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Show DON'T RIDE A GOOD HORSE TO DEATH Nineteen-twenty-seven was an epochal year in American Ameri-can railroad history. The condition of freight-cars and locomotives was the best ever recorded, and the average . load and speed per train and freight car was the highest yet reached. , As freight and passenger-carriers the railroads are irreplaceable. Their future progress and maintenance of efficiency must be insured. To have good railroad service . they must have new capital. When a gigantic industry like our railroads, can make over a period of several years, an average annual profit of but 4 1-2 percent on total investment, there is something I wrong. And investigation has shown that it is not the rail roads and their managements that are at fault; they have been remarkably economical and efficient. The trouble lies largely with taxes that take more than the lines pay in dividends, and in injurious and impractical legislation. There is nothing to be gained by riding our iron horse to death. But .everything is to be gained by giving it a chance to "fatten up." |