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Show e VIII C. E. Schaff e ) ' I On Railway Investments f A President Wilson, recently referring to our railroad jp problems, said in part: "They are Indispensable to fe-s A our whole economic life and railway securities are at jynr the very heart of most Investments, large and small, public -c aud private, by individuals and by institutions. ywi.ii, There is no other interest so central to the business wel-. wel-. ;, fare of the country, as this. No doubt, In the light of the Jk j& new day. with its new understandings, the problem of the jt railroads will also bo met and dealt with in a spirit of k 3 j caudor and justice." S N C- When the first citi2en of the land stresses the Import- L-l anre ot understanding and dealing justly with the rail- " L- roads, certainly the American plownian can venture upon il a careful study of the problem. C. E. Schaff, president of the At. K. & T. railway company, when asked to outline the relation of the public to railroads rail-roads investments, said in part: i "It may be said that the railroad world Is encumbered with a lot of , phantoms which exist only in the popular fancy. Kor instajiie, because there have been a few so-called 'railroad magnates' whose names have figured t prominently in finance, many people have come to believe that the railroads of the country are largely owned by a few rich men. As a mailer of fact nothing could be farther from the truth. Out of the colossal sum of twenty billion dollars of American railroad securities, less than live per cent is nou, Of ever has been, ill the hands of these men-who have figured prominently In the newspaper headlines while the oilier 95 per cent is in the hands of over ? two millou investors. Iurf;e and small, who In many instances have put the modest savings or a lifetime into these securities in order that they might lay auay a competency for old age. When, therefore, the value of tlie'se - securities Is depressed or perchance destroyed, the hardship is a liumin-d- . erealep upon thousands of every day citizens, than upon the handful of millionaires, goud or bad, who have figured prominently In railroad circles. t Hundreds of millions of dollars of the assets of our- grout life and lire , insurance companies, savings- hanks, trust companies, educational and liduciary Institutions are Invested in railroad bonds and the moment. then-for. that the soundness of these bonds is called into tpiestion the financial solidity of these myriad institutions directly alteeting the welfare of millions -of policyholders policy-holders and hank depositor? is gravely menaced. During the last, several years, many millions of dollars representing depreciated values, have been charged o:T the boons of concerns like those enumerated above. American railroads have become a vital part of the very woof and fabric of the nation. Their continued eindeacy is absolutely essential to the smallest ooiiiniunltv g in the iHiid. In Mindly striking at the railroads our blows fall not merely upon thou- sands who have committed no wrong, hut. in the last analysis, upon ourselves. e should remember how interdependent w e have come to be in this mighty republic of ours thai each is in truth become mure and more his brother's . keeper, arrl that we need to act and think circumspectly, lest in our mistaken , seal we Ostrov those v. ho. like, ourselves, need whatever of this world s j foods s, oi! and sweat ui yeuta Una bequeathed to them." |