Bisbee daily review., 1907-06-09

curves, the lowering Jf grades and the
 elevation of tracks through The cities
 and towns. the old roadbeds in many
 cases have been abandoned and the
 present ones are more than one-half
 new.
 Many engineers think the railroads
 have gone too far and will be com
 pelled to reduce the speed of their
 fast trains and the tonnage of thesr
 freight trains as q measure of econ
 omy | saw in the paper the other
 day a statement from a we'll known
 engineer that an average of twenty
 rails had to be replaced every time
 and eighteen-hour train between New
 York and Chicago passed over the
 tracks, and you have doubtless seen
 the discussion about the expediency
 of making rails of nickel in order to
 withstand the impact of the heavy
 enginea.
 "Ail these Improvements have been
 made in response to the demands of an extraordinary period of prosperity.
 No nation in any period of the worlds history has ever been so rich or so prosperous or has ever-made so much
 progress in material civilization as
 the United States during the pres ent decade. And the railroads of the
 country have been more directly af- fected by this extraordinary develop
 ment than any other of our corpora tioRs because they have had to haul the raw material and the fuel and the finished products and carry the men to transact the stupendous business
 that has been going on. They not faAA sxa hn; k,,f they had to enlarge their terminals and increase their facilities i'll every
 respect See what they are doing here in New York. The Pennsylvania the New York Central and other roads are now expending. more than hun. dred million dollars, perhaps a hun dred and fifty millions. within the linn its of the Greater New York to facil. late the convenience of their patrons and to deliver their passengers and freight nearer their destination.
 The iAcrease in rolling stock with in the last five years has been larger than the entire equipment of all the railroads in the country ten years ago. Every engine-shop and every car factory have been working night and day to fill orders, and have not been able to supply the demand The car famine has become a national issue It has occupied the attention of the President. the interstate commerce commission and the courts. and has been the topic of daily discussion in the newspapers. The railroads were not to blame any more than the car factories. The one wonld have bought and the other would have sold enough cars to handle the traffic of the coun- try if such thing had been possible. But, although the increase in the ca pacfry or the manufacturing plants has been unprecedented, it has not kept pace with the demands, and railroad companies have paid premiums to se- cure as many cars as possible.
 All these Improvements, all this new equipment, had to be paid for, and the money was raised by the is- sue of bonds. usually on a per cent basis. a little below par, sometimes at 1-2 per cent for the most i'm portant and prosperous roads, and the banks furnished the money from their deposits and from sales of securities to permanent investors. Almost every manufacturer in the country has been increasing his plant and en- larging his business. This has caused an increased demand for raw material, fuel and labor, and, as the industries and commerce of this age are conduct ed on a credit basis, the banks were called upon to furnish the money to keep the wheels in notion The vol l tune of currency has not expanded as rapidly as the business; rates of in. 1 terest advanced as money became scarcer, and certain of the most i'm l poTtant sources of supply were cut off The four big insurance companies i absorbed sixty or eighty mil l lion dollars of the securities of rail | ways and other corporations every l year, but since the sensational in- | vestigations and the enactment of the l new law regulating the investment oi | their assets they have put this money | into real estate mortgages instead. | They have furnished the means for 1 the erection of the big apartment | houses and hotels and the skyscrap- | ing office buildings that have been | springing up 90 rapidly here in New l York. The development in building has been quite as remarkable as in other lines Of investment
 There came a time" continued my financial philosopher. swhen the in- Festors of the country were satiated with stocks and bonds and could not -ake any more. The the railroad com Danies were compelled to issue short lime notes--three and five years-l which tHey sold to the banks to raise money to pay for their rebuilding and