The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-06
WHAT RAILROADS
 OF COUNTRY NEED The Views of Chairman Benja-
 man F. Yoakum BELIEVES IN COOPERATION The People and the Railroads Should Work Together Through the Fed eraI Government for Solution
 of Railway Problems.
BELIEVES IN COOPERATION

Few of the great developers of this country have attracted so much attention or been accorded so much praise within the past two or three years as Benjamin F. Yoakum, chairman of the executive committee of the Rock lsland-trlsco lines. He Is born leader in the rail- road world, and as man of constructive ability is in the class with James J. Hill and E. H. Hartman Harpers Weekly, in recent issue, has a two-page article on Mr. Yoakum and as it is of timely in- terest extracts are made from it as fol- lows:
 Keen Young Texan.
 One of the men who early realized the future importance of railroad transporta- tion in this country was a husky, broad shouldered, keen-eyed young Texan named Yoakum-B Benjamin F. Yoal1um- who began life with capital consisting of honesty, confidence in himself, grit. and a belief in others. Also brains in larger proportion than is vouchsafed most mon, and an inbred habit of unlimited industry. After a brief mercantile career he started in on a section to learn the gentle art of railroading, and some years later awoke to find himself president and general man. ager of half dozen roads, receiver for two or three, and director in score of companies Within 12 years he planned and carried out the construction of more than 5000 miles of railroad, employing 5000 men, and together with their fami- lies supporting more than 100000 human beings. By building these roads MT. Yoakum was the means of opening up vast stretches of country for settlement, giving the impulse through which vl- lages, towns, cities, came into existence, and thus indirectly furnishing employ lnent and comfortable homes and school houses and churches to hundreds of thou- sands of fellow creatures. And then, even more suddenly, he awoke not long ago to the fact that practically the whole United states was up in arms against the rail- roads.
 He went over the whole situation rap idly but carefully; sized up the feeling of the people against the roads; realized better than most thinking men that the future of this country and the future of
 
 steel ribbons are the arteries of the na- tion along which must flow the life blood of commerce, and that if the arteries are interfered with, restricted unduly, com merce cannot sweep back and forth. Hav- ing made up his mind that the situation was grave, MT. Yoakum straightway set about trying to remedy the matter. He felt sure that if the American people un- derstood what would result from contin- ued agitation against the railroads from continued antagonism and suspicion, they would see as he saw that business would decline, that national prosperity would wane. And so he began propaganda as serious and determined as if he were preaching a new religion. He wished peo- ple to see the truth of the railway situa- tion as he saw it, and to act accord ingly. That was months ago, and since then he has devoted his time and ener-' gies to delivering addresses before clubs, societies, labor unions, wherever and whenever he felt that an effective im- pression could be made.
 Mistakes Are Made.
 MT. Yoal.um is free to admit that mis- takes have been made by the railroads, and that aome of the troubles of today are the outcome of such mistakes. He also believes that the solution of the rail- way problem is to be found not in the
 
 roads, but in the cooperation of the people and the railways through the fed eral government Tlre time has gone by when a railroad could go ahead and per feet it's plans and carry them out without consulting the people through whose ter ritory 1t ran he adds, and the business of enlightened railway managers and of en- frightened legislators is to correct past mistakes to make repetition impossible and to arrive at a working basis where the road and the community can best serve each other with justice to both
 In an address before the St Louis Traf- fic club MT Yoakum remarked that never in the history of our county has there been a time when the masses of the peo- ple so well understood the relation of the railroads to the public as at present, or SD well realized the difficulties and hard ships to which the roads are subjected
 ..All the states and territories of the union. barring the New England states" he added need more railroads. The state of Missouri needs more railroads to hasten its advancement. The new state of Oklahoma has only one-ha1f it's terri tory supplied. The state of Arkansas has been slow in the construction of rail roads and therefore backward In the de- velopment of its rich undeveloped re- sources, while Texas needs and needs badly, 10000 miles of new road to encour- age it's proper expansion.
 Railway Mileage.
 ',rake as dividing line the Mississippi river with its splendid commercial cities, extending from St. Paul to New Orleans; the vast territory lying west of the river comprises 69 per cent of the area of the United States not including Alaska, while of our 230,00O miles of railroad about 125.O00 miles are located to the east of the river and 105.000 miles to the west. In other words, 45 per cent of the total rail- road mileage of the country is serving 69 per cent of the total area. To put 1t an- other way; east of the river there are less than 5000 acres of land for every mile of railroad, while west there are over 13,000 acres for every mile of railroad. And If the territory west of the Mississippi river. which furnishes this country and, to great extent foreign countries, with bread and meat, were as well supplied