The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-10-06

somewhat cynieally President Elliott, S
predecessor by speaking of him as the
bismarck of New England. He also in
timated that Massachusetts and New
England would hereafter insist upon par
tieipating in the financing of the great
New England public service corporations
through the frequent issue of obligations
of moderate amounts, thereby taking the
place of the powerful banking houses in
the world. 1t was with tact, eentleness
and courtesy, that President Elliott re-
piled to these limitations He said that
the management of the Now England
lines found it expedient to employ the
best financial ability it can find to help
in raising the money needed 1t wanted
to employ bankers no matter where they
lived. provided they could do the work.
Il would prefer to employ bankers in
New York and Boston because these
bankers naturally want to help the de-
velopment of the country and the roads
But the management would be especially
pleased if the bankers of New England
and the banks and the investors of the
section would furnish their full share of
the money needed now, and in the future
and would also assist in obtaining that
money in the markets of the world.
A Different Way
No one could take offense at this gentle
answer. Many in this city, as they read
1t, were reminded of a laconic and what
was intended to be witty remark by
one who was formerly associated with
the New Haven Railroad company, who,
in replying to criticisms, said: IF | want
$10,000o0O for the company / can get
1t in New York In an hour, but it would
take Boston two or three weeks to decide
whether she would furnish the money
~ han. Il L.. =
it,
Mr. Elliott showed himself to be in en-
tire sympathy with the ADLER railway
managers of the present time so far as
his estimate of the amount of money
needed by the railroads in the United
States within a few years Is concerned
They will need s7O0000,0 600 of new capital
he said, if they are to install steel cars
and dispense with wooden cars. They
will need 300000,000 to equip their lines
with modern safety signals, so that these
two items alone will require 81, 900. In
the present temper of legislators and the
public 1t is certain that they will be re-
quired to install these improvements. But
President Elliott intimates that 1t is much
easier to pass laws of this kind than it
is to find the money with which the re-
quirements of the law are TO be met.
A Profound Philosophy
Another one of the statements made by
President Elliott has occasioned a great
deal of comment in this city. 1t indicates
that he has thought more profoundly upon
vital economic questions of the day than
have some who have written or spoken
much. He asserts that some of the diff
culties and inadequacies of the Transport
ia tion machine of the United States are
the result of our drifting away too far
from the fundamental principle that trans
portatfon is business which in the
long run must be governed by the pro-
found and Interchangeable natural laws
which affect all human affairs and activ-
tiles
The covert meaning behind this state
ment reflects the view that the profound
est thinkers of the present time are taking
and to some extent expresses the idea
which was in Thomas Jffersons mind
when he said: The best government is
the one which governs the least"
A Good Omen
There have been so many reports re-
Gently about the New Haven railroad
and its future. many OF which are of
respondent nature. and there have been
so many limitations that various persons
who have been critical have awaited them
selves of their criticisms to operate in
the stock market that the optimism which
rs contained in President Elliott's address
comes like a tonic That feeling of hope
and confidence which he expresses, es-
pecially his statement that under his man.
agement the railway will confine it's ac-
tivities to the transportation business, and
the strong belief that the great Penn
sylvania Railroad company is giving such
support as 1t may wisely and lawfully
do. are now followed by some revival of
confidence in the future of system which
must be wisely and carefully nursed for
some years by President Elliott until at
last 1t becomes a great and complicated
machine which has been so adjusted that
it will run smoothly without friction, pay
a fair return to the owner and become so
much a part of the greater life of the
public that no more attention is paid to
it than is now paid to drawing water
from a faucet or turning on an electric
light. 1t has been long time since
comments of this kind have been made
by anyone of high influence in the man
agement of the great New Haven system.