and similar farmers' organizations, to the institution of Federal regulation of interstate commerce (see Interstate Commerce Commission). Thus the power of the Federal Government became the chief factor in the fixing of freight rates. Until several years ago this system worked with fair satisfaction to all parties concerned. But then came the gradual rise in the prices of all products of industry, and, so far as the railways were concerned, the prices of steel rails and other metals and those raw materials needed for the manufacture of railway equipment also rose. Finally the demands of the powerfully organized railway employees caused a rise in the cost of labor. Unable to meet these rising costs with a proportionate increase in rates, to which the regulating bodies would not consent for fear of popular disapproval, the railway managements gradually found themselves facing a deficit in the financial administration of their lines.
The crisis came in 1917, with the outbreak of the war with Germany, when many of the railways of the country were on the verge of bankruptcy. To avert the threatened financial crisis in the railway industry, President Wilson, on Dec. 26, 1917, issued a proclamation instituting government administration of the railways of the country and suspending private management. The administration of all railways was immediately placed under a Director-General of Railways, who had not only the power to control, but actually to manage them and to appoint or dismiss such heads as he might choose.
Other contributing reasons there were, too, for this act; the need of pooling all the transportation resources and equipment of the nation for war purposes, which were for the time being paramount.
By an Act of Congress, which became law on March 21, 1918, the proclamation of the President was approved and Federal administration of railways was fixed for the duration of the war and for twenty-one months after, though the President retained the power to return the roads to private management any time after the close of hostilities, should he see fit. By this Act the private owners were to be allowed remuneration equal to the average earnings of the different roads during the three years preceding the taking over of the administration by the Government. A special Court of Claims was granted jurisdiction over any claims that might be made by railway owners under this guarantee, but in most cases special contracts were made with the individual railway companies, whereby these claims were adjusted.
Under Government administration railway rates, both passenger and freight, were substantially increased, yet on Aug. 1, 1919, Director-General Hines reported a deficit in the revenues of the railways under his control amounting to $296,000,000 for the first six months of the year.
The war having come to an end, there immediately arose a strong agitation, emanating from the Railway Brotherhoods (q. v.) against the return of the roads to their private ownership, the alternative offered being a proposal known as the Plumb Plan, whereby it was proposed that the administration of the railways should remain in the hands of a commission on which the Government and the employees should be equally represented. This proposal, however, found little support outside the ranks of the organized railway employees and radical circles, and on Dec. 24, 1919, President Wilson signed a decree returning the railways to private administration, to take effect on March 1, 1920. Since then numerous hearings have been held regarding the financial condition of the railways of the country, with the result that a demand has been formulated by the various owners for heavy financial aid to be granted by the Government for the purpose of restoring the roads and their equipment to their former degree of efficiency, much deteriorated since the early days of the war.
RAIMONDI, MARCANTONIO, an Italian engraver; born in Bologna, Italy, late in the 15th century. A goldsmith by trade, he early turned to engraving, and received his first great stimulus from woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer, which he saw at Venice about 1505. At Rome, where he worked from 1510, he was chiefly engaged in engraving Raphael's works, as “Lucretia,” the “Massacre of the Innocents,” the “Three Doctors of the Church,” “Adam and Eve,” “Dido,” “Poetry,” the “Judgment of Paris,” etc., and subsequently those of Raphael's pupil, Giulio Romano. He is accounted the best among the engravers of the great painter. He died some time before 1534.
RAIN, in meteorology, the fall of water in drops from the clouds, or the drops which fall. A cloud consists of aqueous vapor, the individual vesicles of which are very small. When by the constant condensation of fresh aqueous vapor these vesicles become large and heavy, and several of them unite, they are unable to resist the action of gravity and fall as rain. In geology, the
