The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-06
OF RAILROAD
 PROBLEM THE BIGGEST JOB
 FOR THE ADMINISTRATION
By HOLLAND

New York, March 5.-(Spec.al )-As long ago as the late A. J. Cassatt was presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Railroad com- pany he was reported to have said to friends in this city that there would be needed many millions of new capital for the Pennsylvania Railroad company in case it were to meet the demands for transportation which were sure to be made within 10 or 15 years. MT. Cassatt foresaw a growth of business in the mid- dle west and great increase in busi- ness which originates in the Pittsburg district and that this increase would en- tail not merely greatly increased equip ment but also improvement of track, roadbed. bridges, and the like
 If the money could not be obtained at a reasonable rate or in a business like way wherewith these demands for the matey business in the middle west espe- cially and in the Pittsburg district would become congested since the railroad would not have the facilities to handle it.
 About the time that President Cassatt was thus speaking to his friends, James J. Hill was quoted as having said that within few years the railroads of the United States you'd require as much as $5, ,OOO, 900 600 if all of them were to be im- proved, expanded and provided with ter minal facilities with which to meet the demands for transportation made by the agricultural and industrial interests of the country.
 About a year before the retirement nf ha dency of the New York Central rail- road system, he said informally that if the people of the United States knew how greatly their own prosperity de- pended upon the perfecting of the rail- road systems of the United States so that they would be able conveniently and sufficiently to handle the trans portation offered to them within the next 10 or 15 years. they would be likely to insist that Congress and state Legislation so act to facilitate the railroad companies when appealing to the money market for fresh capital.
 Tn a recent address delivered by Howard Elliott, chairman of the New Haven railroad system, he intimat ed plainly that for the people of New Eng land the pre-eminently important ques- tion just now is not the one which has involved that system in strained rela- tions with state legislatures and with the department of justice at Washing ton. but Is one whose answer will show the way in which this railroad com pany can secure the large amount of capital which is needed Tn order so to perfect it that it will be able to meet the transportation demands of the man. ufacturers and the farmers of New England.
 The opinion is frequently expressed not only here but elsewhere in the United States that by far the most inn acter for President Wilson to fix his mind upon at this time Is one which in wolves mastery of the transportation problems in the United States. He would find from competent and un- prejudiced authorities that in all prob ability the greatest business question for the American people speedily to answer is one which has been occa- stoned by insufficient railroad facil- tiles.
 It is only recently that there has been gained some understanding of the peril to the agriculture and industrial in- terests of the south which turks in their inability adequately to improve their railroad facilities. In the past winter, Richard H. Edmonds of Balti- more--a city whose prosperity is in no small measure consequent upon the de- velopment of adequate railway systems in the south--has been making Q study of railroad conditions in that section of the country. Some of the results of his investigation he has recently re- ported in the Manufacturers Record He believes that billions are now need for the betterment of railroad condt-