The Bienville Democrat. [volume] (Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.) 1912-1980, 1921-06-23

its knoCk-oul-by promising Than our
traffic department WruId nlakr IN ore
tariff 10 tie Independent >m"tcr on
the other side Of the range low enough
to protect the producers.
il was nearly lll"tp o'clock in the
afternoon before we got away for the
return TO Portal city,
We had seen nothin. Of Mr.. Van
Britt during the day, and until we
came to start out ! thought maybe
he had gone back to Portal City on
the regular train. But at the station
| saw the pilot engine just ahead of
us again, and though couldn't be
quite sure thought caught 4 glimpse
Of our athletic little general >Uperin
Irndrnt Oh the fireman. box.
The boss was pretty quiet All the
way on tie run down The mountain
to BAuXite, and, for a wonder, he
didn't pitch into The work at the desk.
! could tell pretty we'll what he was
thinking about. E'0" six months he
had been working like 4 horse TO pull
the Short Line out Of the mudholc of
contempt and hostility into which q
more or loss justly aroused public
rnmity had dumped il and noW, Just
as he WAS beginning to get it up over
the edge he had bren plainly notified
that he was going - he killed if he
didn't LET 90.
Just as the way seemed to be open
ng out to better things for the Short
Line, a miS-Sct switch or bullet in
the dark would knock the entire hard
built reform experiment into a cooked
hat.
There was every reason, NOW, to
hope that the experiment was going
to be Il success, at least, al our end
of il. if il could 60 on Just q little
farther Slowly but surely the new
policy was winning its way with the
public. Traffic was booming, and al
most from the first the Interstate Com
mprcp inspectors had let us alone, just
as the police will let man alone
where there is reason to believe thAt
he has taken n brace and is trying
his best to walk straight.
AIso for the drastic interstate reg
ulatonS-the laws about headlights
and safety devices, and grade cross
inys and full crews. and the making
of reports to this, that and the other
state official. laws which, ii enforced
TO fine letter would have left the rail-
road management with little to do but
to pay the bills: for these something
better was TO he substituted. We had
Governor-plpct BurrcIIS assurance for
this. He had met the boss in the lobby
of the Hullar'l the day after the cleo
ton. ana | had heard him say:
"You have kept your promise, Nor
cross For the first time in its his
tory. your railroad has let state
campaign take its course without bully
inc. bribery. or undetermined corrup-
ton. You'll get your reward. We
are going to have new laws, and Il
Railroad Commission with authority
to act both ways-for the people when
it's needed. and for the carriers when
they need it. If you can show that
the present laws are unjust to your
earning powers, you'll get relief and
the people of this commonwealth will
checrfully pay the bills"
Past all this, though, and even past
the murderouS Vaccinations Of the
disappointed grafters. there was the
old sore: the original barrier that no
amount of internal reform could break
down. There could be no permanent
prosperity for the Short Line while its
majority stock was controlled by men
who cared absolutely nothing for the
property as a working factor in the
life and activities Of the region it
served
That was the way Mrs. Sheila had
put it to the boss. one evening along
in the summer when they were sit
ting out on the Hendricks porch. and
had butted in, as usual, with bunch
of kilograms that didn't matter. She
had said that the experiment couldn't
be success unless the conditions
could he changed in some way; that
so long as the railroads were owned
or controlled by men of the Mr.. Dun
ton sort and used as counters in the
money-making game, there would never
be any real peace between the COM
panies and the people at large.
II was at Bauxite Junction that we
picked up Mr.. Hornack. ! was glad
when I saw him come in. | had just
been thinking that it wasn't healthy