Railways and the Nation

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUft~TERLY For by natural birth all men are equally ... born to like propriety, liberty and freedom, and as we are delivered of God by the hand of nature into this world everyone with a natural innate freedom and propriety ... even so we are to live, everyone equally ... to enjoy his birthright and privilege, even all whereof God by nature hath made him free.... Every man by nature being a king, priest, prophet; in his own natural circuit and compass" whereof no second may partake but by deputation, commission, and free consent from him whose right and freedom it is.20 This is a statement of the doctrine of Christian liberty with nature written over the word "grace" and man written over the word "believer." In order that the transition from Puritanism to democracy should be effected, it was necessary either that Puritan theology shouJd be abandoned once it had taught the lessons it had to teach and offered the analogies which it had to offer, or-and if.Puritan theology was to be retained this was the sine qua non-a clear-cllt distinction must be established, somewhat ,in the manner of the Baconians, between the spiritual and the secular. That distinction was already made, in the name of Christian liberty, in the Independents ' demand for the absolute separation of church and state, a separation which sec'ularized the state and necessitated a new account of its origin and functions, and of the sanctions on which its authority rested. The secularizing of the state was democracy's opportunity. ~ORichard Overton, An Arrow against all Tyrants, 1646, pp. 3~4; quoted by Haller, I, p. 113. RAILWAYS AND THE NATION'" A. BRADY Of special and timely interest is Railway NationaHzation in Canada by Professor Fournier, an economist of Canadian extraction and American training, for it deals with what is admittedly a cardinal problem confront~ng the Dominion government. The first seven chapters are lucid, well organized, and in every respect an excellent introduction to the problems of railway economics in contemporary Canada. On' some points there is room for a *Railway Nationalization in Canada, by Leslie T. Fournier, Macmillan Company of Canada. 404 REVIEWS slightly different emphasis, but most students of Canadian economic development will accept the accuracy of the general interpretation . What now seem clearly to have been the cruGial mistakes in public policy are duly examined and acutely explained. But in the subs.equen.t part of the volume, while the ~ treatmellt loses nothing in lucidity, Professor Fournier enters more controversial territory. In chapter viii he undertakes an elaborate analysis of Canadian railway operation in the decade 1923-33, wherein he uses the performance of the Canadian Pacific as a yardstick to measure the shortcomings of the Canadian National. He is not ignorant that this type of comparison must necessarily be unfair to the Canadian National. He admits that the national railway suffered from serious disadvantages in .competing wi th the private company: it had a larger mileage of light traffic lines; its equipment and property were at the outset in poor physical condition; it had throughout extensive territories the task of creating goodwill among shippers and the travelling public; as a government-owned railway it was subject to embarrassing pressures from various organized groups, which hampered effective management;· and, finally, in 1922 it was simply a collection of different lines, built for competition, which had to be welded into a unity. While recognizing these facts, Professor Fournier nevertheless proceeds relentlessly with his comparative analysis, reducing with each comparative table the Canadian National to a sorrier and sorrier plight. And, in truth, if judged rigidly by the test of profitable returns on investment, the picture is alarming. Thanks to th~ test which he employs, Professor Fournier can proceed logically to most of his general conclusions, culminating in the necessity of railway unification. In the light of this test it is easy to agree with his thesis that there is Han excess of railway mileage and facilities, and insufficient traffic to support a com-· petitive railway structure," and hence that a complete monopoly with its possi ble economies is the only rational solution of the...