The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-09-09
LAURENS. =. c., Sept. ., 1908.
Merely a Fad.

A recent fad of South Carolina news
papers, which will pass away In a few
days, is to criticize the railway com
panies and more particularly the South
ern Railway Company.
Because of an unfortunate series OF
accidents q number of newspapers and
individuals who volunteer to serve as
pegs upon which the reporters hang
interviews have suddenly discovered
that the railway companies are not
properly managed. Meanwhile, the pub
lie has as much or as more to do with
managing the railways in this country
than the railway officials have. If the
legislature, which is the voice OF the
public, should enact that shoe.deal-
ers should sell shoes for two dollars a
pair and no more 1t is possible that the
quality of shoes which now sell for five
dollars the pair would deteriorate. If
the prizes of leather should go up fifty
per cent, the shoe dealers would be
forced to cut down the expense OF max
Ing and selling shoes in order to save
themselves.
Now the public compels the railways
to haul people for three cents a mile or
less. IL dictates the limitations of
freight rates. 1t requires that trains
shall or shall not stop at certain sta
tions aud that certain connections
shall be made. In short, We have a
complicated system of national and
state laws with officers to execute
them which restrict the earnings of
the railways aud consequently the ex-
penditures. When a great freshet de.
sGroys a million or two dollars worth of
property of a railway company, rs the
freshet of last June did for the South
ern, the public does not bother it's mind
concerning how the railway company is
to recover from the loss. IL the boil
weevils destroy half the cotton crop.
the price of the remaining cotton is af-
1ected, but the destruction of half the
railway lines by high waters does not
affec. the pride of TRANSFORMATION be-
cause the law says it shall not.
Meanwhile, tie attitude of the pub.
lie to the railways is one of unfriendl.-
ness. Some men serve on juries with
the predisposition to find verdicts
against railways without any especial
regard to the evidence. The average
man feels that the railway company is
his natural enemy and to be punished
whenever an opportunity is offered.
Undoubtedly, American railways as
a rule are not what they should be.
Most of the accidents, in tie South, at
least, are due to the cheapness with
which the lines are constructed,
equipped and operated. But the pro-
blem is, how a the company build
such trestles and tracks as are had in
England, flood and storm proof tres
tles,-when there is no possible way to
increase the income except gradually:
In the long run it would be good bust.
ness policy TO entirely rebuild most Of
the railways in this state, at twice their
original cost, but where would the
money come from?
1t is probably true that many of the
companies are over-captaliZed and that
there Is waste in the payment of inter.
est and dividends. Thus money is paid
to holders OF watered stock which
ought to go into the roads physical
Improvement. Apart from this, we be.
lieve that the railways are managed
with the best ability available and that
they do the best they can under the
conditions-as a general rue.
The present system of Interference
by the public with the control Of the
railways cannot last. In time the pub
lie must either control and operate
the roads-tbrough government own
ersbip-or else withdraw from the
partial control which results for the
mos. part in the embarrassment of bust
ness without adequate benefit to my
body concerned.