The Government today is lending vast sums to
the railroads, aware of the necessity for maintaining
their financial integrity in the face of declining
revenues. Why, then, should it appropriate an even
larger sum of money to construct a new competitor
for the railroads. Either the one or the other use
of public funds is not justified.
There may be some sound arguments for ratifi
cation of the waterwaws treaty with Canada, but,
if so, they are largely with Canada and a few lake
ports. They should be balanced against the very
grave objections to ratification. If the waterway
is built and operates at rates lower than present
rail rates, it is certain that the public will be pay
ing, indirectly, a subsidy to grain and other produc
ers using the new route, at the same time dealing
a severe blow to the railroads, in effect canceling
the gains of the vast loans already made to the
railroads, crippling the Mississippi Valley system
of waterways and striking hard at every important
trade center in the Middle West below the lakes.
It isn't at all surprising that the Italians should
be the ones to produce a silent cannon. Mussolini
is the only big gun in that country that’s permit
ted to make a loud roar.—(Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Captain Kidd was only a fourth-rate gentle
man and a third-rate pirate, reports a historian.
