OCR Text |
Show YOUR INTEREST IN RAILROADS A railroad executive presents this thumbnail sketch of the railroad industry: The class 1 lines have an investment of $26,350,000,000. They operate 329,200 miles of track and pay taxes amounting; to $348,000,000 a year. They spend about $1,038,000,000 a year for equipment and supplies. They employ 1,500,000 men and women with a total wage of $2,550,000,000. There are a million holders of railroad bonds and 800,000 stockholders. More than $3,000,000,000 of railroad securities se-curities are held by life insurance companies and mutual savings banks. These insurance .companies have 50,000,000 policyholders and there are nearly 13,000,000 depositors in mutual savings banks. The railroad industry is exceeded in size only by agriculture. Practically every living American has an interest of some kind in the rails. The steel worker, the storekeeper, the banker, the insurance man, the day laborer all classes and all kinds are involved. To some degree, their individual prosperity, or lack of it, is bound up with railroad prosperity. Yes, whether you work for wages or clip coupons, you are a partner of the railroads. |