The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-06-07
ALL CLASSES HIT
WHEN RAILROAD
PROFITS DECLINE
Industry FeeIs Most KeanIy
Effect Of Railroad Poverty.
UhWISE LAWS MAKE TROUBLE
Millions of Dollars Lost by Railroads
In Meeting Maze of Legislative Re-
quirements-Laws Contradict Each
Other.

GuiTSmshtS-LaWS contradict Each
Other.
"a man is as old as his arteries"
says a prominent health authority.
With equal truth it may be said that
& country is as prosperous as Its rail-
roads, for industry is the life of a
country. aud the railroads bear the
Same vital relation TO the industrial
system that the big blood carrying
tuPes bear to the human hhG213y, 9
| There was time In the history OF
! industry when manufacturing was
| one man affair when every laborer
owned his own tools and made goods
| for his neighbors. That system passed
away with the invention of the steam
engine, and no sane man today would
wish for its return The modern high
| ly developed industrial organism de-
| ponds absolutely On the facilities for
distribution provided by the railroads.
| But how have the railroads been re-
warded for making possible the evolu-
| ton Of industry? In recent years they
[ have been made the subject for all
sorts Of legal vivisection They have
| been chlor0tormed and cut open, and,
as usual in such cases, the surgeons
! have differed as to the nature of the
| malady and the necessary cure The
! prevailing theory, however, was that
the railroads were suffering from an
abnormal growth of the income, so
their income had to be amputated.
From a professional point Of view the
| operation was eminently successful,
but in number of cases the patient
| died. Recent mortality statistics show
a total of 34.G52 miles OF steam rail-
road in the hands of receivers, the
roads involved having a total capitar-
zation of 81 $50, 1888, 21O.
One Roa Spend' s19,ooo,ooo
The avalanche of adverse laws direct
ed against railroads has been so over
whelming that since 1906 the Pennsyl.
vania railroad on its lines east of Pitts
burgh alone has spent S19O0O.OO0 COM
| plying with the legislative enactments.
Approximately that sum is equal to 6
| per cent income on $30O,0O0,000.
Interstate railroads are exposed to
! contradictory laws enacted by the leg
islatures of the states through which
| they run. About nineteen states are
trying to regulate the issuance of rail.
! road securities by different methods.
Twenty-eight states specify headlight
requirements without any cooperation
with one another. Fourteen states
have different safety appliance acts
Sometimes the orders of the Interstate
| Commerce Commission, so far as they
| concern intrastate matters. are prac-
! tically nullifed by the failure of the
| states TO approve them. 1t is estimat-
| ed that the railroads of the country
are required to make over 100000 re-
| ports a year to various state or federal
authorities.
OF course the railroads do not bear
the burden of this legal yoke alone. 1t
rests as heavily on the shoulders OF
! the 100000 or more owners of Ameri-
| can railway securities. many Of whom
are women dependent for support upon
the income from these securities. In
| surance companies. representing 3d.
| 100000 policy holders, have 81 100000
| 600 invested in railway securities. and
savings banks, representing 100000
| depositors have $SO0000O00 invested
| in railroad stocks and bonds.
Wealth of Roads Benefits Many.
According to the statistics Of railways
in the United States issued in 1914, the
railroads then employed 1,710,296 per-
sons. to whom they paid approximately
| S13S1 III ,292 per year in wages and
| salaries. The expenditure of that sum
is certainly a substantial contribution
| to the income of all mercantile and
manufacturing enterprises But, while
| the railroad situation claims the atten-
ton of all classes of citizens, 1t must
| appeal to the industrial worker in
bread and butter terms for he Is the
! first to feel the effects of railroad i'm
poverishment This was evidenced in
| 1914 and 1915, when the railroad sit
uation was most acute and when thou
sands of men were out Of work and
the industries of the country were In
| serious condition.
| How can the industrial worker help
| to put the railroads on sounder work
ing basis? By joining in a general pro-
test against the legislative avalanche,
by voting against the legislator who is
instrumental in the passage of the bur-
densome and taxatious laws that re.
duce railroad profits and the income
on railroad securities. 1t is vitality nee
essary that these securities should be
made more attractive to the investing
public so that the railroads can In
crease their credit and obtain enough
money to make Improvements and in
crease their equipment.
Sound Credit Essential.
RAILROAD regulation must encourage
sound credit or regulation is failure"
says A. j. County, vice president Of
the Pennsylvania railroad. Sound
credit is just as essential in the rail-
road business as in mercantile affairs.
and railroad cannot have sound cred
it without the earning power to pro
duce a credit basis. "-IndustridI Con-
servGtion, NelD York.