Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1915-09-16
The Railroads
And the People

Association, Seattle, September 7
1850
The subject assigned me by yOul
committee is "The Railroads and the
People" | like that statement Of
the subject, particularly the con
junction and" because there is
more in conjunction between the
railroads and the people than most
of the people realize. The subject
would not be correctly stated if it
had been entitled THE Railroads or
the People" although that would bet
ter fit the tongues of the glib.
A recent writer about banks and
railroads has said:
That the great American public is
not unfair
That in fact il is eminently fair
where reasonably well informed, but
has been misled, confused and only
half informed at the best.
That both parties to the contro-
versy are at fault, the government
for too much publicity of the wrong
kind, the railroads for too little pub
licity of the right kind.
That elementary education of these
great, live, national subjects, educa
tion that can be grasped by the busy
man, is the one great need in the
present juncture.
That without it the questions can
not be settled right; and no question
is ever settled right until it is settled
with justice to all concerned.
1t may be assumed, accordingly, |
that it is wise for us to address our
selves to the duty of setting before
the people few elementary facts
and principles, rather than to spend
the time in deploring unhappy condi-
tions. In the end it is the people
who regulate and rule, under our
theory of government in this nation.
The primary relation of the rail-
roads and the people is that the rail
roads sell transportation to the peo-
pie. To many minds this relation
disposes of the subject. The COM
mon notion is that the people have
nothing more to do with it than may
be necessary to obtain their trans
portation at the lowest price.
If the buyers of bread had voice
in the fixing of its price, bread would
be cheap indeed.
If the buyers of meat had voice
in the price of meat, it would not be
long before the price would drop so
low that the farmer would find it
without profit to grow livestock.
But the people have indeed a voice
in the fixing of rates for transporta-
tion, and the buyer of transportation
concerns himself little with the ques-
tion as to what effect that price has q
upon the railroads. The price is sell
dom low enough to satisfy the pur-
chaser. If he is satisfied, his salts q
faction with any given transporta-
tion rate or rate condition is only
temporary. The mere lapse of time
suffices to create further demands l.
that the service be rendered for less d
money. This follows the impulse of
self-interest, and we all know that /
this impulse is not always safe or
sound. Il
There is an epigram that in a
kingdom OF the blind a one-eyed man v
is king. hard task before the rail II
roads is on the one hand to correct u
the impressions which serve for ~
opinions among people blinded by =
what appears to be their sef-inter- d
est, and on the other hand to con- u
tend against that kind Of one-eyed
of the railroads which s
keeps one eye upon popular opinion e.
an eye of vision for what is u
necessary to bring the greatest good D
to the greatest number. d
Yet there is conjunction of in u
terest which so far has hardly been
perceived, but which is sufficient to 81
warrant the railroads and the people p'
in taking counsel together for pro- ol
motion of the common safety. a.
Let us see why. st
Allow me to give you a few fig III
nres, here and there, which | will
state in round numbers because they u'
serve the present purpose without tn
needless detail. III
There are in the United States oi
over 250,0OO miles of steam rail- M
'oad, which have about 100000 IN
and about 100000
employees. pa
This figures roughly one share 10
holder to three employees. tn
So little is thought about the OF
hareholder that | would wish to say al
more about him, and | take this op- al
to tell you that If you will III
HSHLHND
Tf n