The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1914-02-05

perform public services, in return for
Ehich more than one hundred millions
be annual revenue is collected. These
are big figures and, in a country in
which there has always been a pride
81 big things, in which every commun-
sty has been wont to boast Of that
which it has which is the biggest, such
a big thing as tie Southern Railway
System should be, and l believe is,
a source Of pride to the South, but
: exactly in proportion as it is big also
In it's public service and faithful in
Its public trust. The administration
of such vast machine, affecting, as it
does, the comfort and well being Of
the people Of a large territory, is,
therefore, itself a large public service.
fhe time has passed when 1t might
be exploited for merely private and
gelfsh ends. The lawyers used to
Eell US that railroad was quasi
public institution, but today, happily,
1t might better be described as a quasi
private institution. 1t is private still
In the opportunity it presents for the
exercise of individual initiative and
competitive service, but in practically
. every other sense it is now recognized
that it is public.
It is a matter of sincere regret to
every railroad manager that railroad
securities are not more generally held,
directly and Immediately, in the COM
z6unities which the railroads serve.
The lack of such holding depriyes him
of powerful and sympathetic ally in
the relation Of public opinion to his
problems. The time was when the rail-
road stocks were owned Immediately
ut home, and by the people who were
most influential in shaping public opin-
Ion, but today, while railroad stocks
are generally held by the same kind Of
people-by those who, through the ex-
ercise Of prudence, industry and cour-
age have laid by competence, and by
the women and children for whom
-Ehey worked-such investors now do
not as a class reside in the territories
In which they have made their invest
nents. The explanation of this phe-
nomenon-so well known to us all, but
still a phenomenon-is part Of the
financial history of the United States,
but the fact has given rise to a feel
ing among many of those who use the
railroads daily and come into immedi-
ate contact with their managements,
that the railroads belong to some mys-
terious, remote and foreign power, to
irresponsible potentates, who bear, in
popular imagination, the generic name
of 'Wall Street" We read n-maga-
zines and newspapers Of the romantic
lives attributed to a few individuals
Eho are supposed to control the
destinies Of whole communities by pos
session and exploitation of the instru-
ments upon which such communi-
ties depend for their necessary trans
oortation, who elk" rates and arbi-
trarily determine conditions of serv-
ice, and so 'tax" the people they ought
TO serve, withdrawing money earned in
The sweat of the brow from the CON-
munities where it is earned, to be dissi.
pated at distance in extravagant fol-
lies. Such vision is not the result
Of pure imagination-it has had un'
fortunately its foundation Of justihca.
lion in a few conspicuous instances
which leap to the lips Of everyone who
discusses our present-day industrial
problems; but every intelligent man
knows that it is no longer, II It ever
bNas. the rule.
In considering such lamentable lndl-
sidual cases, the public, when forming
Its potent judgment on the present SIT
nation Of the railway industry, must
recognize them as the unhappy exceD-
lions they are To him who insists.
that the railroads should be judged by.
their black sheep, it is fair in answer
TO invite attention to many exemplars
pf high;Rmded integrity in the ad-
m6istration of railroad property. We
sn the South can cite shining examples
Sf such rectitude. I may be forgiven;
b proud reference to my late chler,
William Wilson Finley, whose oppor-
kunities were not less than those OF
INV of the fragrant individuals to
Ghom allns;cn has been made. but who.