The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-07

They were enthusiastic, but visibly
skeptical, when Col. Cyrus K. Ho1li-
day, protector of the enterprise, pro-
claimed in a speech that the crooked
little road would one dav touch the
shores of the Pacific
ICY Warman, the locomotive engi-
neer and poet" 1 said, stated that
one incredulous individual threw him
self upon the grass when Holiday gave
utterance to his grotesque prophecy,
and shouted in merriment, oh, the
damned old fooli'"
so 1 have heard" Mr. Ripley re-
piled quite soberly. 1.-THE unbeliever
on the grass was afterward the gen
eral passenger agent of the road" he
added. ''In 1869, the year 1 entered
the service of the Pennsylvania rail-
road as a clerk in the city of Boston"
he went on to say, 1.-The rolling stock
of the Atchison, Topeka. & Santa Fe
company consisted of one second
hand locomotive, twelve fiat cars, each
OF ten tons capacity; passenger coach
that had been operated between Gin
cinnati and Indianapolis, and a hand
car The running time of trains from
North Topeka to Burlingame, a dis
lance of less than twenty-seven miles,
was 2 hours and 80 minutes. There
were five stations between, it is true,
and the trains carried local freight as
well as passengers.
Contrast Is Striking.
''On the best roads of that period
where the grades were easy and the
tracks modern, twenty-five cars, each
loaded with ten tons of freight, were
all that the strongest of locomotives
could pull. Now there are from thirty
to seventy cars of fifty tons apiece, to
train. The contrast between the
past, as | saw it. and the present Is
striking, indeed, if one stops and re-
fleets upon the facts of the case.
Transportation by rail has been revo-
lutionized.. The property of railroads
has been rebuilt from the ground up.
We have new tracks, new bridges, new
cars and new locomotives. Even the
grass and weeds along the right OF
way are now trimmed or cut down.
THE change has cost a tremendous
sum of money. Men have gone into
their own pockets with remarkable
daring and liberality to meet the ex-
pense. They expected a profit, of
course, but while they were rebuild
ing their railroads they were practical
ly rebuilding the country, and while
they were getting ready to make
villages into cities and touch
ing dormant or inaccessible regions
into happy life and prosperous activ-
ity:
United States, improved as they nave
been, need greater improvements still.
Comparatively few have been double
tracked. Most of them need better
bridges and all railroads should be
fortified with rock ballast. Mr.. James
]. Hill says we should spend $500. OOO,-
600 in preparing adequately to do the
country's business, when the crops are
large and labor is employed to the
limit. In my judgment, Mr.. Hills es-
four times. The age demands an i'm
mense expenditure of new money. The
people really desire that it be expend-
ed. However, the railways are so in
harassed by forty-six states
and the national government that
our transportation facilities have be-
come weary and discouraged.
Business Needs Protection.
'Now the regulation of a business
makes the protection of
that business obligatory in morals and
common justice. Legitimate business
should be protected by law. ut is pro-
tected with the single exception of the
business of carrying the freight of the
nation, of insuring the prosperity of
the country as a whole and of enrich
ing hosts of people individually
farmers, merchants, manufacturers
and others.
81 shall pause long enough to say
that the railways, and only the rail-
ways, make the wide exchange of
products of labor possible. I wish the
agriculturists and the workingmen of
the Unitetd States would take the SEN
tence 1 have just spoken into their
minds for serious and coherent re-
Election. Nevertheless, as I have said,
the railway business is the only prop
erty interest in America that Is de-
MED professional legislation by our
lawmakers. Such laws as are passed
with respect to railroads are regula-
tory and restrictive. Absolutely moth
Ing is done to help US.
Moreover, the statements we make
from time to time are rejected on the
ground that they are untrue or disin-
genuous We are treated as persons
outside the common code and courte-
sizes of business life, as outlaws against
the truth, and as tricksters who Jug
gle with the figures that we may cheat
the public. Railroads, capital consid-
cred, earn less than mines, mills or
factories. If we say. as we do say in
our report to our shareholders, that
the gross earnings of the Santa Fe
system amounted to $94,OOO,OOO last
year, and that we paid out $60,5OOO,-
600 for labor material and taxes, no
one stops long enough honestly to
confess that we are of material value
to the country We get no bouquets
only cobblestones and clubs.
A Benefit to the Nation.
what we do in the city of Topeka
places by the different railroads of the
United States. Our taxes in Topeka
to $4,000 a year, in Shawnee
to $4,000 year. and in the
state of Kansas to nearly $1,10O,OOO
a. year. Four thousand of our men
live in Topeka, and they draw $245,-
900 each month in wages. The money
is spent where it is earned and our
employees, sober and Industrious men,
are buying horses for themselves and
to the community in char
acter and good citizenship. Likewise,
we are doing all we can for the edu-
cation and comfort of our Tn. We
have schools for our apprentices, and
when an employe can no longer work
we give him pension"
'Who are responsible" 1 interrupt
ed, "for the hostile feelings toward
railroads -
1.-The politicians Mr.. Ripley calm
ly answered, clasping his hands be-
hind his head and stretching his long
legs across a corner of his desk.
" american politicians are like the pol
iticianS of ancient Rome. They go to