The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1911-02-27

J. lclehct ana they NOuM ali, am sure
J. put yours second, and on the yotinl
+ Of the experts your railways woull
a come out first
r But further, your nation as a who'll
r is not in other matters Dre-eminentIl
r efficient No one would say that you
I farmers we're more efficient than thosl
: Of France and England or that you
! government is more efficient than n,
3 government Of Prussia. Your railways
have reached a higher standard IN IL
} ternational comparison than your farm
! ers or your government. and under
greater difficulties, for In England and
on the continent employment with q
railway company 70 a prize and man
hopes TO remain IN the service Of the
same company throughout his life. He
Is. therefore, obviously more amenable
TO discipline than the shifting and often
even foreign force employed on your
railways
| When asked what was the principal
fault he had to find with the railway
administration Of this country, Mr..
Acworth said;
Il think the Capitalization OF admin
istratiye power in your hearquarters
Offices in Chicago and New York, while
tending doubtless to efficiency and
ECONOMY, irresponsible in some degree
for the present strained relations be-
tween the railways and the public. AS
wise railway friend Of mine says,
The counter between the salesman and
the customer Is too wide Matters
that arise in Kansas, In Texas, in the
far south, in the far west and need
prompt adjustment have to be referr-
ed to officers thousand or two thou
sand miles away and the citizen in
the far west thinks he Is dealing with
la machine. He wants to deal person.
Tally with a flesh and blood neighbor.
p think that In these various import.
ant sections OF your country the large
railroad systems should have real exc
cutive officers with the largest possible
discretion TO deal with local questions
on the spot, also think that the rank
Ing officers OF your railways should
every now and then visit the different
communities along their lines ad cul.
tiyate the personal acquaintance of
their citizens.
Some good work In this direction
Is being done but there is opportunity
for great deal more. II your great
railway men We're steadfastly to pur
sue this policy think they would
soon live down much Of the antagon.
ism that has been manifested In var
ious parts Of the country. Time was
when your railways had good many
skeletons in their cupboards and then
they naturally kept them shut. Now
adays the skeletons are all buried and
! think the railways would do well to
open their cupboards and let the pub.
lie see how sweet and clean they are
The investors of Europe and even
your own Wall Street seem hardly to
grasp the enormous amount OF money
that must be spent upon your railroads
70 keep pace with your growing traf.
nc, II your traffic doubles every ten
years, as 1t substantially does, you viii
need not perhaps to double your faoiI. |
ties every ten years. but to Increase
them at least by SO per cent The
eleven hundred millions per year speci +
fed by Mr.. Hin as necessary for this
purpose is none too much. The inhabi /
tants of your western and southern |
states, your people in general, must !
that this capital cannot be
obtained IN their own communities.
Texas and Oklahoma have no money |
to spare for railroad building. They
want Il all for their own local bust. /
ness Even the east cannot find all the !
money required This money in large
measure must for long time to come
be raised abroad; and the investor of
other lines viii not be willing to sub.
scribe II so long as there is con- +
of the harassing conditions
which tend to impair the revenues of i
your railways, to hamper their aG,l
ministratlon and to retard their devel. j
opment II the railways of the Unit
ed States would reach time when 1
state legislators ceased from troubling
and state, commissions were at rest II
would in my thinking be good for the
railways and still better for the citi.
zens of the United States.
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