Bisbee daily review., 1914-01-31
A PLEA FOR RAILROADS.


 is that of address delivered recently by Samuel Un. termeyer New York lawyer. before the Illinois Manu. lecturers Association The following views expressed by Mir Untermeyer the railroad situation are worthy of extended quotation as possible
 Permit me to congratulate you upon the enlightened patriotism of your action of few days ago as embodied in the resolution passed by your distinguished nu- ental body and forwarded to the Interstate Commerce Commission approving and urging the granting to the railroads of the increase in rates for which they asking This reversal of previous action on the same subject Is evidence of and farsight edness your part It largely due your effective protest that the previous application denied It would not be quite characterize your present attitude entirely unselfish since you must have reached the conclusion which shared today by of who have studied the subject to be just that unless rates increased the railroads will have that they maintain effective service and to meet the increasing demands for transportation facilities
 You have doubtless become convinced as have many of us. that the railroads thing apart. dusrial prosperity so nterwoven with theirs that the former exist without the latter It is however. none the less of a tribute to your breadth of vision that you who will have bear this burden were able to aside the smaller immediate selfish considera. tions and look beyond eventual outcome That mean accomplishment in the face of the in. tensely competitive conditions under which you are operating.
 lt Is true that great wrongs have been perpetraed upon the community by the railroad arrangements Of the past with exceptions; that in their present staggering load of debt and capitalization dishonesty reckless waste and misguided ambition largely rep. and that If the modern standards of public accountability which proposed to subject them hereafter applied their rates would yield munificent return the capital invested.
 But that is all fin the past We the condi- tiOns find them instead of trying to evade our problem by harpng back upon the and bunders that have been perpetrated The experience will be we'll worth all that it has if know how to profit by it. The country you a debt of gratitude for the courage with which you this new respon- sibiy. It is upon this big outlook the part our business men that may confidently rely for our industrial growth Your action again furnishes grati- flying evidence that confidence is amply justified. Now that Congress is about to deal with the great problems of regulating corporations and suppressng lawful combinations 1t becomes important that ap. proach this difficult subject with open mind and that all doubts the purely constructive purpose the work shall be The reactionary advocates Of 1etalone policy fail realize that cannot build enduring structure rotten foundations and that work of construction as Is the rearing of the new structure
 'Tt Is characteristic of the blindness and timdity of
 
 innovations and restrictions wholesome should be regarded with unreasoning dread and forebodng, though national legislators could any other wish purpose than safeguard legitimate enterprise
 If leaders in the world of affairs profiting by your inspiring example. will cooperate in the work of readjustment and reform purged the preudices Imbedded by the years of imperfect oppressive practices in the special privilege under which business has been permitted the results will be accomplished without friction and in their even tual interest If they will meet but half the men who are impersonaly and unsefshy seeking only the public welfare. business and finance will speedily put upon the firm ground of moral standards and public accountability that will square with spirit the times and they will why they ever tol the practices against which country in angry protest
 | "n to the best results the aarmists who profess in the impending legislation cause for unsettling legitimate business must be the rear. Our recent experience with the currency bill should once more have reminded that must not permit ourselves to be moved by the cries that oom' from boisterous little of country, where the special interests concentrated They always dis play these false distress signals attempted economic reform the theory that far they ar'