Show FAVORS SE Of RA RATES lESNEW lESI lES' lES I a NEW V YORK Nov Kov 23 Martin l 3 MartinA Martin A A. Knapp chairman of the tho interstate commerce com corn merce commission Daniel Willard Villard dent of the Baltimore Ohio railroad and John Claflin president o of of the H. H B B. B Claflin company were the principal speakers at tho the annual dinner of tho Railway Hallway Business association held hero last night In the course courso his of hi his address Mr 11 Knapp said saM To insure re prosperity we wo must have such a return from railroad investment that betterments betterments bet bet- funds will wm be forthcoming for torments we must pay liberal wages to toan toan toan an adequate number of competent men two must have the improvement of or existing existing exist exist- ing Irig lInes without unnecessary increase in capitalization lastly we must construct thousands of miles of new now roads in fruitful fruitful fruitful fruit fruit- ful countries les which need them Mr 11 Knapp added that he ho hoped the railroads of the country would always be bo I operated by private capital Irrespective of what shippers demanded he believed rates should be high enough to insure capital a satisfactory return Daniel Willard president of the Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Balti Balti- more Ohio said that it if the tho cost of operating continued to increase the only way to meet it was to raise ralso rates He said railroads ought to be more mindful than they have been in tho the past of the tho duty they owed the public as well as their Investors The Tho public too he said ought to forget anything which may have havo happened in the past and insist upon legislators not passing passin any more legislation han than absolutely necessary He I said thero there had been beon too much railroad I legislation He warned railroads to l keep out of politics I IJohn John Claflin tho the New York merchant mci I Isaid said that merchants could afford to pay slightly higher rates D cause the tho prosperity pros- pros engendered eng by railroad expansion would increase their sales A merchant in Omaha doln doing a business of a million a year he be said would probably l' pay annually for fOl ht If this were Increased it would not hurt him lie invited merchants to examine their sales In years rears when railroads were ex expanding ex- ex and compare them with years when railroads wore ere retrenching He thought sn such h comparisons would make tho the merchant willing to pay slightly In Increased Increased Increased In- In creased rates The question n of prosperity he said could be left to the railroads if they were ere given hiven a chance to earn attractive returns on their capital |