The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13

any in the country. Great applause.) In its
advancement~you have achieved results
that even in my own boyhood would have
been considered magical. You have prac-
tically eliminated distance, subdued nature
and brought into contact the uttermost
ity and modest pride that does you infinite
credit. (Applause)
A POINT SCORED.
But, busy business men that you are, 1
am glad that you have not lost your in
terest in public affairs and are determined
to do all you can for their wise and honest
conduct Indeed, / do not think that there
was ever a time in the history of our
country when many men were inter-
ested in the rightful settlement of public
questions as this year. And class of our
people are so much interested in their
righteous settlement as the men who work
for wages and salary. Great applause and
cries of You are right!) Your zeal is most
commendable, and / thank you for it. 1t
has pleased me very much to observe that
all along the lines of the railways of this
country the employees are organizing, and
l thank them for it. applause and cries
of We don't need thankst) But | want to
give you one piece of advice: Don't use
these great organizations to coerce your
employers to vote the same ticket as you
do. tremendous cheers and laughter,
lasting for several minutes.) And l also
warn you against any attempt to coerce
the officers of your company into voting
and laughter, and cries of 'Hurrah for
McTin.ey!D
gren Ter interest in the prosperity of the
United States which they always do so
NUN to create and promote. than the vast
army of men in our wonderful railway
service No enterprises feel depression
more quickly than the railroads-those
grand arteries of commerce and civiliza-
ton, which have united, developed and
transformed the globe. (Cries of That's
rightl) No agency more accurately regis
tiers the business of the country than the
railroads, and there is none that has so
mira culously advanced it. They connect
the far West with the extreme East; the
constantly traverse every Intervening part
of our common country. Railroads meas
ure by their traffic and their tonnage the
business condition of the cities. villages,
counties and States through which they
pass They are unfailing barometers of
every business change and have never yet
failed to meet every demand made upon
them, however sudden, perplexing or great.
sources and facilities. their efficiency and
capacity. and in the sharp competition
of legitimate business rivalry they
have constantly, of their own free volition,
steadily reduced their rates for both freight
and passenger traffic. They not only regis
ter the domestic trade of the country, but
to a very large degree the foreign trade, for
without their enterprise and liberality the
farmer would be deprived of any partici-
patton in distant markets and the mer-
chant unable to offer his goods at prices
within the means of any of his customers.
and in a system SO great and extensive,
doubtless there have been some, in spite of
their efforts TO prevent extortion rather
than on account of their purpose to prevent
it They are now and always have been
common carriers. and believe that almost
without exception, the aim of their mana
gers is to obiige and not to impose upon
the public. Great applause.)
NO department of human industry in
the United States has made greater adj
vancenent in the last thirty years than
that which you represent. In 1865 the num-
% ifrGp in iFV1 In IL.
country was 35,os7: in 1887, 10000; and in
1898 $4,000 miles. but / believe we have not
been building many. if any. miles of rail-
road since then. We have. at any rate,
fully one-half of all the railroads in the
world The traffic of our railroads is i'm
measurably greater than that of any other
country a single example will suffice to
illustrate this: England is our acl6nowl-
edged greatest commercial rival. and her
foreign trade is the greatest of any. coun-
try in the world. The vessel tonnage en-
tered and cleared in the foreign trade of
London during 1880 was Is. 4S0 767 tons, and
of Liverpool 1924 500 tons. total for these
two great shipping ports Of "A 442. $50 tons.
The aggregate traffic of our railroads in