The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-06-01
THE LESSON OF
RAILROAD CORRUPTION.
New Orleans States.

The shocking corruption which has
been exposed in the administration of
the Pennsylvania railroad has sick
ened the public mind because it is
| indicative Of general rottenneSs in
the railway world, and at the present
time thoughtful people are wondering
what will be the effect of these reTe-
lations on the millions of railway en-
rloys throughout the country. That
il will result in far-reaching OemOr-
aliZation there is little reason to-
doubt. IL is not wise to overlook or
attempt 20 discount the shock that
these employees Will suffer when they
realize that their superior officers
who have been preaching fidelity and
honor to them have all the time them
selves been common grafters. That
the moral eject will be bad is in
evitable.
There is no railroad that has rank
ed higher than the Pennsylvania. tt
has been held up to the whole world
as a model of superb management,
and for years the people Of the
United States have regarded it as the
greatest and most honestly conduct
ed Of their railways, but now they
see that its officials have encouraged
and accepted brides by the wholesale.
Therefore It is impossible for the
public mind TO escape the conclusion
that IL corruption is rife among theI
officials Of this model road what may
be true OF the other roads that rank
far below it. The logical conclusion
is that IL the officers Of the Penn
sylvania railroad are, as they have
been shown to be bribe-takers there
is no reason to suppose that the Off
GERS of other roads are innocent, sol
il would appear that a general in
vestigation is not only inevitable, but
imperative
IN the light Of the Pennsylvania ex-
posures the people are able to under
stand things that heretofore it WIS
difficult to account for. For many
years they have shown that the great
railway system granted rebates, but
il was explained apOlogetically that
the rebates were wrUng from them by
powerful and selfish shippers. WHILE
accepting, with an allowance of salt.
this explanation thoughtful-mindedI
persons wondered why the RAILROADS
could not put an end to the rebate
evil by So simple a device as refus-
ing to haul the freight Of this class
OF shippers unless they paid the
usual rates. Now, however, the publ
lie understands quite well that the
railroads were neither terrOrized nor
bulldozed, but on the contrary, the
officers reduced rates to great indus
trial corporations in order to putt
money in their pockets. The rebateI
system did not pay the stockholders,
but ii paid immensely well the man
ayers of the roads who got money
and valuable stock in the Standard
Oil Company, in coal companies and
in other corporations which wereI
large shippers.
II has been made as plain as any
thing can that the rebate is insepara-
bly, connected with the corruption of
railroad officers. II has existed mere
ly because those officers could bel
bought TO betray the interests of The
stockholders and the public whose
servants they are, and the manv mil
lions Of dollars which this corpora
ton has cost those interests will per
haps never be known. Any idea that
may have existed in the public mind
that the railroads we're held up has
been daspelled, for II is now plain
that the roads could have most efIcc-
lively resisted them. But II was
found profitable not to resist hence,
hundreds Of thousands of dollars went
into the pockets of railroad managers
as the result of their despicable trea-
son TO those whose trustees they
were. There is nothing now so APP
parent as the need of a general rail-
road Investigation and with the lights
before US there is no reason to doubt
that whatever the probe is inserted
corruption will be found.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS