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Show President Harriman Not Ready to Quit New York Times. Edward II. Harriman at sixty Is much too busv to think about retiring from tho railroad business. On his last birthday a year ago next Tuesday, he thought that another twelvemonth would find him ready to rpilt the game, but yesterday ho told a Times reporter that thero aro still too many moves lo be made. He doetsn't propose pro-pose to stop even to consider retiring until un-til the complications on the Industrial chessboard have been resolved sufficiently lo enable him to Hee clearly a little dln-tnncc dln-tnncc ahead. Until then Mr. Harriman thinks he owes it to -10,000 stockholder and 150.000 employees In Ills system to stay "on the job." This definition of his position Mr. Harriman Harri-man made in the course of his afternoon constitutional along Fifth avenue yester-dav. yester-dav. Tho reporter met lilin coming out of "his house, and asked how things looked from Mr. Harriman's viewpoint of sixty vears, lacking only a couple of dnys. it was the railroad man who spoke of the chess board: "T wouldn't undertake to say. said Mr. Harriman. "No sensible man would undertake un-dertake now to predict what is going to jiappen or to make a comprehensive statement state-ment of prcsont conditions. Thero arc loo manv moves vet to be nia.le before any degree of stability Is reached to make such a survey possible." "Who is going to make them'."' "You know as well as I do," retorted Mr. Harriman sharply. "The people of thisi country have got to be brought to a proper appreciation of the inter-relation between the various factors in industry. indus-try. Then they must see to it that the administration of law is conducted In their interest and not as a matter of personal caprice." "And you are going to slay in the sann-until sann-until this coutos about. Mr. Harriman'.'" the reporter asked. TOO BUSY TO IlKTinii. "I don't want to say how long I shall stay in harness. A year ago, when the Interstate Commerce commission was at work, I said something about retiring in another year. Well, it lsn'L a case of changing my mind, but of not having had time to think about retirement. I looked then for some falling off In business, but for nothing like what has occurred. 1 1 didn't expect to see 50 per cent of the decrease that has been realized. Under such conditions there is nothing to do bi to stick until jmaUnrK cot luio coniDeteut hands, at least, and until confidence has been restored. "Just now we aro hearing about tin-wnj?u tin-wnj?u problem, Mut do puopln apprr-H-ate that. with a given opportunity for the development of business, the more wo have to pay for capital, tho less thero Ih to pav for wages'.' I am not referring to the scale of wages, but to the amount that wo can spend for wages. And in j order to get capital on reasonable ic-ims we have got to have good oreuit. and ' credit must bo maintained by surplus . earnings. There is the whole thing in a j nut she'll. , "A wroncr idea prevails in a good many , quarters about this relationship of cap- , llal aud labor. We inou who manngn the roads are not the capitalists. The .?- 1 cuiltv holders from whom wo borrow the money arc- the capitalists, and they aro ( iu partnership with the wage earners in . trying to make a fair profit out of serv- i ing tho public It is our duty as man- ( agur.s of the roads-to preserve the proper relations between the different fartors so I far as w; can. But what becomes of our ; efforts when unwise governmental int r- 1 fcrence, resulting in such a condition of distrust as prevails at present. Jumbler- up all the factors in one conglomeration .' , "Be careful, now. not to confuse thf- j terms. By surplus earnings T do not . mean the payment of dividends, but the ! ability to earn something beyond what if required to meet bare charges and expenses. ex-penses. So in speaking of tho partnership partner-ship botwecn tho wage earners and the stockholders. I do not limit myself to the rotations that exist or that may exist between be-tween the corporate organizations on the one side and the labor organizations on , the other. I refer to the fundamental relations re-lations between those who furnish the funds for Investment and those who give : their Bcrvlccs to make the investment 1 profitable. I INDUSTRY UPS 1ST P.Y RESTRICTION. "It ls quite obvious that restriction of j business brings about uneconomical con- j dltlons throughout the industrial strur- j lure. When men are working on part , time, or under limitations as to hours and conditions, thero Is a tremendous j waste In earning capacity and productive energy. The whole fabric of industry contracts. There is loss money to be , spent by the workers and consequently 1 less business to be done to. supply th , wants they can afford. A family makes ono bag or Hour go where two were used before: the old clothes arc made over in- , stead of having new ones bought. "Multiply this by eighty million, and you can see what' It means to have the nation economize. Add the distrust nat- ! uvally produced among those who have j the moncv to invest, and there Is a emu- j blnatlon of forces at work with enmu- ( lative cITect. the result of which it ls 1 hard to forecast. Earnings decrease be- cause of tho slackening volume of busf- , ness; capital becomes timid and rates for I money high, and there is correspondingly j less to be paid for tho labor necessary to carry out the work that we have before be-fore us. The question of whether wages will decrease docs not depend upon my attitude or the attitude of any other manager of industry toward labor. It depends upon whether we are going to have the money to pay labor lo do the work that we ought to do. "I believe that things will rlyht themselves them-selves when people have had a dinner, to understand tho situation, provided that wc eliminate the self-seeker. What we have got to have In political and in business busi-ness life is the man who is willing 10 work for others and doesn't undertake to move the pleees on the chess board solely with a view to what he thinks to bo his own interest. If vmi ask me when I believe an equilibrium will be reached and eontldcnce restored. I say frankly that 1 don't, know. The putient is now undoubtedly under treatment that will provo cfllcaclous in the end. but the question ques-tion still remains whether the disease may not prove very serious . before the corrective treatment gels tho upper hand. WHERE RAILROAD MEN HAY 15 FAILHP. "Mind. I. do not lay the blame on I ha public, or even on the politicians. The railroad men themselves are to blame for a great deal of what has happened, and thev ought to -recognize It al lids time, when they have their own worries with them. If ihe railroad men of the United States had learned to trust caHi other years ago a great deal of what lias been "suffered would havo been avoided. Thfere was a llmo whan tjiey had the -right to make ngre"enicnts covering- tariff and rates, but what was the r'euult? An agreement was hardlv made before somebody whom It bound Issued an order violating Its provisions. That sort of thing was the root of destructive competition, and subjected sub-jected the railroads to much of the trouble trou-ble that they have suffered since in 'being made the victims of any one who wanted to build an unnecessary competitive line for the purpose of selling out. "I am not opposed to railroad regulation, regula-tion, provided it is coupled with railroad protection. Long ago I expressed ihe view that regulation even to the point of allowing tho Interstate Commerce commission com-mission to llx tho rates was not to bo co'mbatted. provided the Government would allow the roads to make agreements agree-ments with each other through tho repeal of the Sherman law. The protection of the public in tho making of such agreements agree-ments is the degree of publicity now insisted in-sisted upon in respect to oilier railroad affairs. Sensible regulation, protection of the railroads against unnecessary competition, compe-tition, and publicity are in my mind the three things that will set the railroads right with tho people in the end. But. meanwhile, the men who have- the respon-silibltles respon-silibltles of the railroads on their shoulders shoul-ders must keen to thoir task and not give them over into Incompetent hands. Thero'll be no trouble about training up men to run the railroads in the next generation gen-eration if the proper conditions and discipline disci-pline nrc established. "And will there be the work to do. if confidence is restored and the proper relationships re-lationships established? Of course thero will. Thero is as great a possibility of growtli ahead of thcrailroads in, the next ten vears if only we go at it rightly. Within With-in the lifetime of some of our children the population of this country jio doubt will have reached UGO.000.000. and the system sys-tem of American railroading that has developed de-veloped to meet the needs of 80,000.000 of people ls in Its'Infancy. But. as I have said, the self-seeker has got to be eliminated elim-inated and tho popple at large have got to come to an appreciation of the underlying under-lying relationships of the factors in the problem. When those two things are In process of accomplishment It will be time enough to talk about retiring." |
