The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-07-18
Paper Read Before the Chautauqua Circle.

Paper Read Before the Chdutduqud Circle.
w yHEN the honored Teddy of
ANj our circle intimated to me
v that he should depend on
me to help him out with |
his program for the quarterly meeting,
4 told him that I would be glad to do
so provided he would suggest theme
upon which to write; deep wrinkles on
that classic brow denoted deep thought
on his part, and when after moment
he suggested that take up something
which 1 knew little about, at once
embraced his suggestion; hence my
determination to discuss with you for
a brief time the problem of controlling,
without running, the great arteries of
commerce which for so many years
have had the business world by the
throat.
1t is a far cry from the wooden horse
of ancient Troy to the iron horse of to-
day, but as the Greeks wove the
mythological legends of their time, so
are we writing the history of today,
DOT in words alone. In a paper which
I chanced to pick up recently, appeared
a cartoon which applies the famous
classic legend "The Laocoon," to the
railroad situation of today, under the
revisedcaption, "The Modern LAGOON"
aud as the story of the fascinating
legend recurs to one he cannot but be
impressed with the propriety of the
application.
LAGOON, as you will recall, vainly
attempted to dissuade his fellow citi-
gems from bringing into the city the
wooden horse thru which Troy had
been captured; much in the way that
the chief executive of this ma
ton is now trying to prevent the great
railroad interests from controlling the
political and economical destinies of
the country. LAGOON, in the extrem-
ity of his earnestness thrust his spear
into the side of the wooden horse, and
here again we find a parallel in the
manner in which Congress and the
various state legislatures have cur
tailed various privileges which our
great transportation interests claim
are theirs by almost divine right. Here
perhaps the analogy ends because l do
not believe that the railroads are 60
ing to prove greater than the law of
the land. In the story of the LAGOON
however, you will remember that as he
was sacrificing to Poseidon, two ser.
pents came up out of the sea and eE.
twining themselves about his two sons
and LAGOON, as well, when he hastened
to their rescue, destroyed all three.
There is no question but that the
railroad is the most potent agency OF
civilization that the world has ever
seen; for forty years after the close Of
the Revolution the settlement Of this
country was limited to fringe of set
Elements along the Atlantic which
slowly spread to the westward as th'
hardy pioneer with his devoted wife
aud his little ell in the way of earthl!
possessions followed the slow moving
OK team to the ever Turing Colder
West where alone and unaided the!
were in love and conjugai duty t.
carve out home and name for them
selves and the generations yet to com
after them.
The railroad changed all this, an
while we readily admit that our na
tion's greatness today is largely the re
suit of the efforts of our far-seein
railroad pioneers, we are not ready t
admit that because of this debt the pee
pie are fair game for any body of ez
ploiters WHO may have the fancy t
pluck them. ee
The present investigation which ha
been instfgated by the governmen
looking to the revaluation of the raj
road properties has disclosed the fat
that nearly all those so far revaiue
are grossly overcapitalized, and th
reason for such over-capitalization
not far to seek; 1t lies in the fact the
tariffs, both passenger and freight, 81
80 high that the income OF many