Bisbee daily review., 1911-12-20
RAILROAD PRESIDENT
 PLEASED WITH SYSTEM
Ccontinued from Page l)

was necessary. because competition always is a necessary element of in. du3trial life; but inasmuch as we must now compete as a nation with other nations 10 preserve our exist ence, it seems better to concentrate cur energies on the efforts for individ. ual efficiency than to waste away our aggregate strength in domestic guar rels.
 In referring to the old time rate wars which for a long period of years threatened the operations of Ameri- can railways, Mir. Harrison asserted that no one but the gambler bene. lited, yet the incidents. when attended those rate conflicts were the direct consequence of the kind of competi- ton which 1t is now proposed to re- instate. It was in the effort to ob- tain stability of business, he said, against the cut-throat competition which then prevailed, that many of the mergers of railways were accom- phshed and some of the existing great systems built up. The men wno brought this about. he stated, never were aware that they were commit ting crimes. In their hearts, it is his opinion, they were proud of what they had done, as men are apt 10 be of the things they accomplish with high purpose.
 AdVoc ates Government Regulation
 Whatever may be the case" Mir. Harrison continued" the railway of iiceT today is fortunately under no necessity to observe the presidential admonition and search his heart for the motives of business life, for there has been supplied for the railway of ticer an effective remedy for the evil consequence of unrestricted eompe- titioR. namely. regulation, and that is the true medicine for the industrial situation generally.f
 In alluding to the necessity which now exists for the American people to accommodate themselves 10 the higher cost Of living. Mr. Harrison de-
 clared we falready are paying the highest wages in the world. and yet
 today through eff ciency and low
 transportation charges we are able
 to compete with those nations in
 which the question of living wage for
 labor is just beginning to find a re- | sponse from the government That the
 production costs go up is inevitable.
 he said
 i've have seen in a few years the Y development of the policy of regula. ' ton of railways, added Mir. Har1i- son, to remarkable standard Of Y success measured by results obtained
 Tn making this statement I am not
 likely to forget the preliminary fail
 ure of methods of regulation. the in
 competence, the ineficiency, even tho
 insincerity Of the administration at
 times; and. worst of all, the evil in
 consist teney of dual rgkulation by state
 and federal goverIilgsent in respect to
 the same subject, matter at the same
 time: but aeoePSisg these bardships
 in a large sense because of the end | to be ultimately attained. we must | recognize that the incidence Of regu- lation has already enabled railway of- ficers to do many things which in their
 hearts they always wanted 10 do. and to end some abuses notably rebates and free transportation which always were offensive. Regulation also has done much to secure railroad invest ments as a whole on a safer and firmer foundation than ever they were: 1t is true that fewer melons are cut: there are fewer sensational rises in security values on the stock exchange; there Is less buying and selling of whole railroads, and, for the moment, there is even less con struction, but the4 railroad secprities which have real merit today are tend ing more nearly to reach an equiiib- rium of investment value with an as sured return al a reasonable rate. Spectators Complain Most.
 Those who have been won't to buy railroad stock for the sake not of in.
 come. but of the possible profit from
 an unexpected increment in market
 vslue, arc d.scentented, and it is from Wall street that we hear the most yio-
 lent criticism of regulation, Of course there are and will be for long time to come some railroad officers who op- | pose regulation from habit and con l viction. We all know the fine old
 fashioned railroad officer who achieved his promotion and present dignity in the rough and tumble days and who continues 10 rely upon brute force in resisting regulation, because he sees only the hardships which en- tail upon railroads and the inefiicien- cy Of those who administer the re- zine. He is unable to adjust him |
 self to modern conditions in which regulation is an accomplished and ac- cepted fact, as would an antedeluvian beast: but it will not be long before he can be found only in the museums beside the icthyosaur and the dipio- docus
 With a conservative government policy towards business, biz and lit tie. no man can venture to foreteil the industrial future of the United States. We hear our political liberty iauded from every platform, our na i tiOnaI resources Tehearsed on every
 hustings, but we do not so often take stock Of what today is perhaps our
 chief economic adyantaga, namely hal we have led the world in adjust ing ourselves to increased costs.