West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-07-06

comes over l1etr earnings OF pase
years, but so far they are operating
tremendously. And in harmony
only IS there profit
Let the reader pause and reflect
on this sentences: ain harmony
there is profit" Harmony" means
co operation between railroad man
ayers to "milk the. unorganized
masses"
THAT harmony is essential to
profit is a fact that has been empha-
sized by instances so abundant that
it would seem to be idle to give it
repetition, yet it has been taught in
vain to railway managers in con-
spicuous quarters. The West and
Northwest just now are continuing
it. Disturbances are invited and
fights are maintained; rates are cut
and earnings are sacrificed-all in
excusably, all indefensibly-till fl
nally there come results that demon
alize investors and drive conserva-
tive stockholders into losses that
were better named robberies.
"Only few weeks ago Mr.. Fred
eriek Taylor, one of the most
thoughtful and reputable members
of the New York Stock Exchange,
argued with a good deal of forceful-
ness in one ofour reviews in favor ola
Governmental supervision of our
railway management. He made it
very clear that we have on our hands
a most perplexing problenl-that of
the relations of our railway corpo-
rations to the public welfare-a
problem each day approaching clos
err and closer to crisis where its
solution cannot he longer safely de
layed. 1t is not, however. with ref
erence so much to the cogency of
Mr.. Taylor's argument that atten-
ton is directed here as il is to the
DRIFT of the letters that his timely
essay has provoked. A score and
more Of the most prominent and In
fluential of the railway Directors
and managers of the country have
addressed him touching the subject
Of his writing. Many ofthem have
dissented from his views, found
fault with his conclusions, and con.
troverted his doctrine. But in every
one of the letters there has breath
ed the spirit of anxiety. Some OF
the writers-not one of them a man
of small consequence-have talked
almost with hopelessness. The Pres
ident of one of the greatest corpora
tians in the Northwest, reciting the
difficulties now attending railway
management in that part of the coun-
try, writes letter that sounds like
a very wall. Something must be
done" he declares, land done quick
w." averring that continuance ofthe
present conditions, the oyerbuildng,
the "paralleling," the causeless and
senseless rate wars, the purely spec
ulatively spirit of most new enter
prises, the disposition of Granger
legislation to treat corporate inter
ests illiberally-these present con-
ditions, he urges, are threats of a
most substantial and grieyous sort,
from which, if relief does not come
quickly, disorder must proceed.
LET thoughtful men reflect on the
letter of this railroad president.
Something must be done quickly,
= the disposition of Grang-
err legislation to treat corporate
interests illiberally + 4 are
threats from which, if relief does
not come quickly, disorder must pro-
coed" 1t has been the aim of rail
road managers to have their pimps
and attorneys in Legislatures and to
exclude men of brains who study
this subject and who refuse to wear
the collar. These latter are never
ilHberal but they try to protrect the
people against those who plumber
them.
STheSe letters were not prepared
to serve any speculative purpose.
They are not the buncombe of pro-
fessional bears. Back of them is no
scheme to knock down prices on the
Stock Exchange. They are the dec
larations of straightforward bust
ness men touching matters wherein
they have the liveliest concern, and
in pointing out the existence of dan
gers their object is not to erect
scarecrows to demoralize confidence
but to seek remedy for evils that
are clearer to them than to others.
Railway men all over the coun
try have witnessed lately with the
deepest concern the altogether re-
rnarkable policy that has been put
in force by the Railway Commission
ers of Iowa, a policv illibersl to the
last degree. In some quarters the
aggressivenesS ofthese State officers,
who make rulings and establish
rates that mean little else than bank
railways affected, are supposed to be
prompted merely by the incentives
of cheap politics. But the opinion
in a wider circle prevailing is that