The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-02-19

tracking it, roads where the demand
on them are the greatest. instead ~
acquiring, al great cost. other -,
with n view OF maintaining a monot
oily in transportation In the t"r4 .'Fs
where the roa1s acre acquired Il;
would have pursued the wis oeiaSN
and certainly would have he'.cr served
the territory which Il had already
entered.
The article referred TO states. "the
present density Of freight traffic upon
the enlarged system. as expressed Ia
tons moved one mile, is almost exact
~ twice that Of the system OF 1905.
This means that freight ira file l.
trebled and quadrupled upon the main
line. Add to this the further facts
that the average train load is about
IL what il is on roads known FOR
their heavy loading, such as the Great
Northern, Norfolk and Western and
several others. and that TO-DAY the
system has but 1876 miles Of second
track, and one gets some idea OF the
handicaps under which the manage
ment struggles in the handling OF
traffic. Operating officials Of the
Southern Railway attributes the rea-
son of the rapid rise in operating eX-
penses TO the congestion of traffic.
They believe hat If the main line
were double tracked as far as Birm-
ingham. or even. Atlanta. the road
would be handling its increasing bust
ness at u profit. despite the prevailing
high level Of labor and material costs.
1t is a strong endorsement OF this
view. that on the Pennsylvania, where
q far greater onnag of freight than
was offered i'll the famous blockade
of 1902 is being handle with a
smootnness never before approached,
operating expenses have recently in
creased only moderately"
This article says further that de-
spite the generai lower trend Of av-
erage freight rate throughout tn"
cOuntry in the past two decades, the
Southern Railway Company has man
aged TO maintain its rates Of com
p~ensation fairly well.
One great difficulty that this Cen
eral Assembly is laboring under in
trying to ascertain what would be just
and proper service, is that there are
two classes of people who stand in
the way Of arriving at the truth. one
is the interested parties who desire
to muddy the waters rather han
throw light upon the subject and in
this class are many of the officials
and employees of the railroads. and
the large body of paid lobbyists that
infest the legislature. II another
is a truculent class who are always
ready to accept as true, any state
ment that is made by one Who i in
cfAtiC - ~ '~
who feel outraged that the great
f~inanciers shOuld not control the Leg
stature.
The credulous beings belonging to
this latter class have been found NJ
all times and in all ages. In ancient
times, they We're serfs, in England
today they are flunkeys. ana in Amer
lea they are todies. mn
On the - day Of January, 1907.
Mr.. Finley, president Of the southern
~ - ~ q q lgfnEG
| the committee Of the senate ana
| Ho,,se of Representatives OF this Gen
| eral Assembly. and in generalities.
! told how hard it was for railroad COM
! panies to get money. what enormous
sums are now being expended; and
| how the developments Of the country
| deDpnded upon railroads: an how the
march of progress throughout the
| entire South has been far beyond the
expectations Of the people: and how
| the southern people should be just
and duly appreciatiVe, ct %cetera. ad in
| nnitum.
Nobody disputed any of these propo-
sitions and no intelligent man was
surprised by them or regarded them
as new. They argued nothing: they
proved nothing.
The same speech that Mr.. Finley
made in Raleigh was made by him
and others in extenso, at Washington.
when the rate bill was pending be-
| IOre congress-.
These speeches have been made
again and again before each General
Assembly of the various States where
the threat has been made to reduce
| rates.
A few days after Mr.. Finley appear
ed in Raleigh. he appeared before the
Lesislatnre Of Alabama. opposing a
bill to reduce rates. Judging from
the newspaper reports. he made the
, same speech there, and in the same
: way. One paper a Y of his speech
: before the Alabama Legislature.
president Finley. 1f the Southern
Railway, and President Hanson. of
the Central Of Georgia. appeared be-
fore the Senate committee and plead
ed against the bin.
They put up the usual
The old familiar The
t1me-honored, mOss-cOvered argu-
ments.
President Finley said that any re-
auction would work a great hard
ship"
president Honsom said that it
would be impossible to operate with
decreased n
ana we uppos that each of the
gentlemen grew almost pathetic in his
IerVor as he seid these things. And
then pathos fiared up and became
righteous indignation. as they feeling
~ referred to the contemplated step
as confscation of property 2 :
The trouble with the kind of talk that
tnese gentlemen handed out is that
IL mas been handed out too often. Nc
one believes it any more. The
phrases are shop-worn. They car
not even be repeated in a convincing
! by the most accomplished
artists. h roads will not sion RIM.
ming.
1.-The line of argument nresantad t6