Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-03-23
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MORE RAILROADS OR MORE
LAWS

MORE RAILROADS OR MORE
LAWS.
In a speech delivered before the
Commercial club Of Council Bluffs, a.,
y. l.. Winchell, president of the Rock
Island road, discussed the question
Of '.More Prosperity or More Unwise
I.zvs-Wh1ch Shall 1t Be?" In the
course of his remarks, and while dis
ouszing the necessity that exists for
further railroad development, Mr..
Winchell said:
II venture to predict that, with
BUMPER crops, within two years this
country will experience car short
aEe even more severe than that of
two years ago. The cause will large
IL be, as it was then, lack of ade-
4sate city terminals, passing tracks,
second tracks, etc.
1--WE will then see renewed activity
In the direction of demmurrage laws,
new laws specifying miles per day
for movement of freight. These,
however, will simply further harrass
carriers, which cannot put quart of
traftc through pint Of facilities.
mo improvement work of moment
IL under way. The roads cannot
much more than merely mark time.
the courage nor the money necessary
for railroad construction are to be
found under existing conditions.
What can be reasonably expected,
when we say to body of men that
We want them to go right ahead
With their construction Of new rail-
roads and additional facilities, so as
to be prepared for any increase of
traffic which may be offered for
movement; but at the same time,
We put them on notice that after
their money has gone into property
which they cannot remove and cease
to operate after its creation, some OF
Or all the forty state railroad COM
missions, more than forty state leg
islatures, the interstate commerce
commission and the national con-
xress will decide what rates. shall
prevail; what practices shall obtain
In more or less minute detail; how
many men shall be employed on each
train; how old or young these men
ktalI be, and how many hours they
shall work-if at all; upon what
plans new stations shall be built, as
we'll as when and where; how fast
stock trains shall move over the
rails; what sort of headlights shall
be bought; what sort of signals shall
he Installed, and when; how many
new securities may be issued and
sold if purchasers can be found, and,
failing to get authority for the issue
of securities for the purchase, let us
nay, of equipment, or failing to in
duce the owner of money to exchange
his money for such securities, pen
aIties will be enforced for failure to
furnish any shipper whatever cars
he may want at any time?
*Twenty years hence the freight
traffic of this country will be three
or four times what it was in 1907.
You all remember 1907. What will
Re done with three times as much
freight tonnage without increased
and greatly increased-facilities
What will be done with only twice as
much, which we will likely see in
ten years?
-This is question in which the
seheEs business men of the country
are vastly more interested than the
preseut owners of the railroads, and
. question the right solution OF
which lies largely in your own
hands
+ 81 ri admit that there must be con-
troll and supervision; but it must be
proper and Just, and must be exer-
eised with a full knowledge of all
Tie. facts and conditions.