Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1907 — RAILROADS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RAILROADS

A deed of bargain and sale from the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company to the Norfolk and Southern Railway Company, conveying all of the rolling stock and other property to the latter concern for a consideration of $lO, has been filed at Ndrfolk. VarThat railroad building in the United States has reached its maximum under existing conditions, and that business Is growing five times as fast as the mileage, is the latest pessimistic view announced by President Hill of tire Great Northern. He says further that tiiere is no money to invest in railways In view of Che attitude of the State" Legislatures and of the national government in passing regulative and restrictive measures. “If the present pernicious legislation against railroads is persisted in, end more particularly the enforcement of the 2-cents-a-mile passenger rate, I, as a railroad president, say that it would be better to abandon all passenger trains and close all the passenger stations in the United States than continue the running of them at the expense of the stockholders. The passenger business la sow carried on at a loss, and to this, 2-c«nts-a-mile legislation I attribute in no small degree the present financial depression in the United States." This is the language said to have been used by George J. Gould, president of the Missouri Pacific railroad and the owner of a controlling interest in a vast number of railroads throughout the country. Mr. Gould baa just returned from a seven months’ absence in Europe, where, he said, the people were timid about investing in American stocks in view of the recent hostile legislation against corporations. He said that among the reasons to which he attributed the late financial panic was the terrible verdict against the Standard Oil Company for rebating. He thought there was no comparison between the railroads of this country and those of Europe, although there were some pretty fair ones in Germany. The report of the Erie railroad for ths Last fiscal year, which is now made public, is remarkable in several respects, but chiefly in the statement that not a single passenger out of 24,199,723 carried was killed during the year. At the same time there was a reduction In the cost of operation and more passengers were carried, at a less rate per mile. Wages were Increased a million dollars in the aggregate. In spite of the big Increase in wages, ths road made a gain in net earning* of nearly $2,000,000, the total being $16,171,sse.