Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-06-04
THE LABOR JOURNAL RAILROAD PROBLEM
DISCUSSED BY INTERSTATE COM.
MERGE Commissioner.
How TO Deal With the Problem 0f
Railroad Capitalization a Matter
That Concerns the Whole Public.
"A Remedy for Existing Evils SUD-
geSted.

In the American Review of Re-
views for June, Franklin X. Lane, a
member of the interstate commerce.
commission discusses RAILROAD Cant
| ilzation and Federal Regulation,
| from an inside point of view. in his
usual incisive manner. He says in
J part:
1t would superficially appear that
this question is of chief interest to
the banker, the capitalist, and the
railroad promoter; but this is ouite
beside the fact. Those most inter-
ested in the proper financing of rail
roads are the farmers, the manufac-
turers, the workingmen, the mer-
chants-the general producing and
travelling public; for without the sell
ing of stocks and bonds railroads in
these days can neither be built nor
be very extensively improved. The
first roads were often private enter
prises, in the sense that they were
financed by one or two men; and
| there are still sporadic instances
where one man, or a small syndicate.
has undertaken railroad enterprise
of magnitude-Mr. Rogers Virginia
road in th' EAST, and Mr. James El
| PasO & South western in the west, be-
! ing prominently in mind-but 999
miles of road out of every 1000.
which have been built in the last ten
years in this country have been con-
structed with the money of the pub
| lie, the proceeds from the sale of Sc
curities Therefore, if we are to have
new railroads, more lateras, ade-
quate equipment, and larger termi-
nails, we must have market for rail-
road securities.
The curse of all this stock -iobbing,
this apitalization, and conse-
quent distrust, falls on the public
the lumberman who wishes to extend
his market but finds his effort baked
by railroad incapacity, the jobber
who cannot make his market in
reasonable time, the contractor whose
work must stop awaiting material,
the landowner whose property re-
mains undeveloped from lack of
! transportation facilities, the me-
chanic for whose labor railroad con-
structiOn creates demand, and all the
millions in one way or another de-
pendent on the extension and i'm
provement of our railway system.
The problem of railroad capitaliza-
tion becomes in this light a peoples
problem, one in which all have direct
pecuniary interest; and if our prem
Use is correct-that we must find
some way by which greater faith in
these securities can be established as
| a prerequisite to a full renewal of ac-
| tivity in this important and vital
wOrk-it is at once apparent that the
search for such plan advances out
of the realm of Wall Street finance
into that of American craftsmanship.
Continuing, Mr.. Lane suggests the
following remedies:
First. The government should eX-
press, affirmatively and negatively,
the purposes for which an interstate
carrier may issue stocks, bonds, or
notes.
Second The directors of the road
proposing to issue such securities
should make a record of such propos-
ed issue on the minutes of the COR
poration, to which majority of the
directors shall subscribe.
Third. This statement, signed in
dividually by each of the directors,
and sworn to personally by each,
should be sent to designated official
of the federal government-the In
terstate Commerce Commission, per-
haps.
Fourth. An annual report sworn
to by majority of the directors
should be sent to the same body, stat
ing with particularly how such Sc
curities were disposed of, the pro-
ceeds resulting, and their use.
Fifth. The government should
through it's special agents. having di-
rect access to all books and accounts
of the railroads-and by law they
may keep only such books, accounts,
or memoranda as the Interstate Com
merce Commission shall authorize,
and are permitted to destroy none
make investigation of these issues,
expenditures, ETC., as often as may be
deemed advisable.
Sixth. The deviation in any par