The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-11-04
IN JUSTICE TO RAILROADS THE
ADVANCE GUARDS OF PROGRESS
Land Would Lose in Value and Life
Itself Wculd be Less Worth
Living Without Them

The time FOR abusing railroads and
taking advantage Of them ought to
be regarded as strictly IN the past.
Tbs is an age Of enlightenment, e
Improvement and of advancement.
The:e is no factor in The march OF
progress to equal that Of railroad
for giving life to a iald through
whici. !. passes Ra!ircaGs should be
encouraged. Those who abuse r2!l-
roads, banks, cotton mills and other
institutions Of commerce and indus
try are thoughtless,. or are ether the
ignorant tools of demagogues. Those
Who cry out. the loudest against them
would be thc first to change places
with the present officials were the op-
portunity presented-just as the man
who is most persistent in his outcry
against free passes would grab at one
like hungry fish at bait as soon
as it was lowered.
There are men VITO would do pos
tive injury to railroads if they had. a
chance, and who always do what they
can against them whenever 1t so hap
pens that they get on jury in case
between a railroad and a citizen for
the killing of an animal. They seem
to have it in for the railroads, as
though there were not. always two
sides to a question.
! The writer would like to condemn
the injustice practiced against rail-
roads by the public, the great puoilc
which owes so much to them. He,
the said writer, is in sympathy with
the railroads as against the sharp
LAWYERS who are forever on the look
out for clients against them. People
violate the posted rules Of the rail-
roads, needing not their warnings, and
then, when through their own care
lessness they are injured, seek heavy
damages. An animal, through the
negligence of its owner, gets killed
and forthwith some fourthrate law
yer, who depends on such practices
for a living (there are many in
large body of Hrstclass attorneys
who would not resort to such trlcks),
influences the dead animal owner to
bring suit. Of course there are times
when the railroads are at fault and
should be made to pay, but there nave
been entirely too many instances on
record where they were held respon-
sible when blameless. There have been
cases in which the railroads offered
compromises, not that they were al
together to blame, but because they
wanted to be fair and do right. Some
Of these compromises have been re-
fused, the party to the suit knowing
how easy it often is to win heavy
damages from jury preJudlced
against corporations.
People should help the railroads, II
thew would be helped by them. The
railroads know that the public, gen
erally, which they seek TO benefit, IS
their enemy, ready to pounce upor
them for every conceivable and I'M
aeinarv slight, and always on the
| lookout for slight. What would we
do without railroads? They are
GREAT convenience and accommod&-
ton to the public, as we'll as promo
ters of prosperity and engineers OF
progress. But, some argue, they pay
their salaried men too much, else the
railroads could afford to charge less
for transportation. We answer that
by saying that we wish there could be
2 lower rate, but men capable of man
aging railroads come high; it takes
p man of rare executive ability to be
successful official Of any great cor
poration, either railroad or bank OF
cotton mill-ccrporation of vast
proportions-and expert flnanclers
are not so very common. Then 1t
takes money to run railroad; every
foot of it counts. Look at the enor-
nous amount of taxes a road IS MADE
to paw. On every inch of track
high tax is imposed. People impose
,, on railroads; men, otherwise honest
think it all right to beat railroad.
! The public expects too much Of rail
roads; always asking for new depots
and other things and never satisfied,
forgetting that while one particular
town is demanding something, sever
al other towns are clamoring for SIM
liar favors-all at the same time and
each impatient and angry. The rail-