The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-06-16
President w. III. Finley of Northwestern Com
pany Lays Cards on the Table for
People to See Conditions.
CITY Is TO HAVE PREFERENCE
Distinguished Guest at Dinner of Kiwanians Shows
Feeling of Friendliness, to Kenosha and an
Appreciation of It's Needs.

will wait with confident assurance
that Kenosha's needs will be the first
to be taken care of by the Northwest
ern Company when business conditions
make possible the expenditure Of mon
ey for extensions OF the railways of
the country. This was the promise to
more than a hundred Kenosha men
made by w. H. Finley, president of the
Northwestern Company as he spoke at
the meeting of the Kiwanis club at the
Elks' on Thursday night.
1t was one of the most notable meet
ings ever held in Kenosha and the men
who attended it came to understand
better the problem of the railway and
to appreciate that the biggest problem
was to force the people to see the need
Of the railways and link them INSOFAR
ably with the development of their
home town and Of the nation.
Mr.. Finley in a carefully prepared
speech rather than tumble Of sta
tistics showed to Kenosha people Just
how the props had been knocked out
from under the railways by govern
ment operation ana how the POSSIBLE
tiles of extensions had been made inn
probabilities by laws which had made
it impossible for the companies to earn
enough to build way station. in can
dor, the president of the Northwestern
took the people of Kenosha into his
confidence and laid the cards of the
company on the table
Citys Most Interesting Gathering.
In many ways the Kiwanis club din
4 ;,,4 ,o1J
most important gathering staged in
Kenosha for years. There were hum
bred and seventeen guests about the
table and nearly every one of them
represented some of the large indus
trial or business interests of Kenosha.
They came to hear the story of the
railways and to give their advice and
counsel as to how this story might
have added chapters of community ser
vice. Prominent among the speakers
at the formal and informal gatherings
of the evening were Prof. Otis L. Ire
nary who presided, Marvin Hughitt,
vice-president in charge of operation of
the railway company, A. V. Johnson,
ce-presdent in charge of traffic, F.
Boyington, superintendent Of the Wis
Charles W. Nash.
1t was an evening of hard thinking,
good oratory and good music. During
the dinner there was music by Clith-
eroe's orchestra and community sing
ing led by Allen Hansen with solos by
Elmer Monteen and George S. Whyte,
the latter winning high plaudits by his
rendition of his favorite bits of Old
Scotch.
Signs of Mutual Admiration.
During the evening there were signs
Of the mutual admiration of the North
western for Kenosha and of Kenosha
for the Northwestern. The officials of
the company gave the people of Keno
sha to understand that thew were APP
preciative of the service given them
and 2. G. Simmons who made the re-
tort courteous, gave the officials of the
company to understand that Kenosha
was appreciative of service rendered.
In a particularly vigorous speech Mr..
Simmons called upon the people of the
city to take up the cudgel against the
political machinery which had sought
to disrupt and bankrupt the railway
systems He urged that these compan-
les be freed from crushing restraint
of the present government supervision
and be given rein to go out like men
who understood business and not pol
itics and open the way for the rebuild
ing of the nations prosperity.
Possibly the happiest incident of
the evening other than the winning of
the attendance prize by President Fin
lev was the reference of Mr., Simmons
to his own standing as railway man.
He referred to the Pixies Peak Line
which is now struggling back to normal
after the floods which swept Colorado.
at may be that TIE tracks there are
only nine miles long and the train just
goes up and comes back on the same
track but want to say that that track
is just as wide as the tracks of the
Northwestern"
KeHOsha First with Company.
GAS boy" said Marvin Hdghitt Jr,,
son of the old time president of the
Northwestern road. told his Kenosha
hearers, it was instiled upon me that
Kenosha was the only place on the line
because it was purely local to the
Northwestern. 1t has been our privi-
lege, our practice and our pleasure to
do more for Kenosha than for any 9TH
er place because it was an exclusive
Northwestern city. If we could give
you everything we want to give YOU
and everything you want US to. give you
I know that you would be satisfied.
The Northwestern is struggling along
looking to the future, hoping for the
future and living in the future and the
demands for the Northwestern in Ke-
nosha are parts of that great future,
We still hold Kenosha local Northwest
ern and its needs will, I know, be the
first claim on the company"
Finley Recalls History.
81 am not making my first visit to
Kenosha," said President Finley q
spent many weary days and nights
here figuring as an engineer on the ele-
walton of the tracks here know that
the Northwestern is Kenosha and Ke-
nosha is the Northwestern and every
order l have given is to see that Ke-
nosha gets what it wants. Kenosha is
always right in its demands and we
will never argue the question"
Mr.. Finley spoke without rancor but
with emphasis on the fact that it was
the city of Kenosha which had kicked