The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-06-27
CONGRESS MAY
PROBE SALE
OF RAIL LINE
Mystery Seen in Failure of
Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul Road
by CHARLES +. STEWART
NEA Service Writer

Washington, June 81 Mystery in
The Chicago. Milwaukee g. St Paul
Railroad failure? 4 good many pub
lie men think so.
So much so that it probably will
be congrcssionally investigated next
winter. Bankers influence is sus-
pectcd--an attempt to freeze out the
smaller fry.
Otherwise how could so great and
prosperous a system go on the rocks
so suddenly?
"No mystery at ALL" says b. F.,
Yoakum. dean of the country's big
transportation men.
"Thc st. Paul road" he continued,
GREW great and rich with the growth
Of the great, rich, agricultural mid
die northwest. But its territory was
limited.
FINALLY a time came when the
management realized it must expand,
build to the Pacific. Otherwise it in
cvitahly was going to be swallowed
up by other powerful roads which
wcrc reader to do 500
''ln the light of what now is past
history" said the veteran railroad
been better if the st. Paul hadn't
done this, but it was impossible to
tell in advance what was about to
happen. The extension, of course, was
responsive.
''To meet its cost it was necessary
for the road to have thriving traf-
fic over its new line. And just at
this iuncturc, his prosperity props
cr."
"Thc answer to the puzzle is per-
fcctly plain. 1t is, as Operating Re-
ceivcr II. +. Byrum conciscly and ac-
curatcly puts it, Depressed agricul-
.turc'
"Ic adds, ON western railroads
agricultural products form much
larger proportion OF the total ton
mage than on roads serving other
sections of the country"
Railroad and farm prosperity are
interdependcnt. Impovcrishmcnt al
either means mpoverishmcnt of the
other. decrease in the farmer
purchasing power means reduced in
comes to the stockholders.
Railroad managers appreciate the
vast difference between the farmers
power to buy only the scant supplies
of what he must have and his ability
to buy all he ought to have. To rail.
roads it means the difference be
tween big steady earnings and much
reduced earnings-the difference be.
tween prosperity and hard times"
mo railroad serving an agricul
tural section, with prosperous farm.
crs as its patrons, will suffer, undcl
any conditions, a serious loss of rev.
cnuc. If the farmers have money
their patronage will offset other ad
verse conditions that may overtak,
the railroads.
"No other favorable conditions will
offset the railroad losses inevitabl,
from agricultural depression"
"Never was there IA better illustra
ton of this than the story of tn
Chicago, Milwaukee G. st. Paul Will
farm prosperity, it grew, by degrees
into system of towering strength
TN the transportation world serving
splendid country and industrial! com
munities.
with farm depression-fro tn
height of its strength. in few years
a rcceivership.
!. And the point of this story is
The railroads need fear neither los
nor criticism by helping-not finan
cially-to establish national system
of marketing under which the farme
will be insured his justifiable shar
OF the prices paid by the last buye
of his goods-thc ultimate consume,
"On the contrary, they will al
greatly in eliminating both-b
friendly cooperation with tn
farmer"