The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-04-16
Charles S. Deneen, Governor Of
Illinois, Chief Guest of Honor
Congressman and Officials Of Railroads Attend
All Discuss Questions Of Great Public
Importance Waterways and Rail-
road Legislation

upon the unanimlty among ci iy offi
I, ,cials and people which has male such
progress possible The settlement
! Of the IN erurban matter which nov
Ensured the city great Improvement
in its electric service and tran po t.
tiun. We're referred to,
| Mr.. Smith read letters Of regret
from several prominent people and
then with some pointed remarks on
river Improvement introduced Ex-
Congressman Rrssell of Char 'es.en.
/ to speak on the subject Of river i'm
proven mt, with spec al refe.ea to
! Birds Point
Congressman Russell spoke pleas
antly about Cairo; compllmented
Gov Deneen on being always for riv-
or Improvement, and especially Ia his
refusal to become a candidate for the
/ u. S. senate because he believed hc
: had work to do as governor and he.
tcause the people Of Illinois In thre1
! primary elections had declared fcr
Senator Hopkins.
Speaking CT Birds Point Mr. RS
sell said that while one year ago there
was thriving little town, with j IL
office. railroad incline, business
houses, hotel three passenger trains
coming aud going daily, one hundred
freight ears passing through for Cairo
daily, the town was now almost wiped
off the face Of the earth ard its busl.
ness practically stoppe dali on nc
count of the destructive work CT the
river over which the government
claimed absolute control Efforts
1made by him and Congressman This
tlewood. President Smith and others,
to induce the government to prevent
this destruction had been futile, AMI
| his last effort In thai direction in con.
lgress had been foiled by Congress-.
man Burton. Birds Point could have
| been saved by an expenditure Of $780,
900; the loss OF the two railroad com
panlos alone had been over $250.000.
As to the right of the government TO
repair the river banks he held that it
had as much right to keep dirt from
falling into the river as 1t had to
dredge II out
Next TO the governors address
probably the most important was that
of Donald Rose, assistant TO ]. T.
TEarrahan, president of the Illinois
Central railroad company, and who
was Mr. Harrahan's personal repre-
sentative on this occasion. He spoke
on the subject; "A Railroad officials
! View on Legislation Against Railrcat
| Corporations and It's Effect Upon Tho
General Conditions Of the Country"
He said railroad companies adm m'tted
there had been evils CT administra-
tion in railroad management, and
mistakes had been made, and they
did not defend practices that are
wrong, also approved legislation aim
ed to correct the evils and protect
the public and shippers; but the rail-
roads objected TO governmental con
| troll without administrative responsi-
bilty He pointed out that the laws
adopted In 90 states during the last
! year or two had been in many cases
Confscatory and had checked rail
road development With half a mi.
lion investors in railroads and 1.G09,-
eco employees, It was not surprising
that the country should feel any So
rious interruption with their property.
Mr. Rose pointed out that the rail
roads here paid higher wages than
those Of any other country aud tnlt
there were Ave times as many miles
of railroads to the population here
than in any other country. giving n
ter facilities of transportation. The
wages paid In this country average
SAGE per day. in England slO4. in
France so. in Germany 20. and In
other countries less down to ten eetrs
! IN China. The number Cf miles OF rail-
roads to 10000 population is 2s.47 in
/ this country G7s in France. 5.57 In
Germany. 5.27 in Great Britain. Tie
speaker illustrated his poirts with =
number of funny stories.
The greatest speech Of the eveIing
was by Governor Denesn, On The
Lakes to Gulf Waterway" TIE Gov
crnor referred briefly 10 the ral'roai
Legislation in this state. ssyi,g that
he believed the reo'sa ard law max
ers too were inclined 10 be far: tha.
when the matter Of fixing rates in th
state came up an CsoTt had bee1
made 10 secure Information from tte
railroads. but thsy lad refussd t.
submit any, and the law naSers had
been compelled 20 cake vhst they
could get from other sources to guile