Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/373

 SOME ENGLISH RAILWAY PROBLEMS OF THE NEXT DECADE publication of the Board of Trade Return relating to overtime on our English Railways, and the disastrous Scotch strikes, have directed public attention to the administration of these great enterprises, which have become a xqtal part of the daily life of every Englishman.

There is undoubtedly a growing feeling that some change is necessary in the present organization, as it has proved unable to prevent the loss and misery of the strike. Now that the jubilee of the world's railroad system is past, and that the main arteries of traffic are definitely constructed in all the older countries of the world, it ought to be possible to collect enough facts to make some generalisations with regard to the policy of our English system, to see where our shortcomings lie, and to suggest certain principles upon which improved methods of administration might be founded. Unfortunately, the very conditions of the railroad problem are so various and so constantly changing, that even the best books on railroad policy, such as Hadley's Railroad Transportation (Putnams), need to be brought up to date. Ve have therefore to ask ourselves at the beginning, What are the conditions which the public may fairly ask that a private railroad system like ours should fulfil in 1891, remembering that, as regards the main arteries of traffic at any rate, our system is practically complete. For the sake of clearness I will attempt to arrange these conditions under four headings, and discuss how far they can be carried out without injustice.

x There was an equally bitter and almost equally protracted strike in Ireland last year, but as no evictions were involved, the picturesque correspondent was conspicuous by his absence, and the London newspapers ignored it almost entirely.