New Britain herald., 1914-04-13
CUNM|NS ATTACKS
 FREIGHT INCREASE Senator Alleges Campaign is Being Waged to Arouse Sympathy.
PUBLIC IS BEING GREATLY MISlED
Attitude of Government Toward Railroads Is Not Hostile or Unjust,
 Says IOwa'S Leader. Systems Should Pay Per Cent Dividends.

Washington. April 13.-Senator Cummins charged on the floor of the senate today that a persistent and widespread campaign was being conducted to arouse public sympathy for the request for five per cent. increase in freight rates on eastern railroads, now pending before the in- terstate commerce commission. The senator expressed confidence that the commission would decide the question on it's merits, but said the public was being misled by incorrect and exag- gerated statements.
 Senator Cummins compared the railroad situation with the Panama Canal tolls question, declaring that an advance in railroad rates of five per cent. will amount in one year to more than all the tolls paid by all the ships that will go through the canal in twelve or fifteen years and more than American coastwise ships, if they paid full tolls, would be charged in half century.
 Waging Active Campaign.
 "In connection with the proceed ings before the commiss1on," he con- tinued, there is in progress the most energetic and persis- tent campaign that I have ever wit messed to make the people of the country believe that the effort of the government to regulate railways, railway rates and railway practices has resulted in dismal, disastrous failure; that the government in it's endeavor to protect the people has impoverished the transportation com panies; that it has driven them to the very edge of bankruptcy and ruin; that it has destroyed their credit and rendered them incapable of perform ing the service which commerce de- mands; that it has outlawed them from the confidence of capital and ex- fled them from the field of the in vestor.
 ss"Tfis extra ordinary campaign has filled the newspapers with headlines, with dispatches, with letters and with editorials. It has taken possession of the magazines, out of which week after week issue appeals for justice to the decadent railroads and to de- spondent railroad managers, and it gives dinners and holds public ban quets where the eloquence of orators paints lurid pictures of empty treas- uries. of worn-out tracks. of falling bridges and dilapidated equipment 2
 Many Stories Quoted.
 Senator Cummins quoted from sev- eral magazine and newspaper stories giving accounts of how different rail- roads had been forced to discharge lArge numbers of employees and re- trench in their expenditures.
 "I do not assert that the campaign is being carried on to affect the com mission,' he continued, flor the rai1- road companies know that it can not be swerved a hairs breath from the path of it's duty, but I do assert that the movers of this campaign are trying to do an infinitely more ob- jectionable thing. They are trying to mislead and pervert the judgment of the people. They are trying to awaken sympathy by false pretenses They are trying to deceive the coun- try with exaggerated cries of suffer- ing and distress in order to escape the control which experience had demonstrated should be imposed upon all corporations which undertake public service"
 People Are Not Hostile
 The senator denied that the people of the United States are hostile to the railroads and said that every one desired that all railroads be well constructed and we'll operated. He did not doubt that there were some rates which should be increased ard some which should be decreased
 'It follows, of course,'' he went on, "that the railroad property devoted to the public service is more valuable at this moment than at any other moment since railroads began. We ought to understand that We are deal- ing with the most perfect and com- plete railroad system that this world has ever seen, prepared to render more and better service than 1t has ever rendered before and all the de- clamations about railroads passing into decay and becoming unsafe or in- sufficient, is the rankest, baldest nonsense.
 Railroads Are Depressed.
 "It is beyond doubt that the rail- roads are now experiencing a some what severe depression, the volume of traffic is greatly diminished, as com pared with that two or three years ago. The depression began with the first of October last and has grown more serious with each month since that time. It is sufficient to say that for some reason people are not buying as much as they did; manufacturers are not producing as much as they did and consequ entity there is not much to haul from one part of the country to another I hope and I may add that it is my belief that these distressing
 (Continued on Eleventh Page)