The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-11-02

construction as against destruction,
toward progress as against retro
Eression.
When we are in we call upon men
trained in the diagnosis and treat
ment Of human ailments to effect A
cure; when questions Of jurispru-
denee arise We consult the best
legal minds az our disposal to
guide u actions; in railway matt
ers men trained in that science
should be our advisers. In the con
sideration Of every public question
there always IS proposed a plethora
Of untried remedies, fake cures.
quaek ~panaeeas; these have exer-
cised, in the past, too great an in
fuenee upon public thought in rail
way matters.
The first principle of railway prog
ress is the necessity of placing at
the disposal of the railroads a net
income which will be sufficient to nav
obligations and attract the savings of
investors in order that extensions,
improvements and betterments may
be carried out. The only source Of
this revenue is in the rates charged
for transportation service. "What
the traffic can bear" is the misno-
mer. The movement of traffic can be
more seriously hampered by physi-
cal inability to handle it than by
rates which seem high as compared
with those of another period. Rates,
of course, should be so distributed
as to allow for an easy flow of pro-
ducts from producer to consumer,
but the Importance of protecting the
railroads against rates which will
impair service to protect other in
dustry from rates which might up
set the scale of price adjustments.
Oppressive Regulations.
Another important element in as
surfing railway progress is the need
for curtailing oppressive regulations
which increase the cost of produc-
ing transportation without increas-
ing the capacity for producing trans
%portation. In one of the states in
which the Illinois Central operates
bills were introduced and passed
for passage in the recent session of
legislature which, if they had been
passed and approved, would have in
creased the expenditures of the
railroads Of that state more than
500, 000, 900 annually without in any
way increasing their efficiency Pract-
ically the same situation has existed
in the regular sessions of every
state legislature of the forty-eight
states for years past. Fortunately
for the railroads and for the public,
which must underwrite the railroads
bills, the measures to which l have
referred failed, but that has not
been the history of such legislation.
Too often the ill-advised burden has
been placed. The cumulative effect
of this shortsightedness has been to
place the railroads under great handi-
caps and to increase unnecessarily
the cost of transportation.
The hope of the railroads lies in
the establishment and maintenance
of a wholesome public sentiment to-
ward them. The public should bear
in mind that whatever hurts the
railroads hurts the public. Anything
that affects railway service and rates
detrimentally is opposed to the pub
lie welfare, for anything that increas-
es the cost of transportation with
out a comparable betterment of ser
vice has a bearing upon rates. The
welfare of the railroads and the pub
lie welfare are so interviewer that
it is impossible to separate them.
That the public has not been in
clined to accept this viewpoint is un-
fortunate; that the public is now
more favorably minded toward the
railroads augers we'll.
On the Illinois Central System we
are exerting our best efforts to ac-
quaint our patrons with railway
problems and the best methods of
their solution, and are asking their
constructive criticism and suggest
ions. We are being rewarded by the
cooperation of the public served by
our line in a degree hitherto un-
known.
We have passed through trying
times and our lesson in railway
economies has been a hard one. If
we have profited by it, it is we'll. l
believe we have.
Two bedrooms for rent; near Main
street. Inquire this Office.