Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1914-12-31

me an dpplCdLlOn IOr increased rates
it is their desire to utilize this oppor-
tunity for general discussion of the
/ leading phases of the railroad ques-
tion with the people of the entire
state. To this end, the careful atten-
ton of the reader is invited to a SER
les of articles which will appear in
this newspaper during the next. few
weeks, and which will contain the
frankest discussion of this great pro-
blem that has ever appeared in the
public press. All that is asked in the
meantime is that the people of Iowa
accord to the railroads the courtesy
of listening to their side of the story
and then form such conclusions as in
their judgement, the facts warrant
That the railroads of the United
States are today confronted by the
gravest crisis in their history there is
not the slightest question. For some
years they have been desperately
struggling with an ever increasing
cost of operation in the face of re-
duced freight and passenger rates
but serious as this situation was be-
fore, the European war, which has
indefinitely closed to them the for
eign money markets, has suddenly
brought them face to face with a sit
uation which threatens not merely
many new recieverships, but the act
ual paralysis of the entire transpor-
tation industry of the Nation 1t was
this state of affairs which compelled
the closing of the New York Stock
Exchange some months ago. What
will happen in the future the future
alone can tell. American railroads
are valued in round figures at twenty
billion dollars, and of this vast sum
neary five billion dollars worth of
securities are held abroad. Should
Europe, in its frantic struggle for
funds, seek to convert these secur-
tiles into cash during the next twelve
month, where is the money to come
from with which to buy them? and
failing to protect these securities,
what decentralization will follow not
merely in railroad investments but in
all other American industrial values
as well? The recent statement of
David Lloyd-George, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, that the inability of
Englishmen to convert their Amer
lean Investments into cash Is Grip
ping Great Britain in it's present EN-
Urgency is ominously significant. Pos
sibly the New York Stock Exchange
may be able to resume and continue
operations without acute disaster
but that the finances not merely of
the United States but of the world
will be subjected to strain without
precedent in history during the next
year or two is so apparent that it
requires no extended comment. In
future article this phase of the ques<
ton will be delt with. morsrfulTy.
Observation-Disclosures VIEWS
That the situation is profoundly
serious is manifested by the recent
utterance of President Wilson to a
group of Eastern railroad executives.
In his letter to Mr.. Thrumbull of the
Chesapeake & Ohio he said:
"You asked me to call the atten-
tion of the country to the imperative
need that railroad credits be sus-
tanned and the railroads, helped in
| every possible way, whether by pri-
vate cooperative effort or by the ac-
ton wherever feasible of government
al agencies; and / am glad to do so
because ! think the need is very real.
They are indispensable to our
whole economic life, and railway Sc
curities are at the very heart of most
investments, large and small, public
and private, by individuals and by in
stitutions.
I am confident here will be earn
est and active cooperation in this
matter, perhaps the one common in
terest of our whole industrial life
Undoubtedly men both in and out
| of official position, will appreciate
what is involved and lend their aid
| heartily wherever it is possible for
them to lend it. But the emergency is
in fact extraordinary and where there
is manifest common interest we ought
all of us to speak out in it's behalf,
and l am glad to join you in calling
attention to it. This is the time for all
to stand together in united effort to
comprehend every interest and serve
and sustain it in every legitimate
way"
again in his recent letter to Sec
rotary McAdoo on the new banking
law he used the following language:
1.-THE railroads of the country are
almost as much affected Thy the war;
not so much because their business is
curtailed as because their credit is
called in question by doubt as to their
earning capacity. There is no other
interest so central to the business well
fare of the country as this. No doubt
in the light of the new day, with its
new understandings, the problem of
the railroads will also be met and
dealt with in spirit of candor and
| Justice"
Like utterances have come from
| 90 18th
and financers during the last few
weeks-men who are above making a
selfish plea for any private or cor
porate interest and whose sole desire
is that American business shall en-
erge from the present precarious sit
uation without disaster. Uuder these
circumstances 1t is the merest folly
for any citizen to treat the present
crisis lightly or fiippantly for we are
passing through period in which the
financial resources of every nation in
the world will be tested as never be-
| fore
RAILROADS LOST MILLIONS
The net operating income of the
railroads of the United States for the
year ending June 80, 1914, was Sis,
| 554,S75 less than for the previous
year. The gross earnings for the year
were 66,69S,486 less than for 1918
while expenses and taxes were SAC,
535,653 more. But heavy as this
burden was before the great struggle
across the seas, carrying in its wake
the destruction of untold hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of all kinds
of property, renders the situation a
lthousand- fold more serious II means
in short, that for a number of years
to come Europe will have no surplus
money for investment in the United