The Washington herald., 1907-01-16

WhlcH confront the Southern Railway
company, and Of the purposes and policy
/ OF its management. The statement is ad-
I3ddessed TO the public served by the
railway company" and is IN part as fol-
lows:
The management would not ignore the
fact that N present railroad service gen
orally, including thar Of the Southern. is
far from satisfactory. II there was no
adequate and justifying cause FOR this.
these conditions wouId be- unpardonable.
but the fact is they spring largely from
causes which cannot for the moment be
controlled
Development of the south.
"One exceedingly potential cause is the
/ extraordinary Industrial development Of
! the South. Nowhere in the United
States. except in the two States Of the
I extreme Northwest Washington and ore
/ gon. has there been such industrial deveI-
opment as in the South
/ 1T Is perhaps not too much 10 claim
( that, outside Of the energies and efforts Of
/ the people themselves. this company has
F been one Of The chief factors in this de-
/ ivelopmeut. The management Of the
Southern Railway Company did not wait
I for the coming of the development itself
before attempting 20 increase to the Ut
I most possible extent its transportation ca
pacity. Il must be remembered that this
company has not been in existence more
than about twelve years.
Millions for improvements.
As soon as the new company came into
existence the management adopted a
policy Of bettermeHt and Improvement.
and something OF what il has done 10 pre-
pare for the traffic Of the South win ap-
pear from the fact thar il has spent for
various improvements in new and heavier
rail, double tracking. ana reducing grades.
new steel bridges. shops. tools. machinery.
and other necessities. the sum Of s361S4.-
Us
'Ijs rolling stock has been increased. as
follows, Locomotives. from 6Z3 10 ire
ceived and contracted forl I5H. freight
train cars, from 1884 90 (recefved and
contracted forl 5S.5g1. passenger train
cars, from ES1 70 Creceived and contracted
forl Lees. h has spent or contracted 20
spend Sas 4S2.945 for new equipment. joint
terminals, completed terminals. and double
tracking.
Fresh Capital Required.
'It has been. and still u.s. hampered.
/ however. by two conditions. one is the
large amount of fresh capital required.
and. the other the difficulty of securing
adequate and efficient labor. of promptly
getting its construction work done. and
Of obtaining the rolling stock. rasl. and
other material essential 10 improved ia
cilities.
'-The fact that the company. in ifs ef-
I fort to improve its facilities to handle the
+ public business. has not been deferred
from undertaking this work al a time
when the cost OF materials and labor is
on such an unusually high plane. should.
I think, be accepted by the public as ali
earnest OF the e0Wpauy's desire and puT-
pose 20 put itself jn position 10 perform
acccptaby fits public duties
Additional Track Capacity.
'One of the greatest needs OF the South
is that its railroads should have additional
track capacity The work Of providing
the necessary additional track will re-
quire a vast inpu; of capital How IT is
to he provided is everywhere a matter OF
grave concern 10 railroad managers. II
cannot be obtained from the current oper-
ations of the properties. It must be bor-
rowej.
The present situation is. An immense
increase In all expenses. without any in
crease III rdtes-in fact. with the propo-
sltion almost universally made to de-
crease rates by legislative action.
THE large increase in expenses may be
illustrated as follows: Since 1S9S bridge
timber has increased from $9.26 20 S20-52
per 1850 feet; cross ties from s cents 10
345 cents per tie. steel rails from s17.50
per ton 10 IS Per ton.
Since 1895 prices of equipment have in-
creased as follows: Locomotives from
81 .sg2 TO from $4,000 TO $4,000; passenger
coaches from S6.3lj to $9.46S; freight cars
from $500 43 10 $3.50: coal cars from S59S
to S1.135.
Increased Cost Of Labor.
THE cost of labor has increased per
mile of road from G.6I67 in 1888 to
S2S741 in 1866. and from S25l364 per
mile OF road in 1905 TO S2S7+u in 1906
Taxes Of the company per mile of road
have, since 1895, increased 63-H per cent.
To this large increase of expense must
be added the excessive yerdicts Of iuries
in personal injury cases.
In addition TO this there is a marked
tendency on the part Of many of the
States to regard any failure Of service as
willful. and to impose upon the carrier a
heavy penalty therefor.
'Iuasmuch as adequate facilities for all
are not in existence the imposition of
penalty for failure 10 furnish cars under
the above mentioned circumstances. II It
has any effect other than merely TO de
pIete the treasury of the carrier and 10
deprive it to that extent of the power 10
improve its transportation and service,
must result simply in the withdrawal OF
the carriers facilities from the service in
respect TO which there is no penalty. in
order To use them in the service where
there is a penalty. The logical result of
this would be race between the States
10 see which could infict the highest
penalty 50 as TO obtain 81 preference for
its own citizens.
Penalties Do Not Build Roads.
THE imposition of penalties viii not
build railroad tracks. supply equipment
or enlarge and simplify terminals. nor
would it, under the circumstances men
toned. benefit the transportation service
as n whole. but on the contrary. would
tend to produce injustice and discrimi-
nation between persons and localities.
Besides. this naturally would develop into
"a preference ~ favor of State commerce
over Interstate commerce.
1T is not 70 be wondered at shat the
large Increase in the cost OF materials.
equipment ana labor and other expenses
above adverted 90. and the increased
difficulties IN transportation. are. az
shown by its published reports reflected
in q large decrease. of rIaa rpf earnings of