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Show I THE RELATION OF RAILROAD RATES TO GENERAL BUSINESS. To the Business Man: No mat-tor mat-tor how objccllonnblo nn ndvnnco In freight rates mny bo to us personally, wo tiiUHt recognize that nn Improve-incut Improve-incut In general business Is dependent on a betterment of operating and llnanclal conditions of the railroads. That the operating results tiro most uiiKitlsfnctory Is rendlly seen by the latest INTKK-STATK COMMBIICE COMMISSION reports, which show that for the nine months ended April 1st, 1910, eleven railroad systems, all West and North of a line drawn from Chicago to St. Louis, compared with the Kiime roads for the samo period in the previous year, had their gross earnings Increased about $50,000,000.00, I while their net earnings showed a do-cieaso do-cieaso of $3,000,000.00, and for the month of March, on the samo comparison, compari-son, they show an Increaso of $7,000,-not). $7,000,-not). 00 In gross and a decrease of $905,000.00 In not earnings. Attention Is called to the fact that the wage Increases, (except s small amount,) wcro not In force during this period, and from now on these will greatly Increase tho operating co3t. These same railroads had their taxes Increased over tho previous year $2,r.00,000.00, or 1-1 'and httvo to pny higher rates of Interest on their loans. These roads covering tho most prosperous pros-perous part of the country may bo con sldered representative of general railroad rail-road conditions. During tho past three years of poor business, rnllroad expenditures for malntnlnnnco wero necessarily at tho lowest point, and In conscquenco tbclr motlvo power equipment and' tracks now demand a greater proportion of operating exponso. No provision has been or is bolng mndo foe tho growing demnnds of tho country, and as transportation trans-portation is tho backbone of business, its weakness or irietllcloncy cripples every other condition; because all prpd-nets prpd-nets aro valuable In tho ratio with which their accessibility to the consuming con-suming market. It Is most Important to tho shipper, that railroads at nil times are fully equlppcd'to tako care of an Incrense of his business. Tho first eight months of 1907 demonstrated that tho railroads could not liandlo tho business then offered of-fered with nny degree of satisfaction. ITlie financial conditions slnco have not permitted them to oven maintain their then position. If tho then volume of business wero to come bnck supplemented supple-mented by tho three years growth of ttie country In tho Interval, transportation transporta-tion would bo paralyzed; and what would that cost tho shipper compared with a reasonable advance In freight rates now? Such an ndvance would provide the menns for avoiding this Impending dlsnster. Tho Iron horso needs to be kept In good condition for tho samo reason ns tho living horso used for transportation. Tho teamster team-ster knows that If his horso Is not well shod, well groomed and well fed, and his hnrnosB and wagon kopt in good repair, that all he will snvo on such economy will bo many times wasted-In the otllclency of his transportation, trans-portation, and also add groat exponso to the shlppor. It Is exnetly tho same with the railroads: tho shipper has a right to demand that transportation be ample and efllcient; tho success of his business and tho development of the country nro dopendent on it. The Investor: To da this, tho railroad rail-road must, show ndoquato returns to maintain proper -borrowing credit and present a promising source of Investment Invest-ment to procuro tho necessary funds to Improvo and develop the proporty Ub needed. It Is neither tho rnllroad president nor tho shipper that controls the situation; it Is tho Investor nlono who holds tho key; without his uninvested un-invested dollnr tho railroad cannot extend ex-tend or Improve, no matter how groat tho needs of the shlppor or tho country may bo. 1 With nil tho Increasing cost of op- ! oration, supplemented by over In- ! creasing and burdensome legislative I restrictions concerning their earnings, J in face of tho fact that tho averagu ; dividend rate on railroads was less than 3Vd por cent for tho past six years; and tho United States Supremo ; Court in tho case of tho Consolidated Gas Company stated that "(1 per cent was a fair roturn on money luvestod In public utilities," with tho average freight rate In 1909 of three-quarters of I a cent por ton por mile, tho lowest in ntno years, tho avorago passenger rate per mile, ono and nine-tenths cents, the lowest ovor reached, Is It any wonder won-der that tho investor holds back nntl the Hankors demand high intorest rates from the railroads? The railroads need $2,000,000,000.00 to put their lines In proper condition, nnd to Increase their terminal facilities at all points that aro oven now n necessity, nnd $1,000,000.000.00 more for modern new motlvo power nnd equipment to movo their freight with promptness and economy. econ-omy. Where can they get tho money? Only by Increased earnings from ad-vahced ad-vahced rntes, and by so doing bettor their credit by attracting tho uninvested uninvest-ed dollars that aro now going to other more nttractlvo but less productive Investments. In-vestments. What will the advance cost the Ultimate Ul-timate Consumer? Poor's Manual says tho average haul of all freight In 1908 was 112 miles. Tho average rato in 1909 was three-fourths of a cent per ton por mile. Tho avorago total rate for tho avorago avor-ago total haul, assuming It to bo tho samo ns 1908, would bp $1.0C per ton. An advance of 10 on this rnto would Increaso tho cost 10 cents per ton, or 1-200 of a cent per pound. An ad-vanco ad-vanco of 10 on the present specific rates would Increaso tho cost of 100 pounds dressed beef In Now York, shipped from Chicago, 4V4 cents; 100 pounds canned fish in St. Louis, shipped from Maine, 1 8-10 cents; 100 pounds Hour In New York, from Minneapolis, Min-neapolis, 2 cents; a suit of clothes In Chicago, fiom Iloston, & cent; tho same for a woman's suit. On a man's outfit, co.it. trousers, shoos nnd hat. New Ungland to Mississippi Vnl'ley, not to exceed I cent. Tho Ultimate Consumer can multiply theso illustrations illustra-tions Indefinitely. Tho manufacturer, Jobbur and retailer could easily absorb this slight advance, because, if his business Increased but ono unit, that would more thnn pay the increased cost on one hundred units. . . Hnilroad net earnings thus increased, tho rnllroadB would have a ready mnr-kct mnr-kct for their securities, ami with tho money thus obtained again start all the business nnd. Industries now comparatively com-paratively Idle that aro directly or Indirectly In-directly dependont on their property. Tho working men would bo fully cm-ployed, cm-ployed, their families would again pur-chaso pur-chaso freely, and that means good .business for everyone. Thero nro 1,500,000 :raIlrond employees. em-ployees. It takes 2,500,000 men to supply sup-ply what the railroads need, und n vnst number of men nro employed In supplying sup-plying tho porsonnl needs of tho nbovo 1,000,000 men and their families, rop- resenting 10,000,000 people Every' kind of business Is dependent In some measure on rnllroad prosperity. High cost of living: If It had not been for tho oncourngement given railroad Investors In tho past, where would we hnvo boon to day for our food supply? They opened up thousands of miles of undeveloped and unproductive land and yet our food Is high, because of lack of supply; our consumption Is Increasing In-creasing fitBtcr than our food production. produc-tion. If tho railroad Investor stops ns he now has, thero will bo an ndvanco In food rntes soon that will bo far greater than Increased freight rates. High food means high labor, and high labor means high everything. There-foro There-foro the Ultimate Consumer and tho Stnto and National Governments should bo Interested in developing Innd that will produce bountiful food products. I Half of the country wost of the Mls-I Mls-I slsslppl Is not used, and will not bo ! until covered with railroads. Who would want to build roads In unproductive unproduc-tive lands when those In cultivated country will baroly pay tho lowest rato of Interest, nnd tho owners, nnd managers man-agers nro being hnrassed and maligned ns in no other business? This condition will only Improve when the business man realizes that tho investor docs not provide the sourco of his own investments. He waits for you to do that In some do-sirablo do-sirablo form. Hy your Individually lotting lot-ting things drift, nnd doing nothing, your legislator, with no business experience, ex-perience, hearing no advice nnd receiving receiv-ing no direct Information, which ho gladly would from you (quite likely you do not even know his name), listens lis-tens to tho only voices heard; the agitator agi-tator or tho aggressive shlppor whose views of the business world are obtained ob-tained by looking out of the small hole of a funnel directed at his own plant, unconscious of other conditions of far moro Importance to his own business thnn the freight rntes. Such men ns theso by their vociferous vigor, have stirred up a popular anti-corporation agitation that has cowed all par-tics, par-tics, and they are so scared of being charged as owned or bought thrft all questions of principle, equity or tho general good nro ignored. Tho railroad rail-road man draws his salary, whether tho road pays or not; ho does not own It. If ho docs say anything he Is sat upon. Tho stock-holders as a body aro defenseless. You are tho sufferer and the only ono who would bo listened to. Will you not study your own Interests, Inter-ests, find out your legislator's name, and toll him tho real situation? Otherwise Other-wise wo must wait until grim necessity neces-sity starves out tho present antl-rall-road fever. Juno G, 1910. T. A. GRIFFIN. (Advertisement.) |