Page:Fred Arthur McKenzie - British Railways and the War (1917).djvu/38

 war came. Co-operation has proved to be better than cut-throat competition. In the old days the Railway Clearing House at Euston provided the machinery for a limited amount of co-operation, but one dissentient could often hold up great reforms. The Railway Executive Committee of to-day is almost certain to develop into a permanent central body which will act as the coherer, the organiser, and the Supreme Court of Appeal among railways themselves, when rival schemes threaten conflict. This central body will promote economy of effort. It will prevent extravagant and excessive competition, and it will, if wisely guided, hold the scales evenly between the triple claims of the railway proprietors, the railway employees, and the general public.

The second problem is that of wages. Practical railwaymen maintain that under normal conditions it will be impossible to pay, when the companies emerge once more from Government control, anything like the war bonus of 15s. per week per man now received. Any attempt to revert to the pre-war wages would probably plunge us into a labour war. What will be a fair and practical wage for the men after the war is over? How can it be paid? If a substantial increase on the pre-war rates is found necessary—as many think it will be—how are the companies to meet it? Are they to be allowed to maintain higher passenger rates or to increase freight charges? If so, will these higher charges mean increased revenue? It is an axiom of