 millions would be over 4,000,000,000 per annum, so that an actual total of 1,850,000,000 would undoubtedly be much less than may reasonably be anticipated.
5. It is not only the increased number of people who would travel to and from all parts of the country who now cannot or will not do so on account of the expense, but also the increase in the number of journeys undertaken by existing travellers. ”

“ All reforms meet with opposition, mainly from persons whose interests may be prejudiced by the proposed change—also in many cases by experts. As to the latter, one remembers the story of the expert who, when the first proposal was made to cross the Atlantic by steam, wrote a pamphlet conclusively proving, to his own satisfaction, that it was a scientific impossibility to construct a steamer capable of carrying sufficient coal to do the journey! ”

“ Most of the economies referred to must necessarily be effected gradually; for instance, the clerical staffs of the various railway companies and of the Railway Clearing House would be required for some considerable time in the process of winding-up, and by the time this is finished the traffic will have still further increased and their work will then be required in the more necessary departments of, say, the Goods Clearing Houses throughout the country. ”

“ Secondly, the progressive increase of traffic will produce a corresponding increase of revenue which will be available for extensions and additions, for electrification of lines, and other improvements in means of transport, and ultimately even in still further reduction in charges, but last and by no means least in the adoption of appliances and inventions for the safety of life and limb both of passengers and railway servants. ”

“ In practice, the gross revenue is entered with other items of revenue in the National Accounts, and the gross expenditure with other items of general and non-productive expenditure, with the result that the net profits of the Post Office, in effect, become a source of general revenue, and are therefore applied in reduction of general taxation. ”

“ I anticipate opposition from those who object to all forms of State Ownership or State Management.
The late Lord Avebury was one of the most prominent opponents of nationalisation, and his views are set out in his book “On Municipal and National Trading.” [6]
Mr. Edwin A. Pratt has written several books on the subject and has recently collected all the arguments up to date against State Ownership in his book, “The Case against Railway Nationalisation,” [7] In this book examples are given of the experience of foreign countries and the Colonies where railways have been taken over by the State. ”

“ The average rate of 1s. 6d. per ton has been suggested for the slow service because it is believed that this average will allow of a rate for all goods in open trucks as small as the lowest rate now charged for minerals for short distances, the average being maintained by higher rates chargeable for other kinds of goods as already described. If the actual tonnage of goods carried is really less than that mentioned in the official returns (it cannot be more) , it may be found necessary to fix a somewhat higher uniform rate, and the estimates may be affected to a certain degree. ”

“ The only instance of national trading in this Country is the General Post Office, and I think it is correct to say that the original intention when Penny Post was established was to so carry it on that working expenses only should be covered by the revenue. ”