Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-12-12
GRAVEST' CRISIS IN
HISTORY CONFRONTS
AMERICAN RAILWAYS
WAR HAS CLOSED FINANCIAL MARKETS OF
EUROPE TO THEM INDEFINITELY


or betterments into consideration.
These are obligations which were in
CURED in the past and which must
be met as they fall due if the trans
portation companies are TO be pre-
served, from wholesale receiverships
and ruin.
ManifestIy, therefore. American
inventors, big and little, will have TO
come to the rescue-and before they
viii consent TO do this American
railroad securities will have to be
re-established as sound respected
and paying iDvestment-aDd this, on
the basis of present railroad earnings
is impossible.
For this reason the railroads of
Kansas believe the impending crisis
demands that they lay this whole
problem before the entire state
that they have heart to heart
talk with the farmer, the mer-
chant, the manufacturer, the banker.
the laboring man, and other citizens
upon this great question which so
vitality affects the future welfare of
the commonwealth.
why Railroads Are Helpless
Nm times of acute financial stress.
private industries are in position TO
very largely adjust their affairs to
! meet the emergency. They can adj
vance the price of their commodities,
cut their pay roll in half, or shut
down altogether and thus permit the
storm to blow over without actual
cl, le
public enterprises. however. are in an
entirely different position. Their
rates are regulated by law and can
not be advanced without the consent
of the people through their law MAX
ing bodies. In order to please the
convenience of the public and not to
break down the commerce of the
country they must Operate their
freight and passenger trains whether
they carry full load or only a quar-
! ter of load-and in view of these
| facts. it is manifestly unfair to put
the railroads in the same class with
private industries in the present
crisis and ask them TO shift for them
! selves as best they can. When the
people took over the complete max
ing and regulation of railroad rates.
they at the same time assumed the
solemn implied obligation to see that
the railroads get a square deal-for
! this is the only power that stands be-
tween them and ruin.
We believe every intelligent citizen
will agree that agriculture, commerce
and industry cannot get along with
out the railroads On the other
| hand the railroads cannot get along
without the patronage and, what is
equally essential, the good win of the
people. That some of those who
have been entrusted with railroad
management in the past are some
what responsible for the apparent
gulf between the public and the
| transportation companies is perhaps
true. Busy and harassed by the Her
culean tasks entrusted to their care,
there has been too little contact be-
tween them and the people. Again.
it is undoubtedly true that the world
of railroad finance as well as other
lines of industrial activity has had
its share of inexcusable abuses but
4 JuSO Dc AIlC puOilN dOCS IOl hOi0 Oi1C
banking world or the ministry res
ponsible as a whole for the shortcom-
ings of an occasional black sheep, so
the hundreds of honest railroad
officials throughout the country
should not be condemned because of
the misdeeds of the few.
| Who Owns the Railroads?
In this connection it may be said
that the railroad world is encountered
with lot of phantoms which exist
only in the popular fancy. For in
stance, because thererhave been some
half-dozen so-called railroad magnates
whose names have figured prominent
ly in Wall street, many people have
come to believe that the railroads of
the country are largely owned by a
few rich men. AS a matter of fact,
nothing could be farther from the
truth. Out of the colossal sum of
twenry billion dollars invested in
1 American railroad securities less than
) per cent is now, or ever has been.
in the hands of these men who have
figured prominently in the newspaper
headlines the other 95 per cent
is in the hands of nearly two million
investors, large and small. who in
many instances have put the modest
lsavings of lifetime into these Sc