The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-01-19
BETTER FUTUPs
FOR RyROADS
ILLINOIS CENTRAL HEAD SAYS
PUBLIC OPINION is
SHIFTING
ROADS HAVE BEEN At PuBuC'S MERCY
Sympathy Has Been Withheld For 20
Years And All Are Paying
Penalty Now
BY C. IL. Markham

By C. II. Markham
Editors nOte.-C. II. Markham is
president of one of the greatest rail-
road systems in the world. He speaks
with the voice of absolute authority
and knowledge. His opinions are &C
cepted and hailed by railroad execu-
tives throughout the United States
and because of his close touch to the
says may well be considered a voicing
of the sentiment Of the American
railroads as entertained by their gov
erning heads.
For twenty years the American pub
lie has withheld sympathy for the
problems of the railroads, problems
that were vital to the welfare If the
public.
For twenty years the American rail-
road has proven too often to be the
football Of peanut politics, the "hor-
rible example" for the pointing finger
of demagogues and the sounding board
for the-more or less-slIver tongues
of spelbinders.
Constructive legislation has been
hindered rather th,.n helped by this
attitude for in their desire to please a
suspicious public even fair minded
legislators have leaned so far toward
repressive legislation that the con-
structive sort has been lost and en-
tangled in the maze of restrictive red
tape of the former.
A better service to the nation at
large, a wider scope of production to
the city and a %lessening Of cost to the
farm producer who must move his
product would have resulted long ago
if the railroads, often as ~unseeing as
the public that frowned upon them.
spirit and problems that were real and
tangible been thrashel out together
rather than attacked from varying
angles hat neither solved the prob
lem or tended toward the creation of
mutual benefit.
In thus placing blame Upon the pub
lie, l do not wish to give the impress
sion that l believe railway men al
ways have followed the blameless
course; in fact, | hold them jointly
responsible for the mistakes of this
dark period. l believe they erred in
not pursuing at all times a policy of
taking the public into their complete
dence and telling the public
frankly what their problems were and
what was being done, or should be
done, to solve them. Railway men
have largely pursued a policy Of re-
ticence where their W actions were
involved, seemingly proceeding upon
the theory that the public did not
need their ~counsels. Recent railway
history has proved that their attitude
was wrong.
But regardless of where the blame
is to be placed, the fact remains that
the impression gained popularity that
the railroads needed no protection.
That, in fact, they were entitled to no
protection, and th:t the public wei
fare could best be served by attacking
railway management, embarrassing it
and putting every hindrance in its
way. Every action undertaken by the
railroads looking toward an improve
ment in their capacity for rendering
service was ~viciously attacked; every
application for rates which would pro-
vide evenu sufficient for operating
expenses, fixed charges and a return
which would be "ttractive to the cap
ital needed for financing extensions,
improvements and bctterments was
bitterly fought; hampering legislation
and restrictions were adopted, increas-
ing the cost of rendering transporta-
ton without increasing the capacity
for it. Betting the railroads became
popular political sport. The public
grew to look upon the critics of the
railroads as being always worthy of
belief, and the defenders of the rail-
roads as being always in the wrong.
My optimism for the future of the
railway situation is based upon a be-
lief that this delettrious period is
passing. One finds it still cropping
out in some quarters, but it is on the
wane. We as a people seem to have
learned the lesson the last few years
have taught us; nar.ely, that the fu-
ture of our country is tied up with
the well being Of transportation, and
that tho two nucf dovaIop fooafhor
But even though / entertain an op-
timistic belief in the future of Ameri-
cas- second largest industry-second
only to agricultural believe there
still remains a great and pressing
need for further public education on
railway questions. The public must
be constantly reminded Of what it has
at stake in a solution of railway prob
or. O,- 1HFo~tc ro,,t ~ok la-