The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-12-24
n GRAVE CRISIS CON-
'FRONTSTHE Rail ROADS
WAR HAS CLOSED MONEY MARKETS OF
EUROPE TO THEM INDEFINITELY

hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of property, renders the situ-
alton a thousand fold more serious.
1t means, in short, that for number
of years to come Europe will have no
surplus money for investment in the
United States or elsewhere and that
American railroads will have to fin
ance their future needs at home.
How herculean this task will be, say
ing nothing about protecting them
selves against the dumping OF for
eign securities, may be judged from
the fact that the bond and note obi
cations which will mature between
now and the end of next year, and
which the railroads will have to meet
in some way, amount to more than
1858, 0,000-and this doesn't take
dollars worth of new Improvements
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 transpor-
tation companies are to be preserved
from Wholesale receivership and ruin.
Manlfesting, therefore, American
investors. big and little, will have to
come to the rescue-and before they
will consent to do this American rail-
road securities will have to be re-es-
tablished as sound, respected and
paying investment-and this, on the
basis of present railroad earnings is
impossible!
For this reason the railroads OF
Iowa believe the impending crisis de-
mands that they lay this whole prob
lem before the people of the entire
state-that they have heart-to-
heart talk with the farmer, the mer-
chant, the manufacturer, the banker,
the laboring man, and all other citi-
zens upon this great question which
so vitality affects the future welfare
of the commonwealth and the nation.
Why Railroads Are Helpless.
In 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 payroll in half, or shut down
altogether and thus permit the storm
to blow over without actual ship
wreck. The railroads, as quasi-public
enterprises, however, are in an en-
tirely different position. Their rates
are regulated by law and cannot be
advanced. without the consent of the
people through their law making
bodies. In order to please the con-
venience of the public and not to
break down the commerce OF the
country they must operate their pas
senger and freight trains whether
they carry a full load or only 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 I present
crisis and ask them to shift for them
selves as best they can. When the
people took over the complete MAX
ing and regulating of railroad rates
they at the same time assumed the
solemn implied obligation to see that
the railroads get square deal-for
the people are the only power that
stands between them and ruin. Isl
We believe every intellectual citi-
zen will agree that agriculture, COM
merce and industry cannot get along
without the railroads. On the other
hand, the railroads cannot get along
without the patronage and. what is
equally essential, the good will OF the
people. That some of those who have
been entrusted with railroad manage
ment in the past are somewhat re-
sponsible for the apparent gulf be-
tween the public and 'the transporta
ton companies is perhaps true. Busy
and harassed by the herculean tasks
entrusted to their care, there has
oeen too little contact between them
and the people. Again. it is undoubt-
L. true that the world CT railroad fin
nee as we'll as other lines of indus
lsi activities have had its share OF
ineXci.:sG lie ali, s'7s--buI lust as RE
pubic does not hold the banking
world or the ministry responsible as
whole for the shortcomings OF an
occasional black sheep, SO the hum
dreds OF honest raihoa 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 incumber-
ed with lot of phantoms which exist
only in the popular fancy. For in
stance. because there have been some
half dozen so-called railroad mag
mates whose names have figured
prominently in Wall street, many
people have come to believe that the
railroads of the country are largely
owned by few rich men. AS mat
ter of fact, nothing could be farther
from the truth. Out of the. colossal
sum of twenty billion dollars invest
ed in 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-while the 9TH
er 95 per cent is in the hands of near
ly two million investors, large and
small, who in many instances have
put the modest savings of a lifetime
into these securities in order that
they might lay away competency
for old age.
When, therefore, the value Of
these securities is depressed, or per-
chance destroyed, the hardship is
ten-fold greater upon thousands Of,
everyday citizens-upon the frugal
mechanic in New England factory,
the widow with her life insurance
funds, and the countless other citi-