Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1914-02-06

pie pay the SOuthern Railway lines Tor
transportation remains a part of the
working capital of the Southern peo-
pie; but it is interesting to pursue
the thought step further to reali-
cation of what these disbursements by
the Southern Railway in the South
mean in the life and growth of the
Southern people. OF the total of sew
z, enty-six millions paid out along the
!, Southern Railway lines last year ap-
/, proximately forty-three million dollars
went to the army Of $4,000 employees
and thus, ON the conventional basis of
five to family, directly supported
/ about 295,000 Southern people, or
| about six and one-half times the pop
| ulation Of Chattanooga at the date Of
| the last census.
/ have spoken of our preferred
| stockholders, but the real preferred
stockholders Of the Southern Rail-
/. way System, in the matter of priority
of claim, are the political govern
| ments of the States. counties, and
cities along its lines. Their claim
upon railroad revenues comes ahead
even of that of employees, and they
took s3,743,704.39 in the last fiscal
year. 1t is hard to grasp the signifi-
canoe Of figures as large as this
| what our tax payments really mean
to the communities along our lines
can be better understood by an Illus
trative analysis of our payments on
0f Nd
| bridge taxes in the southern states.
In 1912, our school taxes in these
states amounted to something over
$S00,Q00, or an average of twenty
eight hundred dollars for each coun-
ty traversed by our lines. At the av-
erage annual compensation of school
teachers in the Southern States as
reported by the United States Bureau
of Education, this would more than
pay for ten teachers in each county.
1t represents $2.64 out of every 500
of school taxes paid in these States
and amounts to fifteen dollars for
| each school building in the States
traversed by our lines. Every dollar
paid to the Southern Railway for
transportation charges thus includes
a substantial contribution to the
maintenance of the system of public
education in the South
Payments by the Southern Railway
System in the same year of taxes d.
rectly assessed for public roads and
bridges amounted to SAT- ,966.63, or
| an average of $1,571S1 for each coun-
| ty along our lines. Every dollar paid
to the Southern Railway for transpor-
tation charges thus includes also
tenance Of the public highways of the
South and is an indirect but none the
less real public support of the pro-
gressive movement for good and bet
| ter roads.
| have referred to the impractical
bility of determining the amounts of
| interest and dividends paid to hold
ers of securities living along the line
of the road. We know, however, that
| large percentage of our population
| have very real though indirect per-
| sonal interest in these securities even
| though they may never have seen a
| railroad bond or stock certificate.
| There are few families in the South
who do not hold an insurance policy
of some sort; either an assurance on
life or against the risk of fire. The
| invested funds of the great insurance
| companies are, therefore, matter OF
| vital concern to the Southern people,
H., low hot
assets held in trust for their benefit
| We find that the chief insurance COM
| panies report their holding of securi
/ ties of the Southern Railway System,
| including terminal bonds on which the
Southern is a joint guarantor, aggre-
| eating more than eighty million dol
lars. In that great fund, the integri-
| ty of which depends upon the con-
| tinued solVency of the Southern Rail-
way lines, the Southern people have
| a vital proprietary interest, an inter
| est which, as they realize it, should
be to them constant spur to protect
| themselves by maintaining, as they
can and will, the basis of Southern
| Railway credit
l assert with confidence that the
facts to which l have called your at
| tention are full warrant for the claim
| that in a very real sense the South
ern Railway belongs to the people of
the South; so much SO that its annual
reports might more properly be ad-
| dressed ITO the People of the South"
! to advise you of the results of the
management of your property, for
today it belongs more to you than 1t
does to the stockholders More than
this, it's management is and always
| has been devoted to the interests of
| the South. It's officers are mostly
Southern-born men and those who
were not born in the South have
been here long enough to become
identified with our interests. our Pc
culiarities, our responsibilities, our
I prejudices, and our aspirations as a
people; they talk the same language
as the people of the South. l look
forward to the time when there may be
more Southern men sitting on our
Board of Directors, where ! know
that they will be welcome
AS an organization then, the South
/ ern Railway, with full appreciation
Of, and acquiescence in, the present
tendency Of public sentiment as to
what railway is and should be,
! stands pledged to the Southern peo-
pie, and is proud to declare itself one
Of their own institutions. AS such 1t
invites the Southern people to help
| 1t to become more and more their
| efficient servant and at the same
time the object of their pride and af-
fection. They need have no fear of
its future if it has their confidence.
trust you will permit me to take
this occasion to say finally a word
of personal nature: | believe in the
South and our Southern people with
all my heart and soul. l have given
most of the years of my manhood
L