OCR Text |
Show THE 1AILR0AD SIDE OF IT " II E. P. Ripley If r j On Relation of Railroads and Peoplo f 8Bt The industrial leaders of this nation are talking to dl IT the public face to faco through the columns of this paper. ji( jfi.2 Tho time was when if a corporation had anything to say fj HB to tno people they sent a hired hand, whispered it StJk' through a lawyer or employed a lobbyist to explain it to jj! 3Pjf the legislature, but the men who know and the men who lj Efe do are now talking over the fence to the man who plows. Pjrffl When tho leading business men of this nation get tfj; Jfcll "back to the soil" with their problems, strife and dlssen- a, Hfe sion will disappear, for when men look into each other's jjjg 'Pg faces and smile there is a better day coming. aB. jjr, b. P. Ripley, president of the Santa Fe Railroad, $m when asked to glvo his views 'in reference to relations existing between the railroad and the public said in part: J "Frequently wo hear statements to the effect that these relations are 46. Improving that the era of railroad baiting has passed and that public sonti- ment now favors treating the railroads fairly. As yet this change in public m sentiment, if any such there bo, is not effective in results. m t I "It is true that in tho legislatures of the southwestern states during the r past winter there were fewer unreasonable and unreasoning laws passed .i than usual, but a consideration of the hostile hills introduced shows that g thero is still reason for much disquiet oven though they were defeated by J . more or less of a majority. ' "Moreover, the Idea that the railroads have been harshly treated does jfl not seem to prevail in the oulcca of tho State Railroad Commissions, which j Boom to cherish a notion that their business is not to act as an arbitrator j between the railroads and the people, but which proceed on the theory that J ' tho railroads aro able to take care of themselves and that their duty is to I act as attorney for the peoplo oven though In so doing they deny justice .l to the railroads. It requlros no argument to demonstrate that the railroads !;. are entitled to justice equally with other citizens and taxpayers. That they ! j have not received it and are not receiving It is perfectly susceptible of proof. That they have practically no recourse in tho courts has also been " j determined. ? , "The situation therefore is that tho peoplo. through their representatives, l must elect whether tho Borvlces of the railroads Bhall ho adequately conipen- tjfi sated or not; and It requires no fortune teller or soothsayer to predict that ffl J in tho long run tho servico will take tho class that !3 paid for and no better. . "The natural competition between tho railroadB and the natural desire i : S to porform lirst-class servico has heretofore resulted In giving tho public I M f much more than it was willing to pay for. Continuation of this will be j rM ( Impossible and no laws, however drastic, can long accomplish the impossible" A j U ' m |