The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-09
RAILROAD NEWS
President j. j. Hill of Great
Northern Grows PeSsimistic.
Discusses in Gloomy Manner
Prospects for Future Growth.
EXTENSION TO STOP
Does Not Believe Roads Will
Build New Lines.
Other Items Of Interest to
Railway People.
EXTENSION TO STOP

In an Interview at St Paul j. ]. Hill
said of the present railroad conditions
Why do L think that railroad build
ing in the United States is thing of
the past?
Il don't think anything about it. I
know 1 certainly am glad that the IL
land waterway commission visited here,
even if it didn't stay long, for the after
effects will be great The question of
transportation is a leading one in this
country, on account of the great dis
tarces- Investment in such facilities is
next to the value of the soil on which
we live
Twenty-Five years ago rafIroa ds
thought that, like the sacred cows of
India, no profane hand would be laid
on them, but profsne hands were laid
en- them
This country today is in most i'm
minent danger from want of trans
portation- Business has grown so that
the railroads can't handle it. If from
the 1st to the 18th of November you IN
dertake IT, ship a carload of -four from
Minneapolis to Liverpool. you can't get
a bill of lading TO New York in thirty
days, or if you get il, the goods will not
be delivered 1t is physical fmpos-
sibiIity.
The trouble is, there are not suf-
fcient terminals Terminals are like
hands and feet to men. The head may
save our feet Trunk lines are mort
gagged to the fifth time, and money
can't be raised
Some time ago 1 asked real estate
man what 1T would cost to get a tier
of blocks, one of the narrowest. from
the Harlem river to 1hirty-tnird street,
New York
He came back in a week and said
that $3.50, 100000 wouldn't buy it.
THAT means that it would cost for
terminals alone s165,0o1 a mile for every
mile from Chicago to New York be-
fore the line was built. The railroads
can't pay rent on such high priced
property
This matter of transportation is
most urgent one People think there is
no limit to what the railroads can do
There is a very present limit to many
railroads in the volume OF business we
nave to do 1t takes money to run rail-
roads. Last year the Great Northern
earned 5.6S per cent.
THE Great Northern is bonded to
less than s40.000,0e0 of its value, bu.
peopIe are not anxious to invest in
railroad which pays only SIS per cent
and have to sit up nights planning now
to defend the property, when they can
get to per cent from other security
IT repeat that railroad building has
stopped in this country There is a
want of money IN every center Where
business mas grown the fastest, there is
the greatest want, as in Germany and
the United States Newspapers tell US
the trouble is in our own households
rs Wall street in trouble when it is
now getting and Z per cent, and when
last year it got and 31a per cent?
Hardly. The scarcity OF money IS
world wide. It is not time for political
ghost janeing.
There was bad time last winter
when a total of 1O7 bills were passed
by the state legislatures against the
railroads Not one of them was based
on information. They did have hear
ing in Minnesota and invited testimony,
but the report was contrary to the
testimony given.
Traffic is growing five times as fast
as the raiIeag and we are up against
a stone wall Even the amount needed
to put US in condition where we
ought TO be is SO large as to be beyond
the possibility of the country to fur
nish. We might as well put railroad
Improvement out of the question Thf.
public will use what they have got until
they get more, and that will not be in
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