Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1914-12-25
A GRAVE CRISIS CONFRONTS The
RAILROADS
War Has Closed Money Markets o
Europe to Them Indefinitely l.

In view of the fact that the railroads
of Iowa will, in the near future, file an
application for increased rates, it is
their desire to utilize this opportunity
for q general discussion of the leading
phases Of the railroad question with
the people of the entire state. To this
end. the careful attention Of the reader
is invited to q series of articles which
will appear in this newspaper during
the next few weeks, and which will
contain the frankest discussion of this
great problem that has ever appeared
in the public press. All that is asked
in the meantime is that the people of
Iowa accord to the railroads the cour.
tesy of listening to their side of the
story and then form such conclusions
as, in their judgment, the facts war.
rant.
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 seri-
GUS as this situation was before, the
European war, which has indefinitely
closed to them the foreign money mar
kets, has suddenly brought them face
to face with situation which threat
ems not merely many new receiver
ships, but the actual paralysis of the
entire transportation industry of the
Nation. It was this state of affairs
which compelled TIE closing of the
New York Stock Exchange some
months ago. What will happen in the
future the future alone can tell. Amer
lean railroads are valued in round fig
ores at twenty billion dollars, and of
this vast sum nearly Eve billion dollars
worth of 8 ecurities are held abroad.
Should Europe, in its frantic struggle
for funds. seek to convert these secur-
tiles into cash during the next twelve
months, where 10 the money to come
from with which to buy them?-and
failing to protect these securities, what
Decentralization will follow not merely
In railroad investments but in oil other
American industrial values rs we'll?
The recent statement Of David Lloyd
George, Chancellor of the Excheqoer,
that the inability Of Englishmen tocon
vert their American investments into
cash 10 Gripping Great Britain in its
present emergency il ominously sig.
niicant. Possibly the New York Stock
Exchange may be able to resume and
continue operations without acute die.
aster-but that the finances not mere.
ly Of the United States but of the
world will be subjected to q strain
without precedent in history during the
next year or two is so apparent that it
requires no extended comment. In .
future article this phase of the ques.
ton will be dealt with more fully.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S VIEWS
That the situation is profoundly SER
Gus is manifested by the recent utter
ance of President Wilson to q group of
eastern railroad executives. In his
letter to MIR. Trumbull of the Chesa-
peake & Ohio he said:
''You aek me to call the attention of
the country to the imperative need
that railway credits be sustained and
the railroads helpep in every possible
way, whether by private cooperative
effort or by the action wherever feas-
IDLE of governmental agencies. and l
am glad to do 80, because I think the
need is very real.
They are indispensable to our whole
economic life, and railway securities
are at the very heart Of most invest.
ments, large and small, public and pri.
vate, by individuals and by institutions.
II am confident there will be earnest
and active cooperation in this matter,
perhaps the one common interest of
our whole industrial life.
'Undoubtedly men. both in and out
of official position, will appreciate
what 10 involved and lend their aid
heartily wherever it 10 possible for
them to lend it. But the emergency
il in fact extraordinary and where
there 10 manifest common interest We
ought al of us to speak out in ito be-
half, and l am glad to join you in call
ing attention to it. This il . time for
all to stand together in united effort to
comprehend every interest and serve
and sustain it in every legitimate
way"
Again, in his recent letter to Secre-
tary McAdoo on the new banking law
he used the following language:
"The railroads of the country are al