Excerpt from The Railways and the Nation: Problems and Possibilities

The spectacle of a splendidly equipped, partially utilised, and but moderately profitable means of transit like the British railway system, running through miles of fertile but empty country, and connecting congested cities and towns where people lack the means of healthy physical subsistence, is one among many examples of national waste which may be attributed to the lack of system in our social arrangements. From the national point of view a well-ordered transit system is a vital necessity, but the transit system of the country has been allowed to grow up without any attempt at scientific arrangement, with the result - as might have been expected - that in transit matters we now have a chaos of conflicting interests and anomalies with which it will require a very courageous Government to interfere. That the problem of inland transit will have to be faced, and in no half-hearted or uncertain manner, is becoming increasingly obvious, even to those who deprecate Government interference in such matters. To leave the question alone any longer, or to pursue the time-honoured policy of tinkering, must imperil the future prosperity of the nation.

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