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Show N mTv"" r v"1 i- H f j that Is necessary mobiTizatlon of resources re-sources of the country should be first considered; but it is clearly in the public interest also that the ordinary activities and the normal Industrial and commercial life of the country should be interfered with aud dislo fated as little as possible and the public pub-lic may rest assured that the interest and convenience of the private shipper "ill be as carefully served and safeguarded safe-guarded as it is possible to serve and safeguard it in the present extraordinary extraor-dinary circumstances. While the present authority of the executive suffices fur all purposes of administration anil w hile, of course, all private interests must for Uie present j,'ive way to the public necessity, it is, I am sure you will agree with me, right and necessary that the owners and creditors of the railways, the holders hold-ers of their stocks and bonds should receive from the government an un qualified guarantee that their proper ties will be maintained throughout ih.i period of federal control in as good repair and complete equipment as at present and that the several roads will receive under federal management such compensation as is equitable aiid just alike to their owners and to the general gen-eral public. I would suggest the average aver-age net railway operating income of the three years ending June 30, 19TT. Asks Guarantees. "I earnestly recommend that these guarantees he given by appropriate leg- BUSINESS OF NATION' 1ST BE PROTECTED PRESIDENT WILSON ASKS CONGRESS CON-GRESS TO ELIMINATE FINANCIAL FINAN-CIAL UNCERTAINTY. Plans but Little Disturbance in Operation Opera-tion of Railroads. Heads of . Railways Rail-ways Praised for Response to Nation's Needs. Washington. Willi wide appeal for Immediate action in the face of demands de-mands for nation-wide relief and elimination elim-ination of financial uncertainty, President Presi-dent Wilson at lli:,'!0 on Friday, January Janu-ary 4, outlined before congress his railroad legislative program. The president arrived at t lie capilol shortly before Vl:), and was escorted to the speaker's rostrum of the house cha ruber. The president's address follows: "Gentlemen of the Congress : I have asked the privilege of addressing you in order to report to you that on the twenty-eighth of December last, during dur-ing the recess of the congress, acting through the secretary of war and under un-der the authority conferred upon me by the act of congress approved August Au-gust 29, 1916, I took possession and assumed control of the railway lines of the country and the systems of water transportation under their control. con-trol. This step seemed to be imperatively impera-tively necessary in the interest of the public welfare, in the presence of the great tasks of war with which we are now dealing. "As our own experience develops difficulties and makes it clear what they are, I have deemed it mj; duty to remove those difficulties wherever I have the legal power to do so. To assume as-sume control of the vast railway systems sys-tems of the country is, I realize, a very great responsibility, but to fail to do so in the existing circumstances would have been much greater. I assumed the less responsibility rather than the weightier. I am sure that I am speaking speak-ing the mind of all thoughtful Americans Ameri-cans when I say that it; is our duty ;ts the representatives of the nation to do everything that it is necessary to do to secure the complete mobilization of the whole resources of America by as rapid and effective means as can be found. Transportation supplies all the buries of mobilization. Unless it be under a single and unified direction, tb.e whole process of the nation's action ac-tion is embarrassed. 1 Sandhills of Palestine turned into "cliff dwellings " bv the British troops who are fighting north of Jerusalem. Jeru-salem. 2 French artillerymen, dragging a held piece into a new position on a ridge- 3 Lieut Edwin Al Post, -Jr., of the American air service, now witli Pershing's forces, who has been cited for gallantry in the French orders. islation and given as promptly as circumstances cir-cumstances permit. "I need not point out the essential justice of such guarantees and their great influence and significance as elements ele-ments in the present financial and industrial in-dustrial situation of the country. Indeed, In-deed, one of the strong arguments for assuming control of the railroads at this time is the financial argument. It is necessary that the values of railway securities should be justly and, fairly protected and that the large financial operations every year necessary in connection con-nection with the maintenance, operation opera-tion and development of the roads should, during the period of the war, be wisely related to the financial operations oper-ations of the government. Our first duty is, of course, to conserve the common interest and the common safety safe-ty and to make certain that nothing stands in the way of the successful prosecution of the great war for liberty lib-erty and justice, but it is also an obligation obli-gation of public conscience and of public pub-lic honor that the private interests we disturb should be kept safe from unjust un-just injury and It is of the utmost consequence to the government itself that all great' financial operations should be stabilized and co-ordinated with the financial operations of the government. " "No borrowing should run athwa. t the borrowings of the federal treasury, and no fundamental industrial values should anywhere be unnecessarily impaired. im-paired. In the hands of many thousands thou-sands of small investors in the country, as well as in national banks, in insurance insur-ance companies, in savings banks, in trust companies, in financial agencies of every kind, railway securities, the sum total of which runs up to some ten or eleven thousand millions, constitute a vital part of the structure of credit and the unquestioned solidity of that structure must be maintained. Reason for McAdoo. "The secretary of war ad I easily agreed that, in view of the many complex com-plex interests which must be safeguarded safe-guarded and harmonized, as well as because of his exceptional experience and ability in this new field of geern-mental geern-mental action, the Hon. William G. McAdoo was the right man to assume direct administrative control of this Hew task. At our request he consented to assume the authority and duties of organizer and director general of the new railway administration. He has assumed those duties and his work is in active progress. "It is probably too rntich to expect that even under the unified railway administration which will now be possible pos-sible sufficient economies can be effected ef-fected in the operation of the railways to make it possible to add to their equipment and extend their operative facilities as much as the present extraordinary ex-traordinary demands upon their use will render desirable without resorting resort-ing to the national treasury for the funds. If it is not possible, it will, of course, be necessary to resort to congress for grants of money for that purpose. The secretary of the treasury treas-ury will advise with your committees witli regard to this very practical aspect as-pect of the matter. For the present, I suggest only the guarantees I have indicated in-dicated and such appropriations as are necessary at tiie outset of the task. I take the liberty of expressing the hope that the congress may grant: those promptly anil ungrudgingly. We are dealing with great matters and will, I am sure, deal with them greatly." Straw as Food. Both wheat and barley straw were, used by the ancient Hebrews, chiefly as fodder for the horses, cattle and camels (Genesis 24:25; I Kings 4:28; Isaiah 11 :7; 05:25). There is no Intimation Inti-mation that straw was used for litter. taby Elephant. A baby elephant when tie stands np for tha first time Is so clumsy In all his movements that to watch him Is circus In itself. lie cannot seem to understand what his legs are innrto for, he stumbles over them, steps on Ids trunk, falls down; it takes quite a w hours before he begins to renlUe hat bis trunk Is made to pick things ip and that his feet are to stand on ' md to walk around with. lie !s, ' -.hen very young, as pln as a VMf , nouse, hut after a few wceku he Ht?.rtf , grow dark gray. Railway Heads" Praised. ''It was in the true spirit of America Amer-ica and it was right that we should first try to effect the necessary unification unifica-tion under the voluntary action of those who were in charge of the great railway properties; and we did try it. The directors of the railways responded respond-ed to the need promptly and generously. gener-ously. The group of railway executives execu-tives who were charged with the task of actual co-ordination and general direction di-rection performed their difficult duties du-ties with patriotic zeal and marked ability, as was to have been expected, and did, I believe, everything that it was possible for them to do in the circumstances. If I have taken the task out of their hands it fcxs not been because of any dereliction or failure on their part, but only because there were some things which the government govern-ment can do and private management cannot. We shall continue to value most highly the advice and assistance of these gentlemen, and I am sure we shall not find them withholding it. Little Disturbance in Operation. "It had become unmistakably plain that only under government administration admin-istration can the entire equipment of the several systems of transportation be fully and unreservedly thrown into a common service without injurious discrimination against part'cular properties. prop-erties. Only under government administration admin-istration can absolutely unrestricted and unembarrassed common use be made of all tracks, terminals, terminal facilities and equipment of every kind. (Inly under that authority can new terminals be constructed and developed devel-oped without regard to the requirements require-ments or limitations of particular roads. But under government administration admin-istration till these tilings will be possible pos-sible not instantly, but as fast as practical difficulties, which cannot be merely conjured away, give way before be-fore the new management. "Tiie common administration will be carried out with as little disturbance of the present operating organizations md personnel of the railways as possible. pos-sible. Nothing will be altered or disturbed dis-turbed which i.t is not necessary to disturb. dis-turb. We are serving tiie public interest in-terest and. safeguarding the public safety, but we are also regardful of the interest of those by whom these great properties are owned, and glad to avail ourselves of the experience and trained ability of those who have been managing them. It b: necessary that the transportation transporta-tion of troops and of war materials, of food and of fuel and of everything Epistolatory Mania. Southey said. "A letter Is like a fresli billet of wood upon the fire, which if it be not needed for Immediate Imme-diate warmth, is always agreeable for Its exhilarating effect." He also refers to the epistolatory mania in very young iwrsons, saying thai in bis later years his pleasure consisted In receiving letters, let-ters, not in writing them. This mania evidently had not attacked our young Hon, who said he dreaded to get a letter let-ter because he knew he would lie required re-quired to answer it! Los Angeles' Times. |