The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1888-12-28
THE RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION CRAZE.
u Vtctcs Of Charles Francis adams Set
Forth In q Public Addresa.

1hs Ytcscs Of Charles Francis Adams Sol
Forth In a Public Addrsss.
Charles Francis Adams, president oil
the Union Pacific Railway company, ad-
dressed the Commercial club of Boston
on the subject Of the present condition
and tendencies of ~railroading in this
country. He had been asked particular.
ly to express his views Of the interstate
commerce act and its practical workings.
He said in part:
"Since the inter- state commerce law
went into effect two years ago, there has
been what might be called q craze for
railroad construction. It was impossi-
bic to pool, and the long haul regulated
the short haul. The dishonest method
OF rate cutting and other means to infiu-
ence the course Of traffic resorted to or
devised during the past years, | do not
hesitate to say, are unprecedented i'm the
whole bad record of the past. When
asked why L do not give information
and institute proceedings under the
law, / may say that while [ am morally
sure these things are done, / cannot fur
nish legal proof. It is this absence of
good faith which has brought the rail-
road system to its present condition,
and threatens to carry it still lower. To
attribute it to the interstate commerce
act is an utter mistake. If that act were
totally appealed tomorrow it would pro-
duce but n temporary relief. The rail
road system must heal itself. But in
saying what [ have said l do not mean
to imply that in my Judgment the inter-
state act is a harmless, much
less useful. piece of legislation. On the
contrary, l I'M very sure that as it
stands it is not. Its present effect and
future results are exactly those which
Its trainers never contemplated. The
process of gravitation and consolidation,
SO far as railroads are concerned, was
going on fast enough before, but the
interstate commerce net has given it a
new impetus. Under the operations of
the act the smaller local railroads
throughout the country are being
ground out of existence.
1t is the long haul which brings in
profits. The smaller independent rail-
roads cannot have this, and are being
forced, whether they like it or not, into
the maws. of q few great systems, into
which the railroads of the country are
rapidly crystalizing. Thus the effects of
cnO oSo Tx OCluS lclU ~ Iu0 SLlitlieT
distributing points, which are de-
prived of their market, for those who
formerly BOUGHT of them can get
the same goods ON better terms
from larger and more distant centers.
Contrary to every design of those who
framed the act. It's provisions have
given n new impetus to just those forces
it was intended to hold in check. The
inter state Nero act, acting on the
tendency of natural forces, is rapidly
driving us forward to the same grand
consolidation or railroad trust scheme.
Even this, from my point of view, [
cannot regard as a thing to he dreaded.
L am very sure that great consolidated
corporations or even trusts can he held
to far ~stricter responsibility than nu-
merous smaller and conflicting corpora
tions. A well devised railroad clearing
house scheme would prove in practice
whether it was intended so or not, in
direct line of the enforcement Of the
Interstate act in all its better features,
and it has many such. If [ were asked
this evening for concrete propositions,
[ would say delay, at least for a time,
the present tendency toward crystalliza-
ton or consolidation Ivy repeating the
features of the Interstate commerce act
which are precipitating events in that
direction"