This failure of Socialism especially is true as applied to Germany.  The un-souling of the people has come as the direct result of the use of Socialism by the military autocracy for its own selfish purposes.  Also its failure is repeatedly seen in its actual working, and in spite of the German boast of efficiency.  The best illustration of this, because the one most used by the Socialists on the other side of the argument, is that of the railroads.

Most of the railroad lines of importance in Continental Europe are owned and operated by the various governments.  I can say from my own personal experience and observation that the only railroads that are really well run, so far as I have traveled, are those under private ownership and direction, as in Great Britain and the United States.  I have tried the various trains de luxe and Blitzzüge of Continental Europe and their slow progress and often indifferent accommodations make one long for an English or American express train.  And then to hold first-class tickets in Germany, and be refused admission to first-class compartments still empty “because some officials may want them,” as was my experience in going from Nürnberg to Mainz, does not add to one’s desire for governmental control.  The best European trains do not for one moment compare with those of the privately owned British and American railroads.

According to statistics published in 1913, the railroads of the United States were capitalized at $60,000 per mile under private ownership; the government-owned German roads at $109,000 per mile, and this in spite of the far cheaper costs of building.  Railroad rates in the United States, both freight and passenger, under private ownership have been among the lowest in the world.  The first thing that our government control has brought about is a raise in rates that exceeds by far what the private managements would have dared even to imagine, much less ask of the Interstate Commerce Commission.  And this has been accompanied by a marked deterioration of service, all of which can by no means be blamed upon conditions resulting from the war.  Poorer service at higher cost is the almost universal experience, in the long run, of government-owned public utilities both here and abroad.

The Boston Commercial in 1913 called attention to the fact that in France the year 1912 was marked by the largest increase in gross receipts on record, for both government and privately owned railroads, but the privately owned roads showed an improvement in net earnings almost three times as great as that of the nationalized railroads.  These failings noted above are almost inevitably found wherever the government owns the railroads or other utilities, or else these utilities are run at a loss and the difference made up in the tax bills of the people.  Government control never is as efficient and economical as private control, even though all questions of political power and influence be omitted from consideration.[10]