The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-25
Brought Before Commission


In some business circles in this city it
is now the common understanding that the
award of the arbitration board has al
ready been brought informally to the at
tention of the interstate commerce COM
mission at Washington. Each member OF
that commission can read between the
lines of the award with even better under
standing than can any of the public. The
commissioners as a whole know that the
arbitration board was an absolutely I'M
partial body. 1t represented both the rail-
roads and the employers as well as the
general public. Two of the paragraphs
in the arbitration boards report seem to
be in sympathy with recent comments
made by members of the interstate conf
merce commission One of these para
graphs is as follows.
AT the present time a ton of freight is
moved in the eastern ,-erritory for the dis
tance of little over three miles at the
cost of a 2-cent postage stamp. This is
the cheapest railroad service for shipment
to be found on the face of the globe"
Again the arbitration board In it's award
says: This board wishes to call the at
tention of the public to its belief that rail-
road accidents can be reduced almost pre-
cisely in proportion to the undermining
of the railroads and the improvement of
their equipment. These things, cost in the
aggregate an immense sum of money.
Any policy that would make 1T impossible
for the railroads to demand this money
would be a profound misfortune for the
whole nation.
cannot command the money. Only few
days ago the New Haven railroad was
compelled in order to save it's credit and
prevent the protesting of a large amount
of its obligations to borrow money on a
61a per cent basis. 1t is regarded as al
most automatic that while the credit of
the railroads is restricted by the low
charges for freight transportation which
now prevail the railroad companies cam
not command the money which the arbi-
tration board says must be commanded II
the Improvement in the equipments and
the undermining of the railroads are to be
secured.
A Ray of Hope
Notwithstanding the fact that the in
creased expense placed upon the railroad
companies by the action of the arbitra-
ton board and by other instrumentalitles
seriously affected the markets where the
values of railroad securities are tested.
nevertheless there do come from sew
eral separate directions intimations which
Justify at least the beginning of some
hope that the interstate commerce COM
mission will permit the eastern railroads
to increase their rates by not more than
per cent. Many of the bankers, espe-
cially those to whom the railroads must
apply for needed funds if improved equip
nlents and modernized plants are to be
secured, cannot escape the suspicion that
the members of the interstate commerce.
now understand the situation and that
some of them are persuaded that even
leaving the railroads themselves out of
consideration, the business prosperity of
the United States demands such improve
q NJ ,lav v1fc mill
enable the railroads to meet the very
great demands for transportation which
are sure to be made within the next five
years.
There is beginning also to be some un-
derstanding of the fact that the railroad
companies of the United States represent
in their ownership a very considera BILE
part of the people. In one of the ad-
dresses recently delivered by Howard Ell
lott, he stated that the number of stock
holders of the railroad companies of the
United States is about 10000. Stockhold-
ers can be enumerated with something
like accuracy. 1t is not so easy to iden-
tify the number of bondholders But Mr..
Elliott believes that 100000 Is not too
high figure to represent the number ,f
individuals who hold railroad securities
Only a small part of these 100000 Sc
curity holders represents the great capi-
talists. There are thousands of women
and children, there are many philanthro-
pic and educational institutions, a good
many savings banks, trust companies and
insurance companies that are represented
In this 100000. The 1,000,000. however,
represents probably about 100000 people,
all or at least part of whose means for
paying their way depends upon the sue
cess or the failure of the railroads.
Others Directly Concerned
Every savings bank depositor and every
holder of life insurance policy is directly
concerned in having the railroad securities