Show t + I 1T T A GRIFFIN REPLIES TO DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL ON FREIGHT RATE ADVANCES 1 I r Prom Chicago Dally News Mr Griffin Replies I desire to cnll attention to nn editorial It s rial printed In Tho Dally News lay + 01 headed Back Firo on the Shippers t in which you make tho following statements c j J state-ments First that my representation i I e i of tho case Is not candid second that t t what I did have to say was based upon i y I the action of tho shippers conference ll r ii I a and third that I had no right to pas e as a business man having Interests In common with tho shippers q Tho circulation for signatures of a I w v statement relating to freight rates was as far as I was concerned confined to I t P follow members of the Hallway Business d l ness association and no reference WUH mado to the shlppors conference I 1 r d personally attended this conference and have no criticism to make on anything k any-thing that was dono there and non o I t p L was made or Intended by me but what t y I deprecated was contained In an article + + ar-ticle sent out by the Illinois Manufacturers Manufac-turers Association dated May 7 and I t > as a member of that Association I i I personally wrote a letter to each of Us I I 31 Ii r I Individual members dated lay 17 In I i i e this I referred to tho misleading and It it unfair statements contained In the i circular of May 7 mentioned above nnd 1 In doing so I was candid I said I that tho statement that railroads arc > J1 t c I rapidly Increasing their net earnings p was not true and as to the correctness I t of my statement I beg to refer to tho a following i < The latest interstatecommerce commission i f com-mission reports show that during the + p month of March eleven systems representing 1 repre-senting every railroad north and weston I t I t a west-on a line drawn through Chicago ands and-s r + St Louis show an Increase In gross 1 earnings for the month of March of I f nearly 7000000 compared with March t Il 1900 while the net earnings for the rY fiiimo roads In the same period shown y t show-n decrease of = 9GG000 and the Interstate MO t Inter-state commorca commission figures far t1010 ten months July to March 31 In 4 + 1 d 1910 as compared with 1909 show an 1 t Increase In gross of over 50000000 whllo tho net earnings of these samo n 1 systems In tho same porlod of comparison compari-son show n falling off of over 3500 i 000 And as comparatively little of I tho Increases In wages had oven gono i Into effect during March tho railroads a n must provide some meant to Increase JAI a revenue that Is already decreasing i t on nn Increased amount of business pjL I t and hero Is no way for railroads to Jga I provide this except by Increasing their t rates and surely thoro Is reason for I tho need of It YI t > dl i In tho third P paragraph on the second rt i sec-ond page of this Illinois Manufacturers I Manufac-turers Association circular of May 7 d 1t u It Is stated that 799 per cent was s t earned on tho divtdend paying stock + J making no allowance for tho 31 percent J t t per-cent of stock on which no dividends d4 I r wore paid I might with equal propriety 1 r propri-ety make tho statement that there tiJ 4e1 t t t u was no dividend paid on the non divI |