The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-17
VIEW OF
 AMERICAN RAILROADS

manders, after the battle of Salamis, valor each put his own name first, but all put the name of Themistocles second And Themistocles received the prize So, too, though German. French and English railway men would, I dare say, all put their own railways first in efficiency they would all, I am sure, put yours second, and on the voting of the experts your railways would come out first.
 But further, your nation as a whole is not in other matters pre-eminently ef- ficent. No one would say that your farmers were more efficient than those of France and England or that your gov- ernment is more efficient that the govern ment of Prussia. Your railways have reached a higher standard in lnterna- tional comparison than your farmers or your government, and under greater dif- faculties, for in England and on the con- tinent employment with a railway com pany is a prize and man hopes to re- main in the service of the same com pany throughout his life. He Is, there fore, obviously more amenable to discip- line than the shifting and often even foreign force employed on your rail. ways"
 When asked what was the principal fault he had to find with the railway ad- ministration of this country, MT. Ac- worth said:
 'I think the standardization of admnis- trative power in your headquarters of fees in ChiPnpn ubiI Ic tending doubtless to efficiency and economy is responsible in some degree for the present strained relations between the railways and the public As a wise railway friend of mine says, The counter between the salesman and the customer is too wide" Matters that arise in Kan sas, in Texas, in the far south in the far west and need prompt adjustment have to be referred to officers thousand or or two thousand miles away and the citi- zen in the far west thinks he is dealing with machine. He wants to deal per sonally with flesh and blood neighbor think that in these various important sections of your country the large rail- road systems should have real executive officers with the largest possible discre- tion to deal with local questions on the spot. I also think that the ranking off cers of your railways should every now and then visit the different communities along their lines and cultivate the per sonal acquaintance of their citizens
 Some good work in this direction is being done. but there is opportunity for a great deal more. If your great railway men were steadfastlX to pursue this policy, l think they would soon live down much of the antagonism that has been manifested in various parts of the coun- tr,r txbap bad good many skeletons in their cupboards and then they naturally kept them shut. Nowadays the skeletons are all buried and I 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 to keep pace with your growing traffic. If your traffic doubles every 10 years, as 1t substantially does, you will need not perhaps to double your facilities every 10 years, but to increase them at least by 50 per cent. The eleven hundred millions per year specified by MT. Hill as neces- sary for this purpose is none too much. The inhabitants of your western and southern states, your people in general. must understand that this capital can not be obtained in their communities.
 Texas and Oklahoma have no money to spare, for railroad building. They want it all for their own local business. Even the east cannot find all the money re- quired. This money in large measure must for long time to come be raised abroad; and the investors of other lines will not be willing to subscribe 1t so long as there is a continuance of the harass- O cnn6ftiO1nS which tend fn ifl1nair ba revenues of your railways, to hamper their administration. and to retard their development. If the railways of the United States would reach a time when the state legislators ceased from trou- bling and state commissions were at rest it would in my thinking be good for the railways and still better for the citizens of the United States.'