The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1907-01-24
LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENCE.
A Calm View of the Present Situa-
ton,

zion.
To the Editor: i am devoting such por-
ton of my time as / can cominahu lils
winter 10 correspondence from the legls-
lature, and il seems to me that the sltuaS
ton Is one which makes II the uuty "
thoughtful men who feel That they can
fairly and impartially consider the rela-
ton which the railroads occupy toWaIus
the people to speak for the puDlIS iltel-
ests. For nearly half a century / nave
watched with much interest ana concern
the development of the great NorthWest:
| have never in my life owned "a snare VI
railroad stock or been in the employ -
a railroad or other corporation 10 auNdnce
their interests, either In accord OF aSali!Hn
the popular sentiment, ana sun Wouests
claiming to some extent mat l oCCups
position of a publicist, 1 feel as a sehse
of duty the Importance to the puDaC y
urge a thoughtful consideration OF ne
present situation. make no Flai that
as one who for nearly htty years mas SIN
cerely and honestly written ana spoheh
to advance and care for the pupnC We,
fare that | have some right TO eApLSSS
my views without my motives beng I'M
pugned. The railroads are very Tar lrUnh
perfection. They are not conauCteu WIN
II eve single 10 the public welfare put
they have rights and there are two sldes
; the question as between them anu tne
Dlic, and you cannot cripple OF uaihaSo
mem without Gripping or dahlasihs Wv"
MIR. ]. ]. Hill, president Of the Great
| Northern, addressed the
1 l4uUlDEiLIlcH > dSSOCliAAOiA 90
"A few DAYS ago, and certainly gave SONS
| thoughts for serious consideration ~
! demonstrate my statement that tnete
| really are two sides, l ask PERMISSION "
briefly quote some of the views ne eX-
nrasssd 49, H. Z. Hall.
Among other things Mr.. Hill said;
But | want to ask your most C'rnest
| attention, and | want 10 urSe uPSl ~
simply q condition and not a tmGOtS,
| And that condition is that there VIZ 90
no relief for the movement OF luihper
without delay from the racine Coast' a
the long distance described, until Inete
| can be more tracks on which to move
| the cars. There are cars enough to,aayi
If, instead of twenty-tCIr they E1I ~
move fifty miles a day-Whlch WouLu 10
four hours out of the twenty-tour, one
sixth of the time-there are cars enouSh
| .o-day to move d great deal more iuli-
Ger than you want 10 buy. But WlIhQut
lie track and without the terminal Ia,
~cilities it cannot be moved, and IL VIII
not be moved and the car FAMINE WIN
planes are furnished, and your Uusl,
ness, and the consumers business, anu
everybody else's business VIII nave "
suffer and will have to pay.
For that reason you can all 40 Soou,
you can all help, and the help tnat you
can render is by taking. a Carelud "nu
| intelligent view of the situation. 10 SO
understand the situation that you can
say to your neighbor, There are Two
sides to this question. Let as be lalr.
Let us establish confidence.
are t6e pe6ple who have small invest
ments. Now, take the Great Northern
railway. out of 1900 shareholders, my
holdings are comparatively small,leSS
than I per cent. And there are l,lVV
women on our list of shareholders ana
when the peoples property Is hGia up t as
something to be adopted by the state,
taken away from them-something that
is branded with the brand of Unpopular
ity, at least-is that going to lnouSe Use
people to invest? Take 1t TO yourself
for many of them are as little able TO
put money into investments or that klnu
as you aremis that the the sort sort OF Won 1hT Iook
somewhere else?
Money Must BE Raised.
I'VE undertook to make an expenditure
Of over $50, O0O,0o0 next year in addl-
ttonal tracks, and this new line l spoke
amounting in the neighborhood OF 500
100000. and tried to raise $50, 100000 from
our shareholders. We asked them 70 put
their own money in their own business,
and taxi the chances that they would
receive a dividend If the company earned
IL. But we are defending a lawsuit to-
lay, the contention being that they shall
not put their money into their own bust
ness, to furnish the facilities that they
are honestly bound from every stand
point to furnish.
Before these questions will be settled
m this country there must be a clearer
probation on the part of everybody as
to what is best to be done. The share
hN5Gsr divi ghaf If 90 the she Som gst5 T eaFHs s it.
Speaking for our own company, our
shareholders get the same dividend they
same rate. But If we cannot handle our
business, and If we cannot raise the
money to create facilities to enable US
to handle our business, not only the
railroads must suffer but you must suf-
fer with them.
Mr.. Hill pleaded for a spirit of con-
Citation and fair play, saying:
81 NYA n m nGK won nG rational and
reasonable men, to, consider your "
interests. and see where they point. See
how the situation may be remedied. Ask
yourselves. Is any man able, who can
drive a horse to drink, to make him
drink after he gets him to the well?
Now, we have both got TO come together:
and we have got to depend on each
other: we have got to depend on you,
and you nave to depend on us: Then we
What we nave to do, and the difficult
thing we have to meet. is to find money
to make these improvements. l want to
say to you that there has not been a
time since 1898 when 1t has been so
difficult to raise money for railway pur-
poses as ii is at present"
The speaker said the money necessary
to furnish relief must be forthcoming
within five years, a colossal and. an
the old world had been fish ID until there
were no more fish there. 1t had hecome
the fashion for politicians of a certain
CldSSs iC hOcV WI CIuIdCltT5 WOuIQ T
not bear the fiashlight of inquiry, to
abuse the railroads. The railroads were
always willing to discuss affairs of trans
portation in a fair spirit.
Freight Rates.
On the question OF freight rates Mr..
Hill said:
when we compare them with the rates !
In Europe they are less than half as
much, as a rule. The average rate in !
Great Britain is S2.34 for hauling a ton
of freight a hundred miles; In Russia il
is about S1.I5, and in the United States
IL Is 70 cents. These figures are official.
Those are the average rates. 1t is true
that our average is a little more than
one-third less than 40 per cent of the
average of Europe, and we pay a higher
scale of wages. They pay locomotive en-
gineers from 90 cents to $1.25 and $40 a
day. We pay $3.50 and probably will be
paying in the neighborhood of S. within
q week. Gaughter.)
"And so all down the list. You know
the difficulty Of getting good labor at anv |
price. If the railroad systems of the
United States can furnish transportation
at an average cost of less than half that
charged all over the continent of Eurone
where, as you know. practically ali the
railroads are owned by the state, with the
scale of wages infinitely lower than we
are paying here. our system cannot be q |
failure and accomplish that result.
eft is not q failure. IL is the wondar ~ /