The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-05
RAILROADS IN
BETTER FAVOR
THE GAP BETWEEN THEM AND
THE PEOPLE Is DIMINISH
ING.
NECESSARY TO NATION
POLITICIANS CAN NO LONGER Ex-
PLOT THEM To VOTERS
OFFICERS ARE BROADER
NECESSARY TO NATION
BY L. G. MCPHERSON.


tagonism.
This United States is peculiarly a
country in which public opinion is all
powerful. Legislatures elected by the
people enact laws which public opin-
ion favors A change in the mind of
the whole people, II rooted and persis-
tent, may lead to a modification of the
constitution itself.
The development of the corporate
era has wrought changes in the in
dustrial and commercial structure
which have been accompanied by dis
turbanccs in the popular mind. This
disturbance was focused first upon
the corporations engaged in transpor-
tation, upon the railroads
The freight service is the most i'm
portant work of the railroads. AL
though II affects the whole population,
that influence in but small proportion
Is through the Immediate personal
shipment or receipt of freight. OF
the eighty million persons not directly
dependent upon the railroads, per-
haps sixty millions more or less are
women and minors, and very few of
these have more than infrequent oc-
casion to avail directly of the freight
service. Even OF the remaining
twenty million or so male adults 1t Is
but small proportion that have more
than infrequent occasion to avail d.
rectly of the freight service, to make
a freight shipment in person or in
person to pay a freight bill.
Easier For the Farmers.
In the farming regions the condi-
lions are becoming similar The far
mer OF previous generation usually
shipped the products of his farm on
consignment to a principal market, but
it is becoming more and more the
custom for large operators In grain. in
meats and in cotton to make their
purchases at the places of production
Through their represe natives who also
arrange for the transportation. The
multitude of wage and salary earners
and of what are known as the profess
sional classes seldom make or receive
a shipment of freight: they have little
or no Immediate personal knowledge
of freight rates and classiflcations.
| 1t is otherwise with the passenger
service, but the situation is not so rad
fcally different as at first might be sup
posed. A general passenger agent of
experience and discernment once esti-
mated that 90 per cent of the travel
/ Ing in the United States is done by
about per cent of the population
| The great majority of the population
travel but little, with the exception of
| the commuters whose residence is in
4 Inc SUBURBS OF IHe large cites WnPTe
they are employed.
To the mass of the people in the
smaller cities and towns the railroad
looms much larger. The passing of
the great freight trains, the whirling
by of the passenger express trains that
often do not stop, give an impression
of a colossal force that does not wholly
seem to be part and parcel of their
environment.
Swayed by Politicians.
The contact between the great body
of the people and the railroads in
nearly every community is mostly In
minor matters. They know little and
personally care little about freight
rates. The difference OF cent a mile
| for passenger fares would make a neg
| ligible difference In the expenditure Of
the vast majority of them in the
course OF year. But when these
the gross earnings of the railroad
which passes through their town ere
two or three or five or six million
dollars greater than in the previous
year they think they are paying IL too
much. When some politician. hun
CRY for votes and popular applause,
shouts that the railroads during the
past year have taken two and a half
| billion dollars from the pockets of
/ NAap PNcfAN NV NiNi r. lifC AdpoINi tHe
small storekeeper. the underpaid
teacher and preacher, to whom 81 900
year seems good round income.
/ believe that an impersonal monster
is grinding them down. The politician
does not tell them that this Is the ag-
gregate taken In during an entire year
by nearly 100000 miles OF railway
lines; that the entire amount received
| for each mile of line in one day ave-
only a a1f AK ~ ,f x,sh{ n ar
to be paid for wages and material to
keep things running and in good con-
dition about s25, leaving $40 for in
terest on debt. for dividends, for i'm
| provements and betterments and for
surplus in time of need.
Roads Built in u Hurry.
II we reverse the shield and look
ward the people we shall be obliged
to reflect that the railroads Of this
country have been built mostly with
in the last fifty years. Railway con-
struction such as set in after the civil
war demanded in large degree the
spirit of the pioneer and in a certain
degree that of the adventurer There
was needed quick. although crude,
adaptation of means to end. the abili
~ to control and direct great bodies of
men, often of none too orderly pro-
clivities. The men OF the previous
day who projected. and especially the
contractors who really built the rail-
roads, were mostly rough and ready
and masterful lot. Close ca1cula-
ton in the use of resources and re-
finement of Intercourse were not in
demand. Things needed to be done,
and they were done, in a hurry with
hammer and tongs
AS the railways rapidly constructed
became ready for service there was a
dearth OF men trained and qualified
for their operation. Projectors and
contractors frequently became presi-
dents. general managers and superin-
tendents. The discomforts and the
hazard of the trainman's life were far
greater than now. Particularly In
the then undeveloped West. the voca-
tons of the engineer, conductor and
brakeman attracted men OF physical
courage with more or less of the dare
devil In their makeup. There was no
such capitalization Of rules as at
present; engineers and conductors
were obliged in a greater degree to
rely upon their own judgment and
their own efforts; II was the duty OF
a brakeman to hold his own in q night
with rowdies on a passenger train.
with tramps who infested and pillaged
'frvMn
Onacers From the Ranks-
As the administrative officers of the