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 The Government and the 
 
 Railways 
 
 ADDRESS BY 
 
 Hon. JAMES M. COX 
 
 At the Annual Dinner of the 
 Railway Business Association 
 
 December 11, 1913
 
 REQUESTS FOR COPIES 
 
 of this pamphlet will be welcome from all 
 those desiring to place it in the hands of 
 their representatives or friende. Copies fur- 
 nished or sent direct to lists upon application 
 to Frank W. Noxon, Sec'y. Railway Business 
 Association, 30 Church Street, New York. 
 
 Form B137
 
 C^^S»3^ 
 
 Government and the Railways 
 
 V 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 
 Hon. JAMES M. COX 
 Governor of Ohio 
 
 Delivered at the Fifth Annual Dinner of the Railway Business 
 Association, the national association of manufacturers of 
 railway materials, equipment and supplies, at the Waldorf- 
 Astoria Hotel, New York, December 11, 1913 
 
 Business and government are be- 
 ginning to understand each other bet- 
 ter — a development in attitude born of 
 expediency on the one hand, and an 
 awakened consciousness of responsi- 
 bility on the other. Business in its 
 present form is a distinct social evo- 
 lution, based on the elements of 
 human dependence. In fact, it not 
 only antedates organized society, but 
 it was the one thing most condu- 
 cive to the association of man without 
 \ which he would still be encased in the 
 ' Vshell of primitive darkness. 
 
 As government sprung logically 
 from the social organization, then a 
 , very simple analysis establishes the 
 . important part that the mere exchange 
 ; of products and utilities has played in 
 I the whole scheme of things. This 
 very obvious co-relation makes it 
 m. difficult to account for the prejudice 
 which government so long held for 
 business. And yet we must not delude 
 **• ourselves into the thought that the 
 human element was lacking in this 
 • estrangement. The tendency of gov- 
 ernment is but the impulse of humani- 
 ty. Laws are but the reflex of a con- 
 
 trolling public desire — the act of gov- 
 ernment being as closely joined to the 
 social organization as the movement of 
 the arms to the mind which directs 
 them. 
 
 So that we are brought confessedly 
 to the proposition that the mass has 
 been drawn into agreed opposition to 
 the class. There is a high average of 
 fairness in public opinion, the admis- 
 sion of which brings the thought that 
 unfair advantages have obtained 
 somewhere. As our government is de- 
 signed to maintain the largest meas- 
 ure of equality and opportunity 
 possible, then it must adjust itself to 
 the useful function of correction. 
 
 PARENT GUILTY TOO 
 
 So-called big business was char- 
 tered by government, and if the child 
 has been guilty of abuses, the parent 
 is not blameless for permitting them 
 to go on until they assume the form 
 of a distinct menace to the industrial 
 life of the nation. (Applause.) 
 Everyone but the cynic grows into an 
 acceptance of the philosophy that
 
 things balance up pretty evenly in the 
 game of life, and it would seem that 
 the agencies which by one form or 
 another postponed the day of govern- 
 mental regulation find the conse- 
 quences falling upon them with some 
 severity. (Applause.) On the other 
 hand, the nation, now aroused from 
 the lethargic spirit of letting well 
 enough alone, finds the results of 
 its long neglect spread into every 
 community. 
 
 A NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY 
 
 The country is now facing a re- 
 sponsibility which must be met with 
 candor and courage. Something must 
 be done with the railroad quc-tion. 
 Let us discuss it frankly in its im- 
 portant phases. 
 
 First — The part which transporta- 
 tion plays in our afifairs, and in the 
 development of the country. 
 
 Second — The real condition of the 
 railroads, physical and financial. 
 
 Third — The cause of the present 
 confusion. 
 
 Fourth — The remedy. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPORTATION 
 
 It is surprising upon analysis of 
 industrial activities to find the poten- 
 tial part that the railroads play. Ours 
 is a great country of vast domain. 
 Our lands possess the diversified fer- 
 tility which yields the extremes of 
 corn and cotton. Our mines give up 
 the richest treasures in all the world. 
 The genius of man lays hand on the 
 waterpower of our rivers. We enjoy 
 the varying climates common to every 
 region from St. Petersburg on the 
 north to Palestine on the south. We 
 attract the strong, red blooded people 
 of all nations, and as they pass 
 through the melting pot of the Ameri- 
 can institutions, there comes from it 
 that wonderful composite figure, the 
 American citizen. (Great applause.) 
 And yet, with all these God-given 
 
 advantages, what would it avail the 
 great Northwest to grow bread for 
 millions if its products could not be 
 transported all over the world, in-^ 
 ducing in steady flow the yellow 
 stream of gold? The south, facing 
 the future with every promise of « 
 restored commercial strength, would 
 fall into stagnation if the means were 
 not provided to convey cotton from 
 the plantation to the spindles and • 
 looms of the globe. (Applause.) 
 
 The great middle west, a giant in 
 the part it plays in the afifairs of man, 
 would lapse into decline if transpor- 
 tation lines did not tap the fields of 
 this vast universe. We are a great 
 people because we produce practically 
 everything necessary to civilization. 
 We are essentially a nation of traders, 
 because the north, south, east and 
 west must sell to and buy from each 
 other. 
 
 We are a concrete mass in com- 
 merce because the genius of man has 
 solved the problem of distance and 
 isolation. Lay down the map of the 
 republic and trace the network of 
 railroad lines. In combined mileage 
 they span the distance from the earth 
 to the moon. They pierce every 
 state. In 19 12 they transported 
 1,019,658,605 passengers. Over every 
 mile of track were carried more than 
 a million tons of freight and 138,169 
 passengers. 
 
 SPIRIT OF RAILWAY ORGANIZA- 
 TIONS 
 
 The vast organizations are held 
 together by a spirit as impressive as 
 that dominating an army. No order 
 of loyalty exceeds that of the vast 
 majority of officers, while the privates 
 unflinchingly face dangers every day 
 that would try the metal of the sea- 
 soned soldier. (Applause.) 
 
 The great trunk lines and feeders ' 
 resemble the circulation system of the 
 human body.
 
 And if you lay your finger on the 
 pulse of the railroad organism you 
 have certain and unmistakable symp- 
 toms of the country's prosperity or 
 adversity. (Applause.) One out of 
 every twelve male adults in this coun- 
 try is employed by the railroads. 
 Their contribution to labor and manu- 
 » facturing makes up one-twelfth of the 
 commerce of the land. No city of any 
 size has grown without a railroad. 
 
 OHIO'S GREAT FLOODS 
 
 When the great commonwealth of 
 Ohio was stricken last spring with the 
 great flood catastrophe we lay stunned 
 and helpless until railroad communi- 
 cation was established. As soon as 
 the severed cords were put together 
 the whole aspect changed. Communi- 
 ties were fed and the vital life of the 
 state restored. 
 
 Certainly none will deny how im- 
 portant the railroads are and how 
 essential it is to conserve this utility, 
 and by this is meant, protection from 
 unwise operation, and a guarantee of 
 measurable safety to the individual 
 and institutions that have hazarded 
 their capital. The health of the rail- 
 roads is very far reaching, when we 
 consider that aside from the ordinary 
 investor, life insurance companies, 
 holding in their hands the hopes and 
 expectations of almost thirty million 
 policyholders, have invested one and a 
 quarter billion dollars in railroad 
 securities. 
 
 respects. The development of the 
 country makes a call on the railroads 
 for extensions and equipment, which 
 finds an enforced feeble response. 
 They could advantageously to the 
 public use hundreds of millions of 
 dollars right now. (Applause.) 
 
 Three years ago James J. Hill, with 
 a vision that was almost prophetic, 
 stated that the railroads should for 
 five years expend a billion dollars 
 annually for construction, if they were 
 to handle the business of the country 
 efficiently. (Applause.) He pre- 
 dicted congested terminals, and vastly 
 inadequate facilities, and events show 
 the wisdom of his observation. 
 
 RAILWAY CREDIT IMPAIRED 
 
 With the public and the railroads in 
 agreement on the proposition that the 
 march of progress has passed the 
 transportation business, the fact re- 
 mains, that the railroads cannot bor- 
 row the money to provide for the 
 situation. Short time notes have been 
 given to meet current and emergency 
 expenses, and if the banks of the 
 country were to demand payment we 
 would be in the throes of a well 
 organized panic. Investors have been 
 driven to other fields, notwithstanding 
 no business is based on a more stable 
 utility than that of the railroads. The 
 amount of securities listed on the New 
 York Stock Exchange by steam rail- 
 roads in 1912 was the smallest in ten 
 years. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE RAILWAYS 
 
 Now, what is the condition of the 
 railroads? We have enjoyed unpre- 
 cedented prosperity. Commerce has 
 its ups and downs but the tonnage of 
 the railroads continues stupendous. 
 Terminals in every city are insufficient. 
 There is congestion at these points 
 which interferes with the normal 
 tide of travel. Service is beginning to 
 show the lack of old time regularity. 
 Rolling stock is inadequate in some 
 
 RAILWAY REGULATION 
 
 While there can be no difference in 
 opinion with reference to the utility of 
 the railroads, their present physical 
 and financial condition, and the neces- 
 sity of their conservation, there may 
 be a vast divergence in views with 
 reference to what has brought about 
 the present situation and the correct 
 remedies which must come from both 
 the common sense and fairness of the 
 American people. Where symptoms
 
 are so well marked it seems to me 
 that the diagnosis ought to be meas- 
 urably easy. You hear in many 
 quarters the statement that adverse 
 legislation and the policy of regulation 
 by the government — state and federal 
 — are the largest contributing factors. 
 I do not subscribe to this view. In 
 fact, sane regulation will become the 
 ultimate salvation of the business. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 REGULATION NOT SOON ENOUGH 
 
 One cannot resist the thought, when 
 he surveys the abuses of overcapitali- 
 zation, financial adventure and per- 
 sonal exploitation, that the mistake in 
 regulation has been that it didn't 
 come soon enough. Prior to regula- 
 tion by government 20% of the rail- 
 roads of the country were in the hands 
 of receivers. This was the situation 
 in 1894. It cannot but be regarded as 
 significant that the New York Central, 
 Baltimore and Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 Railroads, with a combined capital 
 stock of $934,000,000, have issued 
 since 1900, during the period of 
 increased regulation, stock to the 
 amount of $548,000,000, upon which 
 they realized more than $600,000,000 
 in cash, the securities having sold at 
 a handsome premium. 
 
 COWARDICE AND CORRUPTION 
 
 No one will contend that the laws 
 in some of the states have not been 
 unduly burdensome. The truth is that 
 in the political affairs of a nation the 
 two harmful elements are cowardice 
 and corruption, and as debasing as 
 corrupt influences have been, the ulti- 
 mate harm from cowardice in public 
 station has been infinitely greater. 
 (Great applause.) Personal political 
 expediency is too apt to rise transcen- 
 dent to the public welfare. There has 
 been a regrettable absence of that 
 order of courage to withstand some 
 legislation born of prejudice against 
 the railroads, and I believe you gentle- 
 
 men will agree that this prejudice de- 
 veloped in considerable degree because 
 of the unwise and, in some instances, 
 reprehensible administrative policies 
 of some companies. 
 
 NEW MORAL STANDARDS 
 
 No one will seek to condone the 
 practice of milking railroads in order 
 that the executive officers and direc- 
 tors might be illegally and immorally 
 given vast fortunes through the artful 
 and insidious method of contracting 
 with themselves for construction 
 work. (Applause.) No man in con- 
 science will avow the propriety of a 
 wildcat policy in the issuance of 
 securities. No community in America 
 will produce the man who will at- 
 tempt to justify the practices which 
 have shaken the confidence of the 
 conservative thought of New Eng- 
 land. These abuses of power, like 
 every other disaster, in social or eco- 
 nomic life, have their compensations. 
 There is always a hidden blessing 
 which plays its part in working out 
 an ultimate evolution along the lines 
 of morality and sound business policy. 
 There is no saying more truthful than 
 that the hazard always makes the 
 man ; and it is fortunate that over the 
 wreckage of these misguided projects 
 there come men with a vision, a 
 humanity and a courage which give 
 hope to this whole country, which 
 cannot but look upon the situation 
 with grave concern. (Applause.) 
 
 ABOLITION OF REBATES 
 
 The method of regulation by gov- 
 ernment which prevents preferential 
 rates and rebates is not only helpful to 
 the railroads themselves, but it is a 
 dignified participation of government. 
 These quasi-public corporations spring 
 into life by the consent of society 
 through the agencies of government. 
 That is the first and essential element 
 of vitality to the project ; and the insti- 
 tution responsible for the birth of the 
 
 6
 
 corporation not only has a constitu- 
 tional right to retain a reserve power 
 of control, but the moral obligation to 
 do so is just as binding. (Applause.) 
 The misconduct of the child is a re- 
 proach upon the parent if he has been 
 remiss in his duty. It is unfortunate 
 that the railroads in their failure to 
 recognize the ultimate advantage from 
 regulation, drifted for a time into a 
 nation-wide policy of resistance, and 
 this resulted in some instances in a 
 too large corporate participation in 
 politics. 
 
 RESTORE THE PATIENT FIRST 
 
 Now, what is the remedy? 
 
 First of all, we might just as well 
 recognize at the outset that a puri- 
 tanical severity with stockholders who 
 honestly acquired their securities is 
 not going to do any good. The thing 
 to do is to restore the patient and then 
 prescribe and enforce a diet and be- 
 havior which will prevent recurrent 
 illness. The man who stands for pro- 
 gressiveness in government bases his 
 plea upon the theory that all things 
 are changing ; that man and his activi- 
 ties must fall into inevitable subjection 
 to the laws of evolution; and we 
 remind the ultra-conservative that 
 things not only change in business, in 
 professions, in the sciences, in all the 
 agencies of life itself, but that each 
 age brings its changes in accepted 
 fundamentals of justice. 
 
 NEW ETHICAL YARD STICK 
 
 Our fathers subscribed to many 
 things in full conscience that are 
 shocking to present day ideals. My 
 reference is obviously to the offense 
 for witchcraft, imprisonment for debt, 
 and the property qualification in suf- 
 frage. We must therefore be consis- 
 tent and recognize this as fundament- 
 ally just — that the transgression of 
 yesterday cannot and must not be 
 measured with the ethical yardstick 
 of today. (Applause.) It is more 
 creditable, I feel sure, to adhere to 
 
 this doctrine than to frame a policy 
 of confiscating the holdings cf present 
 owners who are in no way to blame 
 for the abuse of those who sold them. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND SITUATION 
 
 Some may contend that the govern- 
 ment is not the guardian of the people 
 in their traffic regulations, one with 
 the other, but that does not reach the 
 question of the government's neglect 
 for years in permitting its corporate 
 creature to run amuck. (Applause.) 
 We have in illustration of this 
 thought, the developments of today in 
 the affairs of the New Haven road. 
 (Applause.) The whole country 
 stands appalled. A great property 
 builded on the resource, thrift and 
 pioneer morals of New England, has 
 been drained of its very blood and 
 bone, through methods that inspired 
 the divine command "Thou shalt not 
 steal." (Applause.) Of the 22,000 
 stockholders, half are women, many 
 are estates and trustees, a circum- 
 stance which speaks the confidence of 
 those now dead. What excuse has 
 government to offer those, who lived 
 secure in the thought that it protected 
 the defenceless ? What word have the 
 States, responsible for this outrage, to 
 utter in explanation? It would have 
 been impossible of accomplishment in 
 any progressive State. I feel sure the 
 federal government in its present 
 hands will not remain dumb to the 
 constitutional command of absolute 
 control over interstate commerce. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 SOCIETY MUST PAY 
 
 As the responsibility was divided in 
 the first instance, there should now 
 be common acquiescence, as between 
 the government and the railroads, in 
 the suggestion to seal the past and pro- 
 ceed in making of a better order of 
 things on an entirely new base. 
 
 If we concede that the agencies of 
 transportation must be healthy in
 
 order that the country can grow and 
 develop, then, regulation must pro- 
 ceed on the theory that what society 
 imposes on the railroads, society itself 
 must pay for. (Applause.) If in- 
 creased taxes, larger compensation for 
 labor, the application of safety de- 
 vices, the maintenance of expensive 
 schedules and other things, are insisted 
 upon by society, through government, 
 then the railroads, like any other insti- 
 tution, must be given the right and the 
 facility to distribute the burden. The 
 business man meets the increased cost 
 of his products by adding to his selling 
 price. Augmented costs, due to short 
 crops, or other unseemly circum- 
 stances, fall generally upon consump- 
 tion. If the industry involved were 
 to bear it alone and government pre- 
 vented the distribution of added ex- 
 penses, there would be but one result 
 — disaster. So that if we expect the 
 railroads to draw from their earnings 
 to meet the changed and developing 
 conditions of the day, they must re- 
 ceive the same consideration shown to 
 other business enterprises, or the re- 
 sult with them will be the same — 
 disaster. (Applause.) 
 
 You cannot buy land for terminals ; 
 lay tracks of steel to accommodate the 
 growing traffic of the nation ; build 
 spurs to mines, cities or agricultural 
 centers, without an increased cost in 
 investment. You can't sell the securi- 
 ties unless the public is assured of a 
 return on the outlay. 
 
 TO STRENGTHEN INVESTORS' 
 CONFIDENCE 
 
 Every phase of the fiscal situation 
 with the railroads suggests that some- 
 thing be done to establish in the mind 
 of the investing public some fixed 
 idea, not only of the inherent value 
 of the railroads, but a national policy, 
 securely supported by an intelligent 
 public opinion, must be framed for the 
 conservation of the transportation 
 utilities, and you cannot conserve the 
 business without conserving the confi- 
 
 dence of the country. Railroad men 
 everywhere admit that a new day in 
 the afifairs of this industry has arrived, 
 and that the old order of things is 
 displaced, first by the impossibility of 
 extensive exploit and adventure, and, 
 second, by a new moral code which 
 seems to be finding adoption every- 
 where. The policy of dealing above g 
 board with the government, public and 
 shipper, will become the real asset of 
 the railroads. The government is the 
 best agency to give dignified and * 
 effective exploitation of that plan. If 
 a railroad corporation desires to work 
 out a project of extension or improve- 
 ment, and votes a perfectly honest 
 issue of securities, with every intent to 
 disburse them in good faith, the very 
 essence of the whole transaction in- 
 spires confidence which will be wide- 
 spread if some agency without the 
 railroad organization certifies the 
 legitimacy of the enterprise. 
 
 I introduce, therefore, entirely re- 
 gardless of the objections that have 
 been raised to the plan, the suggestion 
 that ultimate relief will never come 
 until the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission passes upon the issuance of 
 securities. Now, let us analyze this 
 proposal. 
 
 FEDERAL SUPERVISION 
 
 Suppose the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Company desired to issue $50,000,000 
 in bonds — and I cannot mention the 
 Pennsylvania Railway Company with- 
 out making this observation, that out 
 in our country we believe that its 
 honor has never been stained — (great 
 applause) — and it prepares to issue 
 these securities. It goes to Washing- 
 ton, and submits in detail and specifi- 
 cation absolutely everything connected 
 with the project. The Government 
 makes its investigation, finds it to be 
 a legitimate enterprise, and it says so. 
 It certifies the integrity and the 
 legitimacy of that project. You then 
 divide your securities into smaller 
 denominations. Confidence has been 
 
 8
 
 procured by the Government partici- 
 pation, and if you give the people the 
 opportunity to buy the securities, in 
 ten years' time the railroads will be 
 owned by the people and you will have 
 public ownership instead of govern- 
 ment ownership. (Great applause.) 
 
 STATE RIGHTS OBJECTION 
 
 I am mindful of the recommenda- 
 tions made by the commission ap- 
 pointed to investigate this plan. It 
 proceeds from the premise of state 
 rights. Every fair-minded student of 
 this great subject concedes that when 
 the states manifest no disposition to 
 act in concert with reference to a sub- 
 ject, nation-wide in its consequences, 
 for the simple reason that the federal 
 unit of government can reach the 
 responsibility with more efficiency and 
 directness than the states, the general 
 welfare of the people must be consid- 
 ered before the ethical rights of the 
 states. Let me give you this illustra- 
 tion: 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
 pany operates largely in the states of 
 New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In- 
 diana and Illinois. I think only two 
 of these states have laws which com- 
 pel governmental supervision over the 
 issuance of securities. The company 
 submits its project to Ohio, which has 
 such a law, and yet, this procedure by 
 one or two states does not give the 
 slightest aid to the investor because 
 the local authority is concerned only 
 about the improvement within the 
 State. Ohio counties used to value 
 utilities for taxation; but it became 
 perfectly apparent that they must sur- 
 render the task to the State in order 
 that the valuation could be made on 
 the corporate unit or that part of it 
 local to the commonwealth. The re- 
 sults have been so satisfactory that no 
 one would think of restoring the old 
 order of things. 
 
 MUST HAVE LIVING RATES 
 
 As already indicated, I hold no 
 brief for the railroads, but I recognize 
 that government, from the standpoint 
 of morals and expediency, must per- 
 mit them to have living rates. The 
 survey should be an exhaustive one; 
 and if it develops that while the gross 
 receipts have increased, the net re- 
 ceipts are considerably diminished by 
 the liberal policy of society, then relief 
 ought to be granted, whether it be i%, 
 5% or io% that is needed. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 There is nothing more harmful than 
 the tendency to hold to a fetich. 
 There is no more offensive species of 
 standpatism than to impose a rate one 
 year and continue it without term. 
 
 The future may develop the neces- 
 sity of scaling rates downward. The 
 inventive genius of man may contri- 
 bute the means to vast economies in 
 operation. When that comes the pub- 
 lic should be given a reasonable rate, 
 based on the cost of the service — the 
 reasonableness of the rate is the issue 
 now, and always will be. The rail- 
 roads are entitled to it, and so is the 
 shipper. 
 
 Recognizing, as we do, that there is 
 some prejudice against the railroads 
 and that an increase in rate, even 
 though suggested by every considera- 
 tion of fairness, might be unpopular, 
 our great government has no higher 
 function than rising to the dignity of 
 a courageous recognition of rights, 
 whether they be individual or cor- 
 porate. 
 
 RATES ARE LOW 
 
 Statistics would seem to show that 
 while the government receives two 
 cents for carrying a letter from one to 
 a thousand miles — a very unscientific 
 rating, by the way — the railroads 
 transport a ton of freight three miles 
 for the price of a postage stamp. This 
 might be an odious comparison, and
 
 yet, it reduces the whole situation to a 
 problem so simple that we can better 
 understand it. 
 
 The question of rates is an involved 
 one. There are so many things to con- 
 sider that one develops a sympathetic 
 attitude for the ]jiterstate Commerce 
 Commission. There can, of course, be 
 nothing but a uniform rate, and yet it 
 has its elements of unfairness. Let us 
 analyze this : 
 
 Between Chicago and St. Paul there 
 are six different competitive railroads, 
 and their capitalization per mile is as 
 follows : 
 
 Per mile 
 Chicago, Burlington and Quin- 
 
 cy $36,338 
 
 Minneapolis, St. Paul and 
 
 Sault Ste. Marie 36,362 
 
 Chicago & Northwestern 43,900 
 
 Illinois Central — Minneapolis 
 
 & St. Louis 58,000 
 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 58,342 
 
 Chicago Great Western 74,9^3 
 
 BONUSES WERE NECESSARY 
 
 The first thought might be that the 
 vast difference is due to varying poli- 
 cies of finance, and construction. The 
 question of integrity may be raised, 
 and yet on analysis explanation may 
 be found in considerable part in the 
 matter of terminal values, a difference 
 in rolling stock and roadbed — the 
 physical characteristics of the routes 
 might add to the cost in one instance 
 and reduce it in another. Some of 
 the roads may have been built when 
 the future of railroads was uncertain, 
 and bonuses were necessary to the 
 completion of the enterprise. We 
 must recognize that few projects in 
 the formative period of any industry 
 were ever launched without common 
 stock being given with the subscrip- 
 tion of bonds or preferred stock. The 
 man who took a long chance is en- 
 titled to a reward beyond his six per 
 cent, return. (Applause.) 
 
 EARLY OBSTACLES 
 
 Let us not forget the difficulties 
 railroads encountered and overcame. 
 In our own good State, with a citizen- 
 ship that has always been progressive, 
 the early Legislature was asked to 
 prevent the construction of steam rail- 
 roads on the ground that the trains 
 would frighten the stock in the fields 
 until it would not take on fat. It was 
 urged that transportation by wagon 
 would be impossible with trains run- 
 ning through the lands because the 
 oxen and horses would be frightened 
 to the point of frenzy by the whistling 
 of the engines. (Laughter.) 
 
 Then, as a compromise, it was pro- 
 posed to allow the roads to be built 
 and operated, provided the trains 
 would stop within half a mile of the 
 wagon road and someone would go 
 ahead to notify the people along the 
 road that the train was approaching. 
 Nor was this during the dark ages. It 
 was within the memory of the oldest 
 inhabitants of the Stat e. (La ughter.) 
 
 The first newspaper published in 
 Ohio was established a little over a 
 hundred years ago, and known as the 
 Western Star. It is still operated 
 under that name, although the western 
 stars have moved three thousand miles 
 further west. In an issue of that 
 paper there was printed an argument 
 against railroad construction in Ohio 
 upon purely economic grounds. It 
 was shown that one train would dis- 
 place fifty horses— that it would draw 
 as much freight as twenty-five two 
 horse teams. And the writer sought 
 to show that the displacement of so 
 many horses would tend to lower the 
 price of grain— that the raising of 
 grain would be unprofitable because 
 Ihere would be no horses to eat it. 
 
 But every reform that has been 
 worked out, every invention that has 
 been launched, has had to meet this 
 economic opposition. Christianity it- 
 self was opposed upon purely eco- 
 nomic grounds in the beginning. One 
 
 10
 
 of the philosophers of Rome congratu- 
 lated Nero upon his attempt to stamp 
 out Christianity on the ground that 
 there were so many people embracing 
 the new teaching that it was affecting 
 the market for fodder used to fatten 
 cattle for heathen sacrifice. (Laugh- 
 ter.) 
 
 In 1818 the school board of Lan- 
 caster Township passed a resolution 
 refusing to allow the use of the school 
 house for a debate upon the subject of 
 railroads and telegraphs. The resolu- 
 tion stated that such propositions as 
 railroads and telegraphs were marks 
 of infidelity and held that had the 
 Lord intended men to talk through the 
 air or ride at the rate of fifteen miles 
 an hour it would have been foretold 
 in the Scripture, and that a careful 
 search of the Scripture failed to reveal 
 any such prophecy. (Laughter.) 
 
 CAPITALIZATION 
 
 Attention is drawn to the vast ex- 
 cess of capitalization of foreign rail- 
 roads per mile as compared to Ameri- 
 can lines, and the difference is im- 
 pressive, as shown by the following 
 exhibit : 
 
 Capitalization per mile of line : 
 
 United States $ 62,657 
 
 Germany 1 13,855 
 
 France 144,683 
 
 United Kingdom 275,156 
 
 England and Wales 328,415 
 
 Two factors must be considered in 
 this. When steam as a motive power 
 made railroads possible, European 
 cities were developed in size and realty 
 values, and terminals were expensive, 
 while in this country the railroads and 
 cities grew together. Furthermore, 
 the American roads were given vast 
 subsidies in lands and rights of way — 
 
 a considerable factor in their present 
 wealth and resource which enabled 
 many extensions and improvements to 
 be made without the issuance of se- 
 curities. 
 
 That the rates are lower in America 
 than abroad is but another tribute to 
 the genius of our people, and the ad- 
 mission is another puncture in the 
 fallacious doctrine that we cannot 
 produce most things in this country as 
 cheaply as in Europe. (Laughter.) 
 
 MATTER FOR PUBLIC OPINION 
 
 In closing, let us all dedicate our- 
 selves to the solution of this great 
 problem of transportation — recogniz- 
 ing that it concerns every community 
 and every household. Let us be re- 
 minded that in the forum of public 
 opinion every issue has been settled, 
 and ultimately settled right in this our 
 glorious country. If progress means 
 anything, it is that prejudice cannot 
 last, and that fair dealing will be 
 endorsed. 
 
 It is no reflection on the stability of 
 our race that we adjust ourselves in 
 government and commerce, to the 
 changing order of the day. It would 
 be better never to have been lifted at 
 all to the higher moral vision of ad- 
 vanced civilization if we are to retain 
 the field glasses of yesterday. Upon 
 every hill the Goddess of Progress has 
 planted her trumpeteers, showing us 
 the way to a greater national destiny, 
 reminding us that life is but the march 
 of generation, and we have our pil- 
 grimage to cover. Let us do it with 
 an open mindedness that enabled our 
 fathers to burst the restraints of 
 prejudice and tradition, arid find fuller 
 happiness, strength and Godliness, in 
 the radiant influence of the new day. 
 (Great and prolonged applause.) 
 
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