, 1922-01-20
GET BEHIND The RAILROADS.

u. IUIE d IgW ulya sIICer UMlTIGs N. CClWHD o
the Bethlehem Steel Company, delivered What seems
to be the best sense uttered on the transportation sit
uation since the troubles OF this great interest began.
We give It only in part, but It is worth perussl:
I'm this country we have many problems to be
solved, but there is one particular point that I would
Ike TO make on this occasion, which It seems 70 me
perty.
THE greatest OF American interests next to sgr-
culture is that of transportation. have been told that
e would take i've billion dollars to put our transpor~
tLtion companies abreast Of the commercial require
ments Of the nation and to make up for their inability
to expand and progress during the past few years. If
VIC were to have an outburst Of industrial prosperity,
It is altogether unlikely that our railroads would be
able to carry the burden.
"our railroads for the past two years have aban-
doned more miles of track than they have built, and
In that period they have probably retired from service
more freight and passenger cars than they have IN
stalled In a country like ours with its great future
still ahead Of It, that is an impossible situation.
We cannot have prosperity, our country's COM
merce cannot 60 forward confidently unless our rail-
roads are once again made prosperous. are put in DO
sition TO carry the transportation Of the country, and
ere able to attract the capital needed for them to per-
form their service as common carriers
have imposed upon our railroads a network Of
laws and restrictions which has made their rates no
longer responsive to the changing commercial needs
of the country, which has taken away from their man
ageIs the power to exercise initiative and enterprise,
and which has made private capital unwilling to en-
bark in railroad development excep. under most rigid
guarantees.
"I am a firm believer in the fact that the way to
get results in life and in industry is to put your faith
in men. When I went into the Emergency Fleet cor
%poration, I did very little work myself, but the Emer-
gency Fleet corporation got great results becEuse I
spent my time making the men in charge of the job
understand that I was behind them, giving them en-
couragement and confidence.
1--WE should stop knocking our railroads, our rail-
road presidents and railroad men In general. The
railroads have had an awful ~drubbing, such as no
other industry in the history Of this nation has ever
gone through. There have been evils in the past, but
the damage done in the restriction of enterprise and
the prevention of progress, through the laws which
have been passed, has been infinitely greater than all
the material harm due to the financial scandals which
were committed. We should of course, prevent evil
and scandal, but we must also be careful not to stifs
progress.
"But no matter what has taken place in the past, I
am firmly of opinion that no finer and more conscien-
tious lot of men was ever attempting to discharge
their duties to the public under difficult conditions thai.
the men who are today running the railroads Of the
United States.
Look about you, examine the names Of the men
who are today at the head Of our railroads. Do you
know a single one who does not deserve your implicit
confidence? They are not speculatorsi they are not
~grafters; they are high-minded public servants deserv-
ing of public trust and of public enthusiasm.
Most of our railroad presidents started at the bot
tom of the ladder. Samuel Rea, president of the
Pennsylvania railroad. began as a rodman nearly fifty
years ago. Daniel Willard Of the Baltimore & Ohio
railroad, and Frederick Underwood Of the Erie,
started as trainmen. Going through the list you will
find that our railroad officers are today among the
very best Illustrations of what American boys can do
with opportunity and ambition. There isn't a man to-
day at the head of an American railroad who is not a
credit to the industry with which he Is connected, and
an asset to his country.
1.-THE American people are eoday boss Of the rail-
roads. Let US honor these men. help them In the So
luton OF their difficulties, and make them feel that
we are with them for progress and prosperity. Let
US back our railroad officers as the manager of a great
industry would get behind his department heads.
"At every turn our railroad managers are hemmed
IN by rules, regulations and restrictions which deprive
item Of power to exercise their discretion, prevent the
exercise Of the sound business Judgment which has
grown out Of their long experience, and interfere with
their long experience, and interfere with their doing
acts which II done would contribute immessurably to
the restoration Of prosperity.
"Cftentimes, the wisdom, Judgment and experience
Of an able and conscientious railroad executive Is set
e. nought by the caprice Of a railroad commissioner
with no business experience whatever.
"You never make progress by hnmstringing ability
ard initiative, and no industry ever gave good serv-
fee long il it wasn't prosperous itself.
"My message, therefore, to the American people Is
perity In our country, let as repeal all the laws we
hBve placed on the statute books which repress militia
tive, restrict enterprise, and dampen enthusiasm on
the part of the men in charge Of our railroads.
LET us make our railroad presidents feel that We
regard them as honored public servants, and let us
make every man engaged in the railroad business feel
that the public is behind him and wants him and his
company to be successful and prosperous.
Protect the public interest In every way that IS
necessary; maintain such regulation of railroads as
actual experience shows to be justified, but abandon
all the regulation which is based merely upon political
motive and popular prejudice.
"f We make our railroad regulation non-political,
restore to our railroad managers the power to exer-
else ability and initiative, and make them feel that
the public is behind them with ali its force and en-
ergy, the miracles that win be wrought In the promo
ton Of prosperity will astonish the world.
1--WE need a new era in dealing with our railroads;
and 1t is bound to come. I am a believer in American
railroads and in the men who run them. and I pro-
pose as a measure Of promoting the revival Of pros
rarTF- IN fbia oraaf 1.rI nf oI,-u - 4, --tIs- l.