Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-06-05
The Railway Question.

VIII wv - .
. ganization of the "Farmers' Ali.
ance" in the eighties Of the last
century, says an exchange, a per.
s%istent, growing and successful
campaign has been waged against
the railways.
The companies have %grievouSly
offended in many ways. There
have been financial scandals con
nected with the building of i'm
portant lines, well founded com
plants Of overcapitalization, and
grievances about excessive or dis.
criminatc rates on freight, pools
that nullihed competition and re.
bates to favored customers. These
evils have been largely remcdied
by law. Rates and to some ex.
tent capitalization are now con
trolled by public service commits,
sions; pools and rebates are illegal
and punishable.
So far, so good. Now the Qucs
tion that confronts the companies
is: Can they live and prosper un
der the new conditions and per
form the duty that the public still
expects or thcm' They do not
ask that the laws against the evil
practices of the past be repealed,
but they are forced to considc,
what future is in store for then
unless the g0vernment-natiOna'
and state-shall treat them NOR
generously, or at least, moIc far
ly.
The question is, indeed, on
that the general public must con
slider quite as seriously in it's ow'
interest gs the directors and stock
holders of the railway companies
are considering it in theirs.
In the first place, the public
should remember that any meas
ure that destroys the earning pow
err of the railways impOverishes
hundreds of thousands of persons,
both men and women, who have
never been more than well t0-do,
and compels them to economist to
such an extent that every grocery
in the land, and every dry goods
store finds it's sales appreciablv
reduced, That is only another
way of saying that, as surely as
the railway companies are forced
into such a situation that they
can no longer return dividends
and interest to those who hold
their securities, there will be a
period OF hard times that will last
until that condition is changed.
In the second place, the public
should remember that the United
States is not yet finished. The
vast expansion of our railway sys.
ten, the unequaled telephone ser,
vice, the tremendous growth in
our exports of manufactured goods
all these things are the result of
the freedom that enterprise has
enjoyed. There has been too much
freedom, and it has been abused:
but if freedom is altogether taken
away, or too greatly restricted,
expansion will cease. 1t is already
suspended, and in some measure il
has changed into contraction.
Some large transportation lines
that serve the public we'll, partly
because they are large, are being
forced to disiutegratr by govern.
ment decree. In some case, ne
doubt, the disintegration is Justly
exacted and will benefit the com
munity; but there are other case,
in which it is not at all certain
that the public will be the gamer
Be that as it may, human ma
ture is so perverse, and capital 81
timid, that there will be no none,
forthcoming to enlarge and i'm
prove our transportation system
so long as the government require
the roads to grant all demands 70.
an increase of wages, and denie
all their requests for permission
IN raise rates