Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-06-24
BELIEVES RAILROAD
i MANAGERS ARE AGREED
Declares Idea 10 Only One Under Which
Varied Interests Of Communities Can
BE Brought Under Jurisdiction OF
One RssuIativs sedy-Goed For
Roads and For General Public.
rBy Judson q welliver.l


difficulties Of railroad regulation un-
der present conditions. must be In Ia
vor OF a single vigorous. effective con-
troll instead Of the divided authority
that is now exercised by the states and
the nation"
THUS spoke e. P. Ripley, president
OF the great Atchison, Topeka & santa
F'e railway system. sitting in the Cnl-
cago office from which he looks OUT
over the lake front, and from which
he directs the operations OF ono OF the
greatest systems in the world, ~ Wen
as one Of the most successful nao
called on him, among other deadlns
railroad executives, to ask their opln-
ions Of the republican platform pro-
posal in favor of centralizing all gov
eminent authority over the railroads
in q federal body.
IT don't think" said Mr.. Ripley with
a good deal Of confidence, that you
viii md much difference q opinion on
this subject. They all recognize In the
first place that government regulation
In some form is fixed policy. Nova
Jays, they accept 1t as useful pro-
Srn Of 1t can be made consistent with
the interests that must be consid-
j. They believe that this can be
me by establishing q single control
to exercise all the government func-
ton; and that necessarily means a
federal control"
10 Railroad View.
President Ripley spoke deliberately
and slowly. YES" he said In conclu-
sion, in answer to a question, you
may quote me Just as strongly as you
like on that subject; think almost
any railroad man will tell you the same
thing"
For nearly twenty-one years Mr..
Ripley has been head Of tho great
Atchison system He il about as cos
mopolitan railroad man as could
well be found: self made man wdthal.
whose Biographical sketch in who's
Who" doesn't mention any college ex-
perience, but does mention that he has
been a railroad man continuously since
1859. He II now II years old, and has
risen from . clerkship in the Pennsyl-
vania systems Boston Office to hds
present control Of the Atchison He
was general agent at Boston. Then he
was tempted to the west, and has been
d PS1AL IN lIS WIG duu u0tClOplAA0AS
ever since.
His service in the east had been in
the traffic departments; when he went
west he became general traffic man
ager Of the Burlington system, but az
ter two years was raised to general
manager. Next he was vice presi-
dent OF the st. Paul system for five
years: and in 1895 was drafted to the
presidency Of the Atchison, in which
post he has remained ever since.
Has Wide Experience.
MFR. Ripley has seen and known
about all that railroad man well
could, of the varieties Of state and
federal regulation. He became rail-
road president soon after the inter-
state commerce law passed, and has
followed the development Of all forms
Of regulation, in the entire west ever
since. The great systems with which
he has been connected have made him
peculiarly familiar with the various
phases Of the question, for they have
touched almost all the states west of
Chicago.
Moreover. Mr.. Ripley has never been
either wall street" nor political"
railroad man. He Is one of the rail-
road men who railroad. He knows the
towns on his line better than he knows
the subway stops in down town New
York. He pays deal more attention
to the shippers and the industries Of
his section than to the politics and
politicians. He has never been rated
as an antagonist Of regulation. Even
in it's early stages, when some other
railroad executives were disposed to
uncompromislng resistance, he realized
what was ahead, and wanted to make
the best Of 1t. He recognized that
railroads were servants of the public
in period when some railroad men,
especially in the west, still imagined
that thru manipulation Of politics they
might make themselves the masters.
The wisdom Of his policy is evidenced
by the magnificent development Of the
Atchison under his management After
various receiverships and reorganiza-
tons that marked its earlier decades,
1t is now one Of the richest, strongest
and most conservative properties In
the country.
Community Interests Vary.
II don't know how that plank hap
pened to get written into the repub-
'1lCdn pldtAOIIH, continued 1hr. H1Euey,
land had not observed whether the
democratic made any similar declara-
ton or not. But l know that favor
that step, and that 1t will have to be
taken Il regulation is to be made most
useful and effective from the stand
point Of the public, and also il 1t is
TO be made most practicable and least
oppressive for the railroads. To take
such step would be intelhgent1y to
recognize that the public and the rail-
roads both have rights in this matter
and to insure the best protection to
both"
Mr.. Ripley spoke OF the impossibility
Of reconciting the differing interests Of
localities save thru a common tribunal,
charged with melting out fair deal
to all. and with ifisuring that none got
either more ur less than that. The
state commissions are charged with
especial concern, each for its own To-
caiity; and yet all Of them together
have no authority at all over the great
er part OF traffic. because 1t is inter-
state, and can he dealt with only by
federal authority. With one federal
and forty eight state authorities, there