By an Act of Congress, approved by the President on 21 March 1918, the conditions of this Federal possession were fixed and its dura tion limited to the duration of the war with the Central Powers and 21 months thereafter, subject to the discretionary power of the Presi dent to relinquish possession at an earlier date. The constitutional right of the owners of the properties to "just compensation" was protected, in the same act, by a grant of jurisdiction to the Court of Claims to entertain and determine suits to fix damages for such taking and use of corporate property, but provision was also made for contracts guaranteeing remuneration equivalent to the average earnings of the three years' period that ended with 30 June 1917. By the end of the first quarter of 1919, such con tracts had been negotiated between the Federal authorities and a considerable number of the more important railway corporations, but there were still many which had not accepted the terms offered or as to which negotiations had not been pressed to completion.
The sudden transformation from private management, subject to public regulation, to public management, thus effected has produced an entirely novel series of problems the char acter and dimensions of which are only ning to become capable of recognition.
involve fundamental questions of public policy, of political and economic institutions and will require decisions which must be made within a brief period, that are certain to affect the moral and material welfare of the people for many generations. The American people have not been committed to and certainly do not desire gov ernment ownership or operation of their rail way system. In proclaiming the assumption of
possession by the Federal government, the President declared his purpose to preserve the operating organizations and their personnel and to do nothing to impair the rights of ownership. Congress supplemented this by an explicit legislative disclaimer of any purpose even to lay a foundation for a permanent change of ownership or of immediate control. Moreover, as the experiment continues it becomes in creasingly evident that it 'offers nothing of attraction adequate to replace the advantages experienced during the long period of progress under regulated private management.
Bibliography.— Daggett, S., (Railroad Re organization> (Cambridge, Mass., 1908) ; Davis, E. A., (Nationalization of Railways> (London 19013); Droege, J. A., (Freight Terminals and Trains' (New York 1912); Edwards C., (Rail way Nationalization> (London 1898) ; Haney, L H.,
Congressional History of Railways' (Madison, Wis., 1908) ; Hooper, W. E., (Rail road Accounting> (New York 1915) • Johnson and Huebner, (Railroad Traffic and Rates> (New York 1911); Johnson, E. R. 'Principles of Railroad Transportation> (New 'York 1916) ; Mossop, C. P. (Railway Operating Statistics> (London 1911) ; Pratt, E. A., (Railway Na tionalization> (London 1908). Consult also Poor,
H. T. NEwcoMB, Author of