The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-07-03

! dormant or inaccessible regions into hap
| py life and prosperous activity.
Yet most OF the railroads IN the United
States, improved as they have been, need
/ greater improvements still. Compare
lively few have been double-tTacked.
Most of them need better bridges and all
! roadbeds should be fortified with rock
1 ballast Mr.. James ]. Hill says We
should spend $500 900, 600 in preparing ade-
quately TO do the country's business,
when the crops are large and labor is en-
ployed to the limit. In my Judgment,
I Mr.. HIS estimate should be multiplied
/ three or four times The age demands
an immense expenditure Of new money.
The people really desire that it be eX-
pended. However, the railways are so
| necessarily harassed by forty-six States
and the national government that men
| interested in the development OF our
| transportation facilities have become
weary and discouraged.
Business Needs Protection.
Now the regulation OF a business by a
State or by the government in Washing
ton makes the protection of that business
obligatory in morals and common justice.
| Legitimate business should be protected
by law. It is protected 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 enriching hosts of people individually
farmers, merchants, manufacturers, and
others
Il shall pause long enough to say that
the railways, and only the railways,
make the wide exchange Of the products
Of labor possible. I wish the agricultur-
lists and the working men of the United
States would take the sentence l have
| just spoken into their minds for serious
and coherent reflection. Nevertheless, as
have said the railway business is the
only property interest IN America that is
| denied professional legislation by our
! lawmakers. such laws as are passed
with respect to railroads are regulatory
and restrictive. Absolutely nothing is
done to help us.
Moreover. the statements we make
| from time to time are rejected on the
| ground that they are untrue or dlsin-
genuous. We are treated as persons out
side the common code and courtesies of
business life, as outlaws against the
| truth. and as trieksters who juggle with
figures that we may cheat the public.
Railroads, capital considered, 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 $4,000,
900 last year, and that we paid out $50
10000 for labor. material, and taxes. no
one stops long enough honestly to con-
fess that We are Of material value to the
| country. We get no bouquets; only cob
| blest0nes and clubs.
A Beneff 10 tho Nation
What we do In the city Of Topeka is
being done in hundreds Of other places
by the different railroads of the United
States. Our taxes in Topeka amount to
SIS. 900 a year, in Shawnee County TO ST.
| 600 a year. and in the State OF Kansas
TO nearly 81, 10000 a year. Four thousand
of our men live in Topeka. and they
| draw $4,000 each month in wages. The
money is spent where it is earned. and
our employees. sober and industrious men.
are buying homes for themselves and
| contributing to the community In char
acter and good citizenship. Likewise. we
areg doing all we can for the education
and comfort Of our men, We have
schools for our apprentices, and when an
/ employe can no longer work we give him
a pension"
WHO are responsible" I interrupted,
for the hostile feeling toward rail-
roads?''
| 'The politicians" Mr.. Ripley calmly
answered, clasping his hands behind his
head and stretching his long legs across
a corner OF his desk. American poll
ticians are like the politicians OF ancient
Rome. They go to the people and say:
| Give us offlce and we shall abolish your
taxes. and every man. they assert by