It is predicted that Sir Eric Geddes will shortly raise
passenger fares on the railways still further. Well, we are all in favour of the railways being made to pay. At present they are being subsidized. But the experiences of Whitsuntide convey two warnings. One is to the railway employees to whom it is being demonstrated that an industry cannot pay in wages more than it earns. If it tries to do that it will wither away and collapse. The other warning is to the Government, who will do well to remember that circulation by means of easy and cheap transport is one of the greatest blessings a country can have, and a blessing without which trade cannot possibly thrive. If the Whitsuntide holiday-makers have indicated that the roads are an excellent alternative to the railways, the Government must not try by artificial means to prove that the public is wrong. However they may make the railways solvent, they must not do it by taxing the transport of the roads out of existence.
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