Abilene weekly reflector., 1914-12-03

roads of Kansas have filed an appii-
cation for an increase In passenger
rates before the state public utilities
commission, 1t is their desire to util-
ize this occasion for an intimate and
frank discussion of the whole rail-
road question with the people OF this
state. To this end, the careful at
tention of the reader is invited to q
series of articles which will appear
in this newspaper during the next
few weeks. All that is asked Is that
the people of Kansas, whose broad
mindedness is a by-word throughout
the country, do the railroads the
Justice to listen to their side Of the
story-and then form such conclu-
sions as they think 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 desper-
ately struggling with an ever-in-
creasing cost of operation in the
face of reduced freight and passen-
ger rates-but serious as this situa-
tion was before, the European war,
which has indefinitely closed to
them the foreign money markets
has suddenly brought them face to
face with q 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 the closing of the
New York stock exchange some
months ago. What will happen when
it opens only the future can tell.
American railroads are valued In
round figures at twenty billion dol
lars, and of this vast sum nearly
five billion dollars worth of securi-
ties are held abroad. Should Europe,
in its frantic struggle for funds,
seek to convert these securities into
ready gold when the stock exchange
opens, as it did before 1t closed,
where are the railroads to get the
money with which to buy them? And
IL they haven't the money; what
generalization will follow not mere
ly in railroad securities, but in all
other great American industrial
values as well?
President Wilson's Views
That the situation is profoundly
serious is manifested by the recent
utterance of President Wilson to a
group of eastern railroad executives.
In his letter to Mr.. Trumbull of the
Chesapeake & Ohio he said:
"You ask me to call the attention
of the country to the imperative
need that railway credits be sus-
tanned and the railroads helped in
every possible way, whether by pri-
vate cooperative effort or by the
action wherever feasible of govern
mental agencies, and / am glad to
do so, because l think the need is
very real.
"They are indispensable to our
whole economic life, and railway Sc
curities are at the very heart Of
most investments, large and small,
public and private, by individuals
and by institutions.
II am confident there will be
earnest and active cooperation In
this matter, perhaps the one COM
mon interest to our whole industrial
life.
Undoubtedly men, both in and
out Of official position, will appre-
ciate what is involved and lend their
aid heartily wherever 1t is possible
for them to lend it. But the >emer-
gency is in fact extraordinary and
Wnor0 L00TO 10 IuduILCcL SVAAhASA -
terest we ought all Of us to speak
out in its behalf, and l am glad to
toin you in calling attention to It.
This is the time for all to stand to-
gether in united effort to compre-
bend every interest and serve and
sustain it in every legitimate way"
Railroads Lost Millions
The net operating income OF the
railroads of the United States foE
the year ending June 80, 1914, was
$12O,OOO,O 900 less than for the pre-
vious year. The gross earnings for
the year were $44,OOO,OOO less than
for 1913-while expenses and taxes
were SIS, ,00O,O 900 more. But heavy
as this burden was before, the great
struggle across the seas, carrying N
its wake the destruction Of, untold
~ dnI1a