The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-05-05

localities, the need of new railwa
lines is secondary to the improve
ment of existing lines and the in
crease of their carrying capacity. A.
1 to the South, have no hesitation il
saying that its most pressing eco
nomic need today is an increase il
the carrying capacity of its existing
! railway lines, especially in the way o
providing an increase in double track
mileage.
So far as the resources at their COM
mand have permitted, the men en-
trusted with the management of the
railways of the South have provided
increased facilities. In the ten years
! prior to the business depression which
began in the fall of 1907 the increase
in railway facilities in our section was
materially greater than the increase
in capitalization, and the Increase Ii.
service performed was very largely
in excess both of the increase in cap
ital and in facilities. The traffic OF
the South had reached such proper
tions as to tax existing railway facil-
tiles to the utmost. The point had
been reached where any material in
crease in Southern agricultural and |
industrial production would have been |
impossible without a corresponding
increase in railway facilities. There |
fore, as we look to the future with |
confidence in the ability of our peo-
pie to reach a higher level of pros, |
perity than they have yet attained, we
are confronted with the necessity for |
an increase in facilities in the way of |
double tracking the more congested |
parts of our railway lines. These
urgently needed facilities can be pro-
cided, Mr.. POSTMASTER, only by at.
tracing the investment of additional |
capital to railway enterprises in our
section.
If a Pittsburg manufacturing com
pany is seeking capital for the en-
largement of it's plant, its managers
must be able to convince those wi h
money to invest that if they put it into
this plant they can expect to earn
at least approximately the same rate
of profit as is earned by capital IN
other lines of business. The desire of
each man to better his own condition
and to provide for those dependent
upon him is the handspring of human
progress. A man is not induced /.
invest his money in a farm by tie
motive of growing grain
to feed his fellow men, but by the le-
sire of gain. Another is not moved
to build a cotton factory by an altru-
istic desire to clothe mankind, but by
the expectation that he can sell cot
ton goods at a profit. Exactly the
same expectation Of gain leads to in
vestments in railway enterprise.
The provision of these adequate
facilities is a matter
that concerns all classes of people.
Whether or not they can be provided
wiki depend, in large measure, upon
the character of regulatory policies
that are adopted. The proper field
of regulation is the prevention of
wrong and the safeguarding of the
rights, both of the buyers of transport
taton and Of the railways.
Regulation within this field should
have for it's object the prevention of
abuses and not administrator of the
BUSINESS of the railways. 1t is unde-
niable, Mr.. Toastmaster, that, in the
early days of transportation by rail,
certain abuses were developed. The
most serious of these was the granting
Of special rates or special service 20
Individual shippers. When this prac-
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