Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/248

Rh words: “It must not be forgotten that your railways are the arteries through which the commercial life blood of the nation flows. Nothing could be more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of these commercial agencies.”

Recently, as a keen observer and student of public opinion, he seems to realize, as do many others, that there is danger that the people have gone too far in reducing the power of the railroads to make net earnings. He wrote a forceful article published in the “Outlook” of July 5, 1913, entitled “The Living Wage and the Living Rate.” Two paragraphs in that article are pertinent to the New England railroad situation. The first is:—

“But it must be a cardinal principle in dealing with honestly built and wisely managed railways that the investor, the shareholder, is just as much entitled to protection as is the wage-worker, the shipper, or the representatives of the general public. Unless the investor finds that he is to get a fair return on his Rh