Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1914-10-07

provements or betterments int
consideration. These are obi
cations which were incurred i
the past and which must be me
a. they fall due if the transports
tion companies are to be pre-
served from wholesale receiver
ships and ruin.
Manifestly, therefore. Ameri
can investors, big and little, viii
have to come to the rescue-ant
before they will do this Ameri
can railroad securities will hav,
to be re- established as a sound
respected and paying investment
and this, on the present basis
of railroad earning 10 impossible
Believing, therefore, that the i'm
pending crisis demands that the
railroads frankly and openly lay
this whole complicated problem
before the people - that they
have a heart to heart talk with
the farmer, the merchant and
the banker on the entire railroad
question, the careful attention
of the reader is invited to ser.
les of articles which will appear
in this paper during the next
few weeks. All that is asked is
that you re d with an open mind
the facts and figures presented,
which are taken largely from the
records of the Bureau of Rail
way Economics at Washington,
D. O. The rest will be cheer
fully left to your sense of what
Is right and fair.
Farmers Vitally Interested.
Especially is it to be hoped
that farmers whose market fa-
oilities and land values are so
vitality affected by the railroads
will follow these articles care
fully, for Agriculture is the Ma
tion's greatest industry and its
success is largely dependent up
on adequate and efficient trans
portation facilities. In fact, ev-
cry interest In the land, what
ever its charaster, is inseparably
interviewer with the railroad
problem and it deserves the So
ber thought of all thinking citi-
zens. The morning after war
was declared, Congress sudden
ly awoke to the fact that we
were without a merchant marine
in which to send American
wheat and other merchandise
across the seas. How much
greater would be the calamity
have been had there been a Sc
rions breakdown in our railroads
which would have prevented
them from delivering the farm
ers' products at our seaports9
We believe every intelligent
citizen will agree that Agricul-
ture, Commerce, 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 en-
trusted with railroad manage
ment in the past are somewhat
responsible for the apparent
gulf between the public and the
transportation companies is per-
haps true. Busy and harassed
by the herculean tasks entrusted
to their care, there has been too
little contact between them and
the people. Again, It's undoubt-
edly true that the world of rail
road finance as well as other
lines of industrial activity has
had it's share of inexcusable abus.
es-but just as the public does
not hold the banking world or
the ministry responsible as a
whole for the shortcomings OF
an occasional black sheep, so the
hundreds of honest railroad off
cials throughout the country
should not be condemned because
of the misdeeds of g. few.
Who Owns the Railroads.
In this connection, it may be
said that the railroad world is
encumberedss with q lot of phan
toms, which exist only in the
popular fancy. For instance, be
cause there has been some hal
dnzan so. called railroad mao mates