The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-12-12

In contemplating the crisis winch
confronts the railroads at the pres
ent time, and which was briefly ex-
planned in last weeks article, it IS
important for the reader to reailze
that the railroads and the public face
each other under radically changed
conditions today from those wh1ch
prevailed a few years ago. The abuses
and scandals which have been aired
before the Interstate Commerce Com
mission during recent months were
perpetrated for the most part under
the old regime of a dozen or so years
ago and can never be repeated under
the conditions which now prevail. On
the one hand, the Interstate Com
merce Commission and the different
states, either through their Public
Utility Commissions or Legislatures.
say what rates the railroads shall
charge for service. In addition TO
this. a proposal is now pending IN
Congress to give the government the
right t. investigate all new interstate
securities before they can be placed
upon the market while similar au-
thority is already being exercised
within the states by the different pub
lie utility commissions including Kan
sas. This means that the last vestige
of control over their finances will
have been taken away from the rail-
roads and that henceforth their fate
will lie absolutely in the hollow of the
peoples hands. In this connection,
we wish to again remind the reader
that the hundreds of honest railroad
officials throughout the country-men
who have managed their properties
without breath of scandal or public
triticism-should not be condemned
be, use of the misdeeds of the few.
With an aroused public conscience on
the one hand and scores of railroad
officials throughout the country sin
cerely and actively cooperating with
the different public authorities on the
other we can safely let by-gones be
by-gones-wipe the slate, and, with
square deal To- the people, the in
weston and the railroads alike, "start
over again.
The Presidents Anxiety.
In last weeks article we quoted a.
portion of President Wilson's recent
reply to a group of eastern railroad
executives. That the president has
become profoundly concerned over
the present crisis which confronts the
transportation companies is once
more made strikingly apparent in his
letter concerning the Inauguration of
the new banking system to Secretary
McAdoo a few days ago. In this letter
he referred to this matter in the fol-
lowing language:
1.-The railroads Of the country are
almost as much affected (by the war;,
not so much because their business
is curtailed as because their credit is
called in question by doubt as to
their earning capacity. There is no
other interest so central to the bust
ness welfare Of the country as this.
No doubt, in the light of the new
day. with it's new understandings, the
problem of the railroads will also be
met and dealt with in a spirit of can
dor and Justice
Like utterances have come from
scores of other prominent public
men and financiers during the last
few weeks-men who are above maxi
ing a selfish plea for any private or
corporate interest and whose sole de-
sire is that American Business shall
emerge from the present precarious
situation without disaster. Under
these circumstances it is the merest
folly for any citizen to treat the pres
ent crisis lightly or flippantly. for we
are passing through a period in which
the financial resources of every ma
ton in the world will be tested as
never before.
Where Railroad Receipts Go.
~ In order that the reader may real
lie what a tremendous factor the
railroads are in the everyday BUSH
ness life Of the nation and what thew
mean to its prosperity, we wish to
analyze briefly what becomes of an
average years railroad income. Just
as the idea has prevailed in the minds
of many that the railroads are owned
by few rich men, so the thought has
also found deep root that they COL
1ect millions Of dollars from the pub
lie which go into the Golfers of a
handful of millionaires, and which
are permanently withdrawn from the
thrift and industry of the people
At the close of the fiscal wear end
ing June so. 1913, the record at
Washington show that the railroads
OF the United States had collected
gross income from all branches of
their service amounting to s3,11S.-
929,31S. OF this sum s1,373.S3O.5Se
was paid out for labor-or to put it
in another way, almost so cents ont of