Investors in railway securities may rest assured that their rights
and interests will be as scrupulously looked after by the Government
as they could be by the directors of the several railway systems.
Immediately upon the reassembling of Congress I shall recommend that
these definite guarantees be given:
First, of course, that the railway properties will be maintained
during the period of Federal control in as good repair and as
complete equipment as when taken over by the Government, and, second,
that the roads shall receive a net operating income equal in each
case to the average net income of the three years preceding June 30,
1917; and I am entirely confident that the Congress will be disposed
in this case, as in others, to see that justice is done and full
security assured to the owners and creditors of the great systems
which the Government must now use under its own direction or else
suffer serious embarrassment.
The Secretary of War and I are agreed that, all the circumstances
being taken into consideration, the best results can be obtained
under the immediate executive direction of the Hon. William G.
McAdoo, whose practical experience peculiarly fits him for the
service, and whose authority as Secretary of the Treasury will enable
him to co-ordinate, as no other man could, the many financial
interests which will be involved and which might, unless
systematically directed, suffer very embarrassing entanglements.