The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-25
CALLS RISE OF
 RATES ONLY HOPE B. L. Winchell, Speaking on Railroad Situation, Says Greater Margin of Prop
 erty Necessary.
SON OF ]. RICE WINCHELL
Head of Rock Island Thinks Public Does Not Realize Crisis of the Sltuatlon--EfYect on
 Prices.

In writing to the New York Herald from Chicago, B. l.. Wlnchell, presi- dent of the Rock Island system and son of J. Rice Winchell, internal rev enue collector for the port of New Haven, speaks in q most instructive crease In railroad rates the country over.
 Mir. Winchell has positive and we'll settled convictions as to the existing status of affairs and the hope for the future, and one of these is that 70 save the railroads they must have greater margin of profit Cor service rendered. To this end, he declares. there Is only the alternative of mak- ing some increase in freight rates or of cutting slightly the wages of em- ployes. No thinking men can ignore the fact, he says. that the prosperity of the railroads, or their diversity. Is the true measure of prosperity or ad- versity of the people, and he holds that there is community of interests between the railroad empioye and his employer regarding the stability of railroad revenues.
 Mr. Winchell regrets the general impression among the people that, no matter how large may be the expenses of the railroads and how small their income, they have somewhere untold millions of dollars on which they can draw 10 avert disaster and to tide them over every emergency
 Tt will be good thing when those connected with the railroads, officials and employees, come to realizing sense of what has happened to the great transportation systems in the last few years" said Mir Winchell Apparently they do not fully under stand and appreciate the facts
 "The railroads cannot go on under the present conditions, as l tried to make plain in an address to some vet eran railroad employees in Des Molnes two months ago. The conditions un- der which the railroads operate must be changed for the better. A change is imperative. not only for the raIl- roads themselves. but for the public,
 whose best interests are lnseparably bound up with the best inter ests of the transportation companies.
 When the arteries of commerce be- gin to harden and dry up the whole country Is bound to suffer.
 "It k unfortunate that the people have the idea they do have about the railroads Most of us have gone on ! thinking that the income of the rail- way companies Is SD great and their financial resources so large it did not matter what legislation was enacted by the federal government and the va | rious states. These matters are in- deed very serious when they involve n reduction of the revenues of the rail- roads and q corresponding increase in
 the cost of operation.
 Matters have reached a pass now
 when 1t must be recognized that our immediate interests and. indirectly the
 best interests of the whole country are
 dependent upon and demand improv ad
 conditions The margin of profits for
 railway service must be Increased.
 There are just two ways 10 attain this
 end one is to raise the ra .es charge
 to shippers and the other is to reduce
 in some degree the wages paid .d
 railway employees. It is lot the z
 sire of the railroads to take the latt r
 horn of the dilemma
 Tt Is essential, however, that there
 should be from this time forth fuller
 cooperation between the owners of
 railroad property and those on the payroll. By this l mean every em- ploye, from the president up and . down I say up and down because : believe some of you perform ser .. vice more valuable to the welfare oi . the company than does the president "We are living in complex times and those who have given the sltua. ton any thought are beginning tC realize that as the transportation com. panes prosper or languish. in just tn, same degree does the business of tho country revive or decline What
 mean Is that we have not had in thu past and are not going 10 have II 5 the future, the sort of prosperity ", D hope for and want except when tho
 railroads are able to spend money ? When we are doing things w 5 are ordering cars and engines ant 5 heavier bridges to replace light ones constructing second and third tracks < passing tracks, new stations and lot ] of other things that go 10 add facil ites and distribute money When th' 3 railroad companies are doing these - things all of the surplus labor of th' | country is employed and when tha t state of affairs exists money is in fret
 circulation, all merchants are pros l, porous and times are good.
 "But on the present reduced basil [ of tonnage and earnings it Is plain t e us who have made q close study 0 1 the question that the railroads canno : do any of the things which l hav . mentioned, and in consequence busi - ness languishes.
 Advance q Hard Task.
 Against the protest of commercla organizations and of merchants wh jeopardized by an advance in freigh . rates 1t is no light matter to go ahea U and increase the rates to shippers
 "As 1 said 10 the railway employe - at Des Moines, 1 am sure that q grea many protests against slight advanc in the general rate basis of the com pany are made without giving the sub icct proper consideration. For instanc s the freight on q pair of shoes from Bos I ton to Chicago is something less tha 1. the rate of postage on a letter-tw {. cents, If the rate on shoes should b Sntisod ten per cent the increase i s freight on a pair of shoes would be les | than tWo-tenths of one cent.
 ! "Other illustrations of this characte { would show the minute effect that an Is rnn enl1a hln innrnnen Anr11Il haNn llnn