equipment of every kind. Only under that authority can
new terminals be constructed and developed without regard to the
requirements or limitations of particular roads. But under government
administration all these things will be possible,--not instantly, but as
fast as practical difficulties, which cannot be merely conjured away,
give way before the new management.

The common administration will be carried out with as little disturbance
of the present operating organizations and personnel of the railways as
possible. Nothing will be altered or disturbed which it is not necessary
to disturb. We are serving the public interest and safeguarding the
public safety, but we are also regardful of the interest of those by
whom these great properties are owned and glad to avail ourselves of the
experience and trained ability of those who have been managing them. It
is necessary that the transportation of troops and of war materials, of
food and of fuel, and of everything that is necessary for the full
mobilization of the energies and resources of the country, should be
first considered, but it is clearly in the public interest also that the
ordinary activities and the normal industrial and commercial life of the
country should be interfered with and dislocated as little as possible,
and the public may rest assured that the interest and convenience of the
private shipper will be as carefully served and safeguarded as it is
possible to serve and safeguard it in the present extraordinary
circumstances.

While the present authority of the Executive suffices for all purposes
of administration, and while of course all private interests must for
the present give way to the public necessity, it is, I am sure you will
agree with me, right and necessary that the owners and creditors of the
railways, the holders of their stocks and bonds, should receive from the
Government an unqualified guarantee that their properties will be
maintained throughout the period of federal control in as good repair
and as complete equipment as at present, and that the several roads will
receive under federal management such compensation as is equitable and
just alike to their owners and to the general public. I would suggest
the average net railway operating income of the three years ending June
30, 1917. I earnestly recommend that these guarantees be given by
appropriate legislation, and given as promptly as circumstances permit.

I need not point out the