The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-10-11

tiOns and corporate resources to such
an extent that they cannot either ex-
pand on the one hand or perform their
| given duties in satisfactory manner
| on the other, thus holding back the
progress and development of the sec
ton In which they are located. This
MAJ be accepted as an economic
axiom which few will SEX TO contro-
vert; no country or section OF coun-
| try can progress or develop quickly
| without adequate and efficient railway
| facilities and no railway facilities can
/ be adequate or efficient when a hostile
public spirits frightens away capital,
| and puts a decided check on improve
! ments. One may try to reason away
an axiom like this until doomesday,
! but however plausible the reasoning
| the fact remains.
| Here are a few Of the facts regarding
! the great railway systems in the south
! Atlantic Coast Line barely earning
common dividend.
| Southern railway not earning haf
of it's preferred dividend and paying
exorbitant rate Of interest for loans.
! Seaboard facing a growing deficit
| and consequent disaster.
Georgia Central passing dividends
on portion of incomes
Nashville, Chattanooga and St
Louis showing decreased net earnings
Louisville and Nashville barely hold
ing it's own,
DANGER OF THE EBB TIDE.
It is safe to say that without these
railroads and 'runk lines the south
would be far less prosperous today
than it is. For three decades after the
war the south hardly knew the mean
ing of the word progress, and it was
only in the early nineties when the
linking up of railways in that section
began that prosperity came in it's full
tide Possibly the ebb may be as
strong as the tide if there is not an
enlightened determination to give
every corporation a fair and square
deal and to cooperate with them in
the development of the south's vast
resources and the progress of that sec
ton. It is doubtless true that the rail-
ways in the south are paying the pen
alties for past sins, that it is, doubt
less just retributiOn; but it must
never be forgotten that if the railroads
must suffer, the south's business must
also suffer. and that prosperity and
development will be retarded. That is
another fact that the south should
+1ke to heart
Those who are loudest in their out
cry in the south claim that the facili-
ties of the railroads for handlineg the
traffic offered are by no means ade-
r quate. But hickory club in the hands
of state legislature or a state COM
mission cannot make them adequate
Money is needed here just as it is
needed in all forms of expansion and
development; money and money alone
Will supply the necessary equipment
But where is this money coming from (?
Not from surplus funds, for the south
ern railways are doing little more
than earning their necessary fixed
charges at this time, and despite this
legislatures and commissions are or
derlng radical reductions; salvation
: does not lie in this quarter then
Where else then can the railroads seek
the millions necessary to equip their
| INES with adequate rolling stock and
bring their lines to the. highest effiCi-
ency? Where, indeed, except among
, investors at home and abroad? And
it is just here that the widespread
ant1-cOrpOrate hostility lays a chilling
hand on the south's advance Invest
| ors are unwilling to place their funds
IN enterprises against which the public
hand is raised; they will not run any
risk of conf1scatiOn, even though that
rrlsk is remote in the extreme. This
then, is the situation in which most
or the southern roads find themselves:
a public on the one hand clamorire
i for greater facilities and lower rates
and on the other an investment senti-
ment para1yzed by this very clamor.
Between these two millstones are the
railways of the south, and what the
outcome will be time alone can tell
Without money there can be no in
creased efficiency; without this in
creased efficiency there can be no
progress; without public good will and
hearty public cooperation there can
De no money, investors holding back
IN rear Nothing could better sun,
up the situation in the south at this
tlme; 1t is the old story of Man eats the
Duck Ducks Eats the Worm, Worm
Eats the Man; that is the refrain of
our mortality just as the above clauses
> are the rHfrain Of the south's business
/ life at this time.
1t might be we'll here m noint on,
1e" instances of the wonderful de-
veiopment OF the south in the past
decade or so as an illustration of vb :,