Barton County democrat., 1914-12-11
GRAVEST CRISIS IN
HISTORY CONFRONTS
AMERICAN RAILWAYS
War Has Closed Financial Markets OIL
Europe to Them Indefinitely.

roads of Kansas have filed an ap-
plication for an increase in pas
Senger rates before the State Pub
lie Utilities Commission, il is their
desire to utilize this occasion for
an intimate and frank discussion
of the whole railroad question
with the people of this state. To
this end, the careful attention Of
the reader is invited to a series of
articles which will apTear in This
newspaper during the newt few
weeks. All that is asked is that
the people of Kansas, whose
broadmindedneSS is a by-word
throughout the country, do the
railroads the justice 10 listen to
their side of the Story-and then
form such conclusions rs they
thinE the facts warrant.
That the railroads of the United
States are today confronted by
the graveSt crisis in their history
there is not the slightest question.
For some years they have been
desperately struggling with an
ever-increaSing cost of operation
in the face of reduced freight and
passenger rateS-but serious as
this situation was before the Eu-
rOpean war, which has indefin-
itely closed to them the foreign
money markets, has suddenly
brought them face to face with
a situation which threatens not
merely many new receiverShipS,
but the actual paralysis of the en-
tire transportation industry of
the nation. 1t was this state of
affairs which compelled the clos
ing of the New York Stock Ex-
change some months ago. What
will happen when it opens only
the future can tell. American
railroads are valued in round fl
cures at twenty billion dollars,
and of this vast sum nearly five
billion dollars worth of securities
are held abroad. Should Europe,
in its frantic struggle for funds,
seek to convert these securities
into ready gold when the Stock
Exchange opens, as it did before
it closed, where are the railroads
to get the money with which to
Duy them? And if they haven't
the money, what generalization
will follow not merely in railroad
securities, but in all other great
American industrial values as
well9
= President Wilson's Views.
That the situation is profound
ly. serious is manifested by the re-
cent utterance of President Will
son to a group of Eastern railroad
executives. In his letter to Mr..
Trumbull of the Chesapeake &
Ohio, he said:
you ask me to call the atten-
tiOn of the country to the impera-
tive need that railway credits be
sustained and the railroads help
ed in every possible way, wheth-
er by private cooperative effort
or by the action wherever feast
BILE of governmental agencies, and
! am glad to do so, because |
think the need is very real.
They are indispensable to our
whole economic life, and railway
securities are at the very heart of
most investments, large and small
public and private, by individu-
ais and by institutions.
g" am confident there will be
earnest and active cooperation
in this matter, perhaps the one
common interest of our whole in
duStrial life.
Undoubtedly men, both in and
out of official position, will ap-
preciate what is involved and lend
their aid heartily wherever it is
possible for them to lerl 1 it. But
the emergency is in fac jxtraordi-
nary and where there is manifest
common interest we ought all of
us to speak out in its behalf, and
i am glad to join you in calling
attention to it. This is the time
for all to stand together in united
effort to comprehend every inter-
est and serve and sustain it in ev-
cry legitimate way"
Rai'r ID Lost Millions.
The net operating income OF
the railroads Of the United States
for the year ending June 80, 1914.
was sl20. .00O. 900 less than for the
tIt war 'I'ht o4nee to,f-