Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1915-01-13
"A GRAVE CRISIS CON-
FRONTS THE RAILROADS
WAR HAS CLOSED MONEY MARKETS OF
EUROPE TO THEM INDEFINITELY

ture, file an application for increas-
ed rates, it is their desire to utilize
this opportunity for a general dis
cussion of the leading phases of the
railroad question with the people of
the entire state. To this end, the
careful attention of the reader is in
vited to a series of articles which
will appear in this newspaper during
the next few weeks, and which will
contain the frankest discussion Of
this great problem that has ever APP
peared in the public press. All that
is asked in the meantime is that the
people of Iowa accord to the rail-
roads the courtesy of listening to
their side of the story and then form
such conclusions as, in their judg-
ment, the facts warrant.
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 passenger
rates-but serious as. this situation
w do DClOl e, LllC LuIOpCdll W gu VIII IL
has indefinitely closed to them the
foreign money markets, has sudden
ly brought them face to face with a
situation which threatens not mere
ly many new receiverships, but the
actual paralysis of the entire trans
portation industry of the Nation. it
was this state of affairs which COM
PEELED the closing of the New York
Stock Exchange some months ago.
What will happen in the future the
future alone can tell. American rail-
roads are valued in round figures at
twenty billion dollars, and of this
vast sum nearly five billion dollars
worth of securities are held abroad.
Should Europe, in its frantic strug-
gle for funds, seek to convert these
securities into cash during the next
twelve months, where is the money
to come from with which to buy
them? -and failing to protect these
securities, what decentralization will
follow not merely in railroad invest
ments but in all other American in
dustrial values as we'll? The recent
statement of David Lloyd-George,
Chancellor of the EXchequer, that
the inability of Englishmen to con-
vert their American investments in
to cash is Gripping Great Britain in
its present emergency is ominously
significant. Possibly the New York
Stock Exchange may be able to re-
sumo and continue operations with
out acute disaster-but that the fl
nances not merely of the United
States but Of the world will be sub
iected to a strain without precedent
in history during the next year or
two is so apparent that it requires
no extended comment. In future
article this phase of the question
will be dealt with more fully.
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 or the
Chesapeake & Ohio he said:
You ask me to call the attention
of the country of the imperative
need that railway credits be sustain
ed and the railroads helped in every
possible way, whether by private CO.
operative effort or by the action
wherever feasible of governmental
agencies, and l am glad to do so, be-
cause / 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.
Il am confident there will be earn
est and active cooperation in this
matter, perhaps the one common in
terest of our whole industrial life.
Undoubtedly men, both in and
out of official position, will apprecl-
ate what is involved and lend their
aid heartily wherever it is possible
for them to lend it. But the emer-
gency is in fact extraordinary and
where there is manifest common in
terest we ought all of us to speak
out in its behalf, and / am glad to
Join you in calling attention to IT.
This is time for all to stand to-
gether in united effort to compre-
bend every interest and serve and
sustain it in every legitimate way
Again, in his recent letter to Sc
cretary McAdoo on the new banking
law he used the following 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
business welfare of the country as
this. No doubt, in the light of the
new day, with its new understand
ings, the problem of the railroads
will also be met and dealt with In
spirit of candor and Justice
Like utterances have come from
scores of other prominent public men
and financiers during the last few
weeks-men who are above making
a selfish plea for any private or cor
porate interest and whose sole desire
lis that American business shail
emerge from the present precarious
situation without disaster. Under
these circumstances 1t is the merest
folly for any citizen to treat the
present crisis lightly or flippantly,
for we are passing through period
in which the financial resources OF
every nation in the world will be
tested as never before.
Railroads Lost Millions.
The net operating income of the
railroads of the United States for
the year ending June 80, 1914, was
,,,o SEAp7E Iase than for the DreVi-