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Show ....... 4a -t --jjbjbj RADICAL RAILROAD REGULATION AND ITS EFFECT ON BUSINESS. To tho Business Man: With enormous enor-mous crops commanding tho highest prices over known; with every kind of business on a safe and senslblo basis; with merchandise stocks of all kinds nl-most nl-most at a minimum; with everybody desirous of making good all tho necessary neces-sary Improvements which tho past two years' depression would not permit of, and to fill up stocks which have been almost depleted, with plenty of money and credit to do all theso things, thero Is n hesitation by tho greater part of tho business community, for the reason that" something has appeared calling a halt In tho progress which had so fairly started In tho latter half of 1909. Tho ono great and most apparent ap-parent clement which has caused this hesitation, Is that the railroad corporations cor-porations of this country have stopped tho purchase of anything beyond their Immediate necessities, so much so that betterments which had been projected, (which aro not only betterments, better-ments, but In a great many cases nre almost, or soon will bo necessities) amounting to over ono thousand millions mil-lions of dollars, have been held up. It Is customary for railroads to prepare jthelr budgets of expenditures January 1st. If these budgets hud been prepared pre-pared on the lines of necessities tho outlook for general business, particularly particu-larly among manufacturers, would bo exceptionally good for 1910. Theso budgets have not been presented, and aro not within tho call, or even within tho sight of thoso who would gladly welcome them, and It Is doubtful when wo will ,bo able to make any reasonable reason-able forecast In tho manufacturing and commercial world. It is unquestionably unquestion-ably true that tho railroads would gladly enter into a year of liberal expenditure, but ns matters stand now, It Is quite possible that they will bo compelled to drop back Into the condition con-dition they wore in tho latter part of 1907 and during the year 1908, that Is, purchaso nothing except that which Is absolutely essential, and tho reasons are exactly the same as thoso that existed In tho early part of 1907, that is "Radical Railroad Regulation." Our legislators seem to bo unmindful unmind-ful of the causes of tho depression of 1907 and 1908, and glvo every indication indi-cation of re-entering tho field with even more laws to interfere with and discourage tho investment of money In railroad enterprises, whether It bo for Increases or Improvements In existing linos, and absolutely calling a halt on new projected railroad enterprises. And tho railroads have not reached the position that they now occupy through any concerted plan; they all realize and appreciate the necessity of renewing their tracks and equipment that tho recent depression would not permit of. This In the face of a very general actual or threatened demand for large Increases In tho wages of their employees, and knowing that tho only way they can grant theso advances ad-vances will bo by a corresponding advance ad-vance in their revenue, and the only way In which they could increase their revenue would bo by raising their rates, and certainly tho outlook for this Is far from promising. They havo no certainty as to tho character of legislation leg-islation to come; they are In positive fear of Congress, and aro warranted In that fear by special bills already Introduced, which Is a sufficient causo for them to hesltato. They aro not certain that tho people generally would favor any Increase In rates, and they aro equally uncertain as to whether tho public would not sldo with labor in its increased demands upon tho railroads. They feel as all owners of property naturally would feel, that tho earning capacity of their property is now absolutely dependent upon tho manner In which they shall bo governed. gov-erned. They do not know what that government is going to be; they are almost positlvo that thero will bo no legislation which will causo an In creased desire on the part of investors to put their money Into railroad properties. prop-erties. They havo been given to understand un-derstand that probably their borrowing borrow-ing capacity is to bo limited within narrow lines by the Government, so that even If they were willing to make theso expenditures, It would bo difficult diffi-cult for them to obtain tho necessary financing. In fact, looking at it from any point, the owners of railroad property havo nothing to see that would encourage them In spending any money until they havo a moro definite Idea as to what extent they are golug to bo con- ijS trolled and directed by tho National Government, and under such circumstances, circum-stances, all of the vast Industrial enterprises en-terprises that aro depending upon tho railroads, will find that nt the tlmo that their present orders upon which they are working, issued somo six months ngo when it was not dreamed of that the' present adverse conditions could possibly arise, will have been completed, that wo will again be In practically the same position that wo wero In during the early part of 1908. In my judgment unless Congress restrains re-strains Its interference with tho earning earn-ing capacities of tho railroads, thero will be a permanent set-back In tho general business of tho country, that It may take years to overcome. Somo Congressmen think that the railroad interests are tho real forco that is behind the rapidly growing unrest un-rest of tho business men regarding legislation. This is nbsurd; wo need no spur to wake us up to our unfor-tunnto unfor-tunnto situation, which is by no means confined to rnilroad supply Institutions. There are 1,500,000 railroad employees. em-ployees. It takes 1,500,000 men to supply sup-ply what the railroads need, and a vast number of men aro employed In supplying tho personal needs of the above 3,000,000 men. Every kind of business Is dependent In somo measure meas-ure on railroad prosperity. Tho producers of wool, cotton, tobacco, to-bacco, sugar and many other special articles In this country, havo so Interested In-terested themselvos In their business that they havo forced the General Government to put a special protective protect-ive tax on tho things they produce, which we and our employees, who do not produce them, havo to pay for, nnd to many of which we do not object ob-ject On tho samo principle, and for tho samo reasons, when business men become be-come as actlvo In looking after their interests, and with the same rights, wo can Induco tho General Govern- $fk ment to glvo us equal protection by allowing tho railroad companies, who aro the producers of our revenue, to make Btilllclent profit to onablo them to buy a full plenty of tho goods they need which we manufacture. This will Involve no special tax, will mean better bet-ter railroad service, and moro business busi-ness for everyone, particularly the working man; and when it is considered consid-ered that in reality 90 of all tho money received by tho railroads and ourselves goes directly to the working people, wo should have tho solid endorsement en-dorsement and Individual support of every working man in tho country. Cause: Tho troublo with tho whole situation Is that many of tho men who mako the laws aro not familiar with tho true Inwardness of the relations and dependence which tho manufacturing manufac-turing and business interests havo upon tho general railroad situation, nor do they realize that In administering administer-ing their so-called discipline to the railroad companies that wo aro the "ultimate "ul-timate consumers" of that discipline. Remedy: It Is of the greatest Importance Im-portance that some decided action be taken by tho Government at as early a dato as possible, as there will be no Improvement Im-provement until this uncertainty has boon overcome. Jnnuary 22, 1910. T. A. GRIFFIN. S |