The Topeka state journal., 1908-04-22
A Square Deal Is Urged for
the Railroads.
J. III. Clarke, of Nickle Plate.
Makes Strong Plea.
INDUSTRY CRIPPLED.
Millions of Property Threatened
Unless Conditions Change.
other Items of Interest in
Railway Circles.

'ohn II. Clarke. general counsel for
the New York. Chicago & st Louis
abroad. In recent address touching
upon railway legislation. made a strong
pea Tor square deal for the railroads
MS speech Is being widely quoted as
ole OF the leading arguments against
the present popular sentiment.
MI Clarke said in part:
There was. and is yet, much need of
reiorm or rather let US call It nroeress
III our laws. But when to reasona hle
ana necessary reforms. are now added
q Hunored other restrictions. actual or
proposed, all aiming to decrease the
income or to increase the expenses of
the railroads. and when at the same
IN. tne ~ statutes. and commissions fix
lng rates. 1t Is made impossible for the
rallroads to meet these Increased
cnarges. point is reached: when a
voice must be raised on princinle. ~
ciear fundamental justice against such
| rther leglslation. not more in defense
OF property than Of the wage earners
who are now and will continue r. he
| the nrst and worst sufferers from the
| reckless raid of the political dema-
| gogues upon an industry that makes
use OF more than ten thousand mil.
| mons OF dollars, and with it gives di-
| rect employment to a million and a
| half of men.
There are one hundred and fifty bills
| now pending in the two houses OF con-
| gress, every one of which proposes in
| some manner to regulate the control
OF the owners and managers Of rail-
| roads over their property. When we
| add to these the much greater number
in the aggregate of similar bills pend
| ing in the legislatures of the various
states. it needs no appeal to the imag-
ination to make it clear that the wide
i -
which this rage for legal limitation
shows exists throughout the country,
must, unless it. be speedily arrested, re-
| suit in legal conditions in many, If not
! all, the states, comparable to what may
now be seen in Oklahoma and Texas,
properties from confiscation is receiver
ships within the protection of the
| courts
And it seems to me, blind tolthe re-
alities of life must be the man, who,
with any knowledge, even the slightest,
| of the INTERPRETATION of the economic
forces and agencies of this country,
does not see that a. legal condition In
which bankruptcy is the sole refuge OF
ten thousand millions Of property, giving
| employment to nearly million and a
half of men must inevitably mean the
continuing and intensifying OF existing
business conditions throughout many
years to come without revival, until
| there is a complete readjustment OF
| values and wages-an entire making
over Of the business fabric of this ma
| tiOn.
The wages Of fully two million of
men are directly dependent upon the
prosperity Of the railroads of the
country, and the welfare of fully two
million more is indirectly also in q
large measure dependent upon them
How mistaken therefore. mistaken be-
yond measure, are the men who con-
tinue to assail the railroads OF the
country as If they were a public en-
emy which it Is their duty to embar-
rass or destroy. The assault may de-
crease the value of the investments OF
the very rich, but this can be accom-
plished only by assailing the homes
of tens of thousands of the industrious
and frugal poor. The panic which
these men have caused is an incident
only in the homes Of the very rich
It is a tragedy in the homes of tens
of thousands of the poor.
All the world now admits what al
but few denied six months ago. and
the question of first Importance to US
all now is, what can be done to check
or stop this crusade against railroad
properties, still being pursued al
Washington and in many states to the
end that business may be permitted te
revive and labor and capital restored
10 lucrative employment.