Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

Wire photograph of Georgi Malenkov in one of his happier moods "Thank you, America, for what you're doing to your railroads !" We're not alarmists, but the current plight of America's railroads must give quite a chuckle to the men in the Kremlin. Our railroads, after all, areour first line of transportation defense. In World War II they carried 90% of all military supplies, and carried 95% of all military personnel. And right now the railroads are having a rough time handling present demands— to say nothing of what they'd be up against in a national emergency. At this very moment the nation is suffering from a shortage of over 100,000 freight cars. You may not realize it, but the situation is so serious that our farmers and other producers can't get their products to market. Boats have been tied up in harbors for days on end, waiting for freight cars to unload their cargo. What would happen if the Suez crisis suddenly burst into flame? What would happen if the Reds suddenly struck somewhere else? It's not a pleasant thought. The bald truth is that our railroads are being starved to death through political regulation. They lost over a half billion dollars last year on their passenger business alone. They are fighting for their lives in the face of subsidized competition from highly prosperous users of airways, waterways and highways. They are being hit right and left by murderous and discriminatory taxes. The Central's answer: 17,000 new freight cars In spite of all these handicaps, the Central has ordered more than 17,000 new freight cars, at a cost of over $178,000,000. That's right— over seventeen thousand freight cars — enough to make a train that would stretch almost from New York to Washington. You can bet they'll be a big help. But this is only the beginning of what we want to do and would do if we were allowed to stem our losses and run our business the American way instead of the Russian way. (The Russian way is without profit.) Not until the railroads are allowed to make a fair return — just like America's retail stores, coal operators, manufacturers and public utilities — can we be expected to replace our worn-out equipment. (More than one-third of U. S. freight cars are over 25 years old . . . and more than two-thirds of U. S. passenger cars are over 25 years old!) Not until the railroads are allowed to make a fair return can we give the nation the truly modern railroad service that present-day technology makes possible. And, far more importantly, notuntilthen can our railroads be ready to meet any crisis that the Kremlin could precipitate. New York Central Railroad Broadcasting Telecasting October 29, 1956 Page 79