Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1921-10-06
BIG RAILROAD
OFFICIAL TALKS
PRESIDENT OF C. & N. w.
TELLS KIWANIANS
OF CONDITIONS

is the most important question con-
] fronting the country today and that it
must be settled or be the cause of
trouble to the United States, w. H.
Finley, president of the C. & ~ W.
railroad, gave first-hand and authori-
tative information on the situation to
members and guests of the Kiwanis
club at luncheon at the Wausau club
Monday noon.
''The railroads today" sand Mr.. Fin
ley, represent the largest investment
in the country for the amount of bus
mess done, have the lowest capital in
proportion to assets and return the
highest taxes in proportion to their
income. No other business is so i'm
portant to the welfare of the nation.
1t is as necessary to the country as
the arterial system is to the body; any
impairment results in decay.
Question Asked
I'VE are often asked why we are not
able to reduce expenses, to do busi-
ness at a lower cost. From 1912 to
1920 expenses have increased 230 per
cent and revenues have increased 124
per cent. The percentage of the op-
Grating expense paid to labor has in
creased from 43 to SO per cent and
the amount returned to capital has de-
creased from 25 per cent to less than
one per cent during the same time.
1.-THE railroads pay the biggest sim
gle bill in the country; the operat-
ing cost of class one railroads in the
country was six billion dollars in
1920, more than it costs to run the
government"
The speaker then told of the situa-
ton confronting the operators of the
railroads, how, with dwindling income
and increasing costs, the question was
to get money to make necessary i'm
provement on equipment to maintain
the system at high efficiency. mo
railroad" he said, "can be prosperous
and carry on it's work unless it can
pay dividends.
MY message to you people is to try
and familiarize yourselves with the
railroad situation; everything depends
on you. We must have help and un-
derstanding in order to win.
Added Expenditures
"The railroads are continuously con-
i fronted with demands for added ex-
Il pGacitures that bring no returns in
4 revenue. The day is past when the
railroads maintain a lobby at the leg
llslature; we have no protection but
the voice of the people. Yet legisla-
lures are continually passing bills that
force us to make such expenditures
that bring no return. 1t now costs
three TIMES as much to operate the
roads than it did in 1913, yet the sale
OF the product, transportation, brings
only half again as much as it did at
that time.
"The belief is often expressed that
high freight rates are the cause of
the present business depression. The
hcause of the depression is more basic
land fundamental than high freight
Irates. If that were all, we could be
happy, for that could be ironed out
The railroads are in no position now
to suffer reduction in rates."
According to Mr.. Finley, the rail-
roads suffer from two things, lack of
capital and lack of control of their
own roads. The question he asked is:
have the railroads not too much regu-
lation? The men in charge of the
roads are competent and are reducing
expenses where they can but most of
the control is not in their own hands.
Returns Dwindle
The investors who have built the
roads are entitled to a return on their
money, but this return has been dwin-
ding, and in consequence it is diff
cult to get new money which is neces-
sary.
He spoke of the pioneering of the
c. & N. w. in Iowa and how the COM
ing of the railrod brought prosperity.
In China the price of necessities is
prohibitiye in one section and negli-
gible in others; in Russia the neglect
lof the transportation system brought
famine. The United States, possessing
the best transportation system in the
world, furnished the food.
On the question of waterways and
shipping by truck, Mr.. Finley said that
the railroads can furnish transporta-
tion more cheaply than any other sys-
tenn that pays it's own way. The wat
erways are paid out of the public
treasury and so are the roadways.
"The railroad pays its own way" he
said, "The story of the truck and the
bus has not yet been told. 1t will
be told and 1t will not be what you ex-
lpect.
"But we should conserve all our
navigable waterways. France has one
of the finest waterway systems in the
world, but you might say that it was
started in the days of the Caesars. In
comparison with continental Euprope
our country is but sparsely populated.
When our country becomes densely
populated the waterways will be of
great value. The system is matter of
development and development cannot
be forced.
Work For Prosperity
"The thing / would say to you is
this: we've got to work. We got some
fake ideas from the war and we must
get away from them. We cannot ex-
list if we do not work. That we shall
earn our daily bread only by the sweat
of our brow, is the one great funda-
mental law that applies to us as it did
to our ancestors from the garden of
Eden. Work is the only thing that
is going TO make our country prosper
.oUs and healthy. We cannot get
l.~ o.