OCR Text |
Show I RAILROAD DIVIDENDS. L. J. Bryant, cashier of tho Dank of Arlington, Ky., writes to tho Manufacturers' Manufac-turers' accord as follows: "How many railroad corporations pay in excess ex-cess of C per cent dividend on tho investment? in-vestment? Great sums are earned annually, an-nually, it is true, often into tho millions mil-lions of dollars, but when fixed and operating charges aro paid tho net earnings aro often small, and tho country at largo is tho beneflclnry of theso enormous earnings in the wny I of interest on bonds, wages paid to employes, etc., and It flows right back Into tho channels of trndo. "Tho relations of tho railroads and tho farmer, manufacturer and merchant mer-chant aro so closely Interwoven that tho success of ono depends largely upon tho success of tho other; they havo gone hand In hand for decades In civilizing nnd In developing tho ro sources of tho country. The better Bervlco the rnllroad can maintain for tho handling of tho various commodities commodi-ties of the different sections of tho country and the manufactured product, prod-uct, tho greater will bo tho success of tho farmer and manufacturer; while- on tho other hand, if tho avenues ave-nues of transportation are blocked by Injecting Into them a condition over which their mnnagers have no control, to that extent tho business cammu nlty will wane; the farmer, the manufacturer manu-facturer and the merchant will fee! tho consequonco of it, and soon it will pervade every nook and hamlet of the country. "Tho same underlying principles obtain ob-tain In railroad buslncs3 as do In al. other business; when the earnings are decreased without a correspond n: curtailment of expenses tho business is imperiled, and to meet this deficit in earnings the high class service must be Impaired, and when this Is done the shppor suffers and tho entire country sustains a pecuniary loss." |