The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-08

nerienee of that kind, having always
been corporation lawyer excepting for
the brief interval when he served as
special representative of President Roose-
yelt at the marriage of the King of Spain.
Mr.. Whitridge replied that 1t was be-
cause he took no counsel excepting Of
himself, ignored precedents, paid no heed
TO the dismal hints of men of finance,
but having well matured his plans ac-
cordfng to his best judgment, put them
into effect
That reasoning will undoubtedly ex-
plain why II. FL. Rogers persisted in build
ing railroad which he first called the
Tidewater, and why Henry NJ. Flager,
pursuing his solitary plan built the East
Coast line of Florida, with its extraordi
nary and absolutely unique engineering
construction, directly over the ocean from
coral Key TO coral key by means of via
ducts to a true terminal at Key West.
Both Mr.. Rogers and Mr.. Flagler did not
count the cost They spent money reck-
lessly according to the judgment of finan-
ciers and railroad builders. Mr.. Flagler's
road and that of Mr. Rogers We're built
at cost which almost every one of our
inen of finance regarded as prohibitive.
Mr.. Rogers Way
Mr.. Rogers determined to build his rail-
road, whose western terminal was in the
great coal fields of the Appalachian range,
with such easy grades and such long tan
gents as entaied probably the greatest
cost per line of railway construction for
the whole distance ever paid by railroad
promoters in the United States.
Mr.. Rogers had worked out to his own
satisfaction this proposition. mo matter
what the first cost may be, | will SO
build my road that 1t will have scarcely
appreciable grades, and will have the
longest possible tangents. The first cost
may be enormous, but the money Will
be well invested. because when my road
is built | shall be able to demonstrate
that it can be operated with the highest
possible economies"
Mr.. Rogers did not live long enough to
be able TO say, MY judgment is vind-
Gated But those who have succeeded
him in the direction of this property re-
port that it has been already abundantly
vindicated. He therefore taught new
lesson to the railroad constructors of this
day.
The Clinchfield Road
The builders OF the Clinchfield railroad,
now practically completed stretching al
most in a straight line southery from
the rich mineral deposits of the Appa-
lachian range tc deep wafer upon the At
lantic al Charleston seem to nave taken
heed of the lesson taught by Mr.. Rogers.
The road Is probably, as Whole ana rel
atively speaking. the most expensive, SO
far as first cost is concerned, railroad
ever constructed, at least upon the North
American continent. Yet this enormous
cost has been justified by the operation
of the road. The construction of these
three very individual railroad systems of
the south and the highly gratifying re-
suits which followed the operation OF
these lines are regarded here as demon
strating that in the United States at
least the science of railroad building and
managing has not advanced very far.
Mr. Edmunds. in the article already re7
ferred to, says that the pre-eminent sue
cess of the Rogers and of the Clinchiield
systems in handling freight at very low
cost and in reducing by exceptionally
low grades the handling of freight has
already attracted the attention of the
ablest experts in finance and railroad
management in the world.