Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1914-12-24

roads IF Iowa will, IN lhe
near future, file an ;ppllcati",
for increased rates, it is the lr
desire 20 utilize this opportun-
lty for a general discussion Of
the leading bases OF the rail-
road question with the people
If the entire state To this
END, the careful attention Of
he reader il invited to a series
If articles which will appear in
his newspaper during the next
te weeks, and which will COM
an the frankest discussion If
hi, great problem that has
sver appeared in the public
Dress. All that is asked IN the
meantime is that the people Of
iowa accord TO the railroads
he courtesy of listening to
heir side of the story and then
form such conclusions as, in
heir Judgment, the fac's war
rant
That the railroads of the
| United States are today con.
tronfed by the gravest crisis In
heir history there is not the
slightest question. For some
years they nave been desperate
~ struggling with an ever In.
creasing cost of operation in
The face of reduced freight and
passenger rates but serious as
this situation was before. the
European war, which has in
definitely closed to them the
foreign money markets, has
suddenly brought them face to
face with a situation which
threatens not merely many
new receiver-ships, but the ac-
5ual paralysis of the entire
transportation industry of the
Nation. 1t was this state of
,ffairs which compelled the
closing of the New York Stock
Exchange some months ago
What win happen in the
future the future alone car
tell. American railroad
are valued in round fig
Tres at twenty billion dollars,
Al d of this vast sum nearly five
Dillon dollars worth of secur :
les are held abroad Should
Europe, in its frantic struggle
| for funds. seek to convert these
securities into cash during the
next twelve months, where is
he money to come from with
which to buy them? land fail
ing to protect these securities,
what decentralization will follow
not merely in railroad invest
nents but in all other Amer
,an industrial values as well:
The recent statement of David
| lloyd George Chancellor of the
Exchequer, that the inability OF
| Englishmen to convert their
American investments into cash
crippling Great Britain in It's
present emergency is ominous
significant P ,ssib'y the New
York Stock Exchange may b.
sble TO resume and continue
operations without acute disas.
er but that the finances not
merely of the lnited States
| out of the world will be sub
]jected to a strain without prec-
dent in history during the
| next year or two is so appar
ent that it requires no extend
| Sd comment. In a future arti
Gle this phase of the question
| will be dealt with more fully.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S VIEWS
That the situation is pro
foundry serious is manifested
~ the recent utterance Of
President Wilson to a group O.
Eastern railroad ex ecutives
La his letter to Mr.. Trumbul
If the Chesapeake & Ohio he
said:
"You ask me to call the at
ention of the country to tn.
imperative need that railway
credits be sustained and tn,
railroads helped in every pos
slbla way, whether by privat,
co operative fort or by thu
action wherever feasible O
governmental agencies, and
am glad to do so, because
think the need is very real.
"They are indispensable tt
our whole economic life, ant
railroad securities are at tn,
very heart of most investments
large and small, public and pri
vate, by individuals and by in
aividuals and by institutions.
al =, ~ ~Elo~k kl1~@ ,~,:ll l.