There has been during the past twenty years a tendency in a majority of the States to place the local control of railroads in the hands of executive boards, usually styled "railroad commissioners." Previous to this period the various States relied solely upon legislation for the regulation of the transportation business, but in time they became convinced that such laws were inoperative for the want of an enforcing power. It was found that the individual shipper was unable to cope with a powerful company and usually would rather suffer wrong than to enter into a contest which nearly always resulted in great pecuniary loss to him. On the other hand, it was apparent that if the claim of the individual were pressed by a railroad commission, even though such a body had but limited powers, it would, under ordinary circumstances, be honored, provided it was meritorious; and if the commission was compelled to enforce a demand through the courts, it would have the support of the State to poise the wealth and power of the corporation.

The term "railroad commissioner" in the United States is nearly as old as the railroad itself; but the first officials bearing that title were merely successors to the turnpike commissioners of yore; their duties consisted chiefly in supervising, passing or reporting upon the construction and condition of the highway.

The first railroad commission, in the present acceptation of the term, was created in the State of Massachusetts, in 1869. The commission consisted of three persons, whose principal duty was to "make an annual report to the General Court, including such statements, facts and explanations as will disclose the actual working of the system of railroad transportation in its bearing upon the business and prosperity of the commonwealth, and such suggestions as to its general railroad policy, or any part thereof, or the condition, affairs or conduct of any railroad corporation, as may seem to it appropriate." This board also had the general supervision of all railroads and power to examine the same. It was required to give notice in writing to any railroad corporation which, in its judgment, was guilty of any violation of the railroad laws of the State; and if such company continued the violation, after such notice, it became the duty of the commission to present the facts to the Attorney-General. It was further made the duty of the board to examine, from time to time, the books and accounts of all railroads, to see that they were kept in a uniform manner, and upon the system prescribed by the board. It was also required to investigate the cause of any accident on a railroad resulting in loss of life. These being the principal duties of the board, its powers were very limited; but its personnel supplied the power which the law had withheld. The success of this commission exceeded even the expectations of the advocates of the system, who, in view of the limited powers of the commission, had anticipated but meager results.

To quiet the Granger movement the railroads favored and finally secured the adoption of the commissioner system in the West, and South, in which sections it attained its highest development. It was soon found that a commission after the Massachusetts model, when composed of men less competent or less disposed to do their duty, was liable to dwindle into a statistical board or even become a pliant tool in the hands of the railroads. Furthermore, the conditions in Massachusetts, where railroad owners and railroad patrons lived side by side and were in many instances even identical, differed materially from those found in the West and South, where railroad patrons were made to pay excessive rates, to produce liberal dividends on fictitious stocks for non-resident stockholders. Here a conflict between the railroads and such commissions as were determined to do their duty became often unavoidable. Railroad companies were as a rule disposed to disregard the recommendation of a commission to reduce exorbitant rates. This led in those States which suffered most from unjust tariffs to a popular demand to endow the commission with the power to fix prima facie rates. While the number of States which have taken this step is at present still limited, public opinion in its favor is growing throughout the nation, and a general adoption of this policy is probably only a question of time. There is every reason for believing that a commission vested with the right to fix local rates, to require full and complete reports from railroad companies, and to make proper regulations for their control, aided by penal legislation to compel compliance with their orders, will be a sufficient aid to the State in exercising such control over the companies operating lines within its borders as its dignity and the welfare of its people demand.

Viewing the question from a national point of view, we find that, owing to the great and constantly increasing importance of interstate traffic, improved Federal agencies for railroad control are a pressing need. While much has been accomplished by the Interstate Commerce Act, much yet remains to be done. Violations of the act are still far too frequent, and they have been encouraged by unfriendly decisions by some of the inferior Federal courts.

It must be admitted that nearly all the evils connected with interstate transportation could soon be remedied were it not for the difficulties which the Interstate Commerce Commission encounters in the enforcement of the law. On the one hand it is not possible with the machinery at present provided to detect and prove a considerable part of the violations of which railroad managers are daily guilty; and on the other hand, if these violations are brought to light, there would not, according to the testimony of a prominent railroad man, be courts enough in the country to try the violators. Besides this, such is the artfulness of railroad managers that in a majority of cases it would be impossible to reach the guilty party, and subordinates would have to answer for the transgressions of their superiors.

To provide adequate machinery for the supervision of the transportation business, a national bureau of commerce and transportation should be established. As its chief a director-general of railroads should be appointed by the President, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. This officer should hold his office for a term of at least six years, unless sooner removed by the President, upon reasons to be communicated by him to the Senate. He should not be interested either directly or indirectly in railroad securities. The Interstate Commerce Commission should be continued as an advisory board. It should upon the whole retain its present functions and should be consulted by the director-general in all matters requiring expert investigation. A number of divisions or sub-bureaus should be established, and each should be entrusted, under the supervision of the director-general, with such duties as may be deemed necessary to secure the greatest efficiency.

There should be a division charged with the duty of carefully examining and compiling the detailed reports which the various companies should by law be required to make to the bureau. An inspection service should also be established, similar to that now maintained by the Treasury and Post-office Departments. Its officers should be empowered to enter all railroad offices and examine the companies' books, board trains and employ other legal means to detect violations of the railroad law and report them to the chief of the bureau.

Railroad companies might be permitted to make interstate rates, but all schedules should be submitted to the bureau for approval or revision. Legal provision should be made against every sort of speculation in railroad stocks on the part of railroad officers, who should, in addition, be prohibited from sharing in the profits of favorite rates, as at present. All executive officers and directors of railroad companies should, like officers of national banks, be required to qualify by taking an oath of office, and should be held to strict accountability for their official acts. Officers of railroad companies should not be allowed to receive and use proxies at stockholders' meetings.

The director-general should have the power, when he has proof that a railroad manager is persistently violating the law, to remove him and to appoint a receiver to take charge of the road until its owners can make provision and furnish sufficient guarantee for a more responsible management. Such a procedure would not be without analogy in the sphere of Federal authority. The Comptroller of the Currency is authorized by law to remove the derelict officials of a national bank and place its business in charge of a receiver. The beneficial effect of this provision is evinced in the extreme rareness of such a step. When railroad managers are held responsible for their own official acts, as well as for those of their subordinates, and when all railroad transgressions are visited upon their source in such a manner as to be remembered by the stings of disgrace and of a blighted career, unfaithful railroad managers will be extremely rare.

The plan here outlined is of course capable of being greatly improved. Experience only is a reliable guide as to the merits of the various details of such a system of control. What is needed above all things is a beginning, the establishment of the principle of complete control of railroad transportation by the State and the Nation. When this step is once taken, the friends of railroad reform may safely trust to time for the solution of the subordinate questions of this important problem.

By thorough State and Federal supervision of the railroad business many of the present abuses can be prevented. But the temptations of railroad managers to violate the law will continue to exist as long as the speculative element is permitted to remain in railroad securities. To remove the fountain-head of the evil eventually, the way should gradually be paved for a change in railroad organization and ownership which would also greatly increase the responsibility and efficiency of railroad management. In the beginning of the railroad era, nearly all, and not unfrequently all the capital needed for the construction of a new line was supposed to be furnished by the company's stockholders. But as it often happened that the cost of construction considerably exceeded the original estimate, the State authorized railroad companies to mortgage their property for the purpose of raising the money necessary to complete the road. In time this provision of the law was taken advantage of by speculative stockholders to such an extent that roads were often bonded for the full amount necessary to construct them, and even for more, while the stock was issued simply as a bonus to the promoters and the bondholders of the road. But as the bonds and shares scarcely ever remain in the same hands, such a condition was eventually brought about that roads were controlled by those who had little or nothing invested in the enterprise, and their real owners were deprived of all influence in their management, retaining only the right to foreclose their mortgages when things came to the worst. It is evident that men who have only a speculative interest in property cannot have the same concern for its permanent value and prosperity as those who hold it as a permanent investment. Many of the railroad abuses of the past had their origin in the law permitting the bonding of railroad property. Were it desirable to make a property for the sole use and convenience of speculators and gamblers, a better scheme could hardly be devised than the present system of our railroad organizations. Were railroad companies organized like national banks, were each shareholder required to pay the full amount of the face value of his shares, and were mortgaging railroad property entirely prohibited, it is not likely that the proportion of bankrupted railroads would be any larger than that of bankrupted banks. Few, if any, railroads would be built for purely speculative or blackmailing purposes.

Capital is naturally conservative, and speculation is only invited where the chances of gain are greatly out of proportion to the capital invested. Were the principle of ownership which applies to national banks and other well regulated corporations also applied to the railroads, and were bonds entirely abolished, only such persons would by the shareholders be placed in charge of their property as could give to them the best assurance of honest and conservative management. Such a change would greatly increase public confidence in, and the value of, railroad securities, and would eventually place them above bank stock as desirable investments. With the great fluctuations which under present circumstances obtain in railroad stocks, these securities are regarded as unsafe and unsatisfactory investments by conservative people. During a period of less than twelve months in 1891 and 1892 the stock of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe fluctuated from 28-1/2 to 43-1/2, or 53 per cent.; that of the Chesapeake and Ohio from 15-1/4 to 25-7/8, or 70 per cent.; of the Chicago and Northwestern from 101 to 118, or 17 per cent.; of the Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha from 20-1/2 to 38-1/2, or 88 per cent.; of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul from 48-3/4 to 78-1/2, or 61 per cent.; of the Iowa Central from 6-1/2 to 13, or 100 per cent.

If we look over the stock quotations of the past ten or twelve years we find still greater fluctuations. The following table, taken from the United States Investor, shows the range of prices of a few of the principal stocks during this period:

And such fluctuations have always been rather the rule than the exception. It is a gross outrage upon the investing public to let this state of affairs continue. It should be corrected without delay.

How many high officials in charge of railroad property will under these circumstances resist the temptation to speculate in the stock of their companies, and, so long as it is permitted, how many will resist the temptation to adopt such policies in the government of their roads as will cause such fluctuations? It is a common report that it is not an unfrequent occurrence for Senators and members of Congress to receive information from railway officials that enables them to raise their campaign funds by speculation in Wall Street.

Mr. Henry C. Adams, statistician of the Interstate Commerce Commission, says in his third annual report:

There is no safer business in the world than railroad transportation; there is none that has less elements of uncertainty; none whose returns in the aggregate are less varying. Every other business in the country, whether prospering or struggling, pays tribute to it. It rests on a cash basis, and suffers probably less from hard times than any business of its magnitude. Both the merchant and the manufacturer run large risks in doing business largely on a credit basis. The farmer sows in the spring, harvests in the fall, and often cannot realize on his products until winter; but the railroad company always receives its pay as soon as its work is done, and not unfrequently even before it is done. Statistics show that railroad revenues are, in the aggregate, remarkably uniform, and there is no reason why railroad securities should be less stable than bank or insurance stocks. Mr. Jeans says:

There may be some arguments in favor of bonding railroads, but this practice is, upon the whole, productive of infinitely more evil than good. The State should, therefore, compel railroad companies to liquidate all of their bonded indebtedness without unnecessary delay. In the proportion in which this is accomplished railroad shares will gain in stability and value.

Railroad men complain that the small savings of the poor invested in railroad securities do not yield adequate returns and are often lost in consequence of the foreclosing of the roads in which these investments have been made. Others complain that railroads are bankrupted in the interest of designing bondholders. Still others charge that rich and powerful roads contrive to obtain a controlling interest in the depreciated stock of weaker roads and then manage these roads in their own interest and greatly to the detriment of other stockholders. All these evils would disappear if the law required the identity of actual and virtual ownership. "Freezing-out" processes could no longer be resorted to by expert directors to obtain without compensation the property of their less sophisticated fellow stockholders. One railroad could no longer obtain control of another by acquiring an insignificant part of the sum total of its securities. There would be no longer any clashing between the interests of bondholders and stockholders, and railroads would no longer be managed in the interest of a small minority of their owners.

In addition to the cancellation of all railroad mortgages the State should require that all railroad stocks should, in the future, be paid in full. Furthermore, roads should be built only from the proceeds of the capital stock, and the expense of repairs should be defrayed from the revenues of the road. Dividends should only be paid from surplus earnings and should in no case exceed a fair rate of interest on the actual present value of the road. The statistician to the Interstate Commerce Commission suggests the creation of a special commission charged with the duty of converting the actual capitalization of railroad lines into a just value of their property. To do justice to both the railroads and their patrons in the fixing of rates, it is important that the just value of railroad property be ascertained, but the work could probably be done with less friction by a coöperation of National and State commissions. A number of reforms are needed within the province of railroad management. Passenger rates are, as a rule, too high, and out of all proportion to freight rates. Many passenger tariffs still recognize the old stage-coach principle of fixing the fare in an exact proportion to the distance traveled. Thus a passenger who takes the train for a five-mile trip pays only fifteen cents for his own transportation and that of one hundred pounds of baggage, while the passenger who buys a ticket for a journey of one hundred miles pays, on most American lines, exactly twenty times the amount paid by the five-mile passenger. Here the principle of collecting terminal charges is entirely ignored. Sufficient inducements are not held out to the passenger to prolong his journey, and as a consequence of this short-sighted policy of the railroad companies the average distance traveled in the United States by each passenger, instead of having gradually increased, has gradually decreased of late years until it is now only 24.18 miles. The average freight haul in the United States is 120 miles, or about five times as long as the average journey per passenger. How can such a difference be accounted for except by the dissimilarity in the principles which govern the computation of passenger and freight charges? The same rule should be adopted in fixing passenger rates that is recognized by railroad men in fixing freight rates: the rate per mile should decrease with the increase of the number of miles traveled.

The principle of arranging passenger tariffs on a sliding scale has found recognition in Europe. In Denmark first-class passenger fare is 3.13 cents for each of the first 47 miles, 2.67 cents for each of the next 47 miles, and only 2.22 cents for every additional mile. The practical application of this principle is, in fact, only limited by the extent of the kingdom. In nearly all European countries a uniform reduction, ranging from 20 to 30 per cent., is made from regular rates for return trip tickets, and coupon tickets are issued to tourists almost everywhere at largely reduced rates.

Hungary recently adopted a new method of making passenger and freight tariffs for its state lines. This is now generally called the zone system. There are two classes of tickets sold, one for short trips on suburban or branch lines, the other for longer journeys on the main lines. The distances that can be traveled on short or suburban lines are divided into two zones of stations, and those on main lines into fourteen zones. The division of the kingdom into zones is made with Buda-Pesth as the center. A ticket purchased for a particular zone carries the passenger to the end of that zone or any nearer station.

The following table will show the extent of each zone and the fares paid:

(The florin is a little more than one-third of a dollar.)

A ride from a city to the first suburban station costs from 3 to 10 cents, according to class of car, and to the second station 5 to 13.6 cents. On through trains a person may travel 15 miles at a cost of from 8-1/2 to 20 cents, according to kind of train and class of car, a hundred miles for from 85 cents to $2.00; 140 miles for from $1.15 to $2.80 and any distance above 140 miles for from $1.35 to $3.25. A person may thus travel from Buda-Pesth to Predeal, a distance of 472 miles, with a third-class ticket for zone 14, purchased at a cost of $1.35, or 28-100 of a cent per mile.

Our railroad men with much complacency point to the fact that these rates do not cover the forwarding of passengers' baggage and that this service must be paid for separately. These charges, however, are very moderate, being on 120 pounds of baggage 8-1/3 cents a distance of 34 miles or less, about 17 cents for a distance of more than 34 and less than 62 miles, and about 34 cents for any distance over 62 miles. The additional charge for carrying 120 pounds of baggage from Buda-Pesth to Predeal is therefore about one-fourteenth of one cent per mile. It must be admitted that this system of charging separately for passenger and baggage is eminently just, for there is no good reason why the passenger without baggage should be taxed to pay for the carriage of that of his fellow-traveler.

The zone tariff was introduced on the state railways of Hungary by M. Barosz, the Hungarian Minister of Commerce, on the 1st of August, 1889. The adoption of the new tariff was ridiculed and condemned as visionary by road experts, who even went so far as to prove to the satisfaction of practical railroad men that the innovation was destined to be a failure. For a month or two it almost seemed as if their prediction might be fulfilled, the number of passengers carried remaining behind the number carried during the corresponding period of previous years. But soon the reaction set in. The month of November, 1889, already witnessed an increase in the number of passengers as well as in receipts over the same month of the year previous. The result of the first year's trial demonstrated the wisdom of the "innovation." The number of passengers carried, which had been only 5,186,227 in 1888-89, rose to 13,060,751 in 1889-90, and the total receipts for passengers and baggage rose from 9,138,715 florins to 11,186,321 florins, a gain of 2,047,606 florins, or 22 per cent., during the first year. There is a continued increase both in the number of passengers and in receipts, and the success of the system must be pronounced phenomenal. The railroad experts of Europe, who had predicted the signal failure of the zone system, now that the unexpected has happened, are trying to discover the particular favorable conditions which made the success of the system possible in Hungary. It will probably be a decade, or even two, before the railroad experts of both hemispheres will be entirely reconciled to this new application of the old principle that a reduction in the price of a commodity increases the demand for it.

It is strange, indeed, that intelligent men should be so slow in recognizing an economic principle for which both history and daily experience furnish an unlimited number of illustrations. The post-office receipts everywhere have increased with a reduction in postage. The Government telegraph in England did not become self-supporting until Parliament made a sweeping reduction in its rates. The revenue from the Brooklyn bridge never paid a fair interest on the capital expended in its construction until its tolls were cut down. Were it necessary, hundreds of other examples could be added to these.

Hungary has also applied the zone system to its freight traffic. Three zones are fixed for the carrying of goods, viz.: Zone I, for distances less than 200 kilometers (124 miles); Zone II, for distances over 200 and less than 400 kilometers, and Zone III, for distances over 400 kilometers. A uniform tariff is established for each zone, which is one-third less than the average freight rates for equal distances formerly in force. American railroads should profit by the wisdom and experience of the Hungarian Government, and adopt at an early day such features of its system as upon our soil and under our institutions may be made practicable. The Hungarian system, with some modifications, is now being tried by Austria and a few of the German states, and is increasing railroad revenues wherever adopted.

There is a growing demand for lower fares. This demand increases in the same proportion in which the desire and the necessity for travel increase. European states have not been slow to meet it. Reductions are made everywhere, and chiefly favor the lower classes. Thus, when France, within the last year, changed her passenger tariff, she reduced first-class fare 9 per cent., second-class fare 18 per cent., and third-class 27 per cent.

The European passenger reports show the numbers of first and second-class passengers are continually falling off, while those of the third-class passengers are fast increasing. In England and Wales the number of first-class passengers fell between 1875 and 1889 from 37,000,000 to 24,000,000 while the number of third-class passengers increased during that same period from 350,000,000 to 601,000,000, and this increase still continues. In the United Kingdom the number of third-class passengers for 1891 was over 750,000,000. Furthermore, passenger revenue comes chiefly from the third class. In the United Kingdom the receipts from first-class passengers were in 1889 £3,188,000; from second-class passengers, £2,705,000; and from third-class passengers, £19,785,000. It is thus seen that receipts from third-class passengers are nearly 3-1/2 times as large as those from the first and second-class passengers combined. A similar proportion is found in nearly every country on the continent. European roads discovered some years ago that first and second-class passengers were carried at a loss, and all the passenger earnings were derived from third-class passengers. The profits from this source show a considerable increase every year.

The average fare per mile is 2.15 cents in the United States, and only 1.17 cents in Germany, 1.67 cents in Austria, 1.18 cents in Belgium, 1.29 cents in Denmark, 1.45 cents in France, 1.64 cents in Italy, and 1.45 cents in Russia. It is often claimed by railroad men that we travel more luxuriously than the people of any other country in the world, but it should not be forgotten that traveling in the United States is also more expensive than anywhere else. It is contended that class distinctions are odious in America, and that second and third-class cars would not be patronized. The same argument might be applied to theaters, hotels, clothiers, grocers, etc. It is difficult to see why distinction here should be less odious than on the railroad train. The truth is, Americans are just like other people and will avail themselves of accommodations in keeping with their means if they have the opportunity. Many passengers who will not travel in an uncouth smoking-car would, if clean second-class cars were provided, gladly dispense with the luxury of an upholstered seat if by doing so they could save from $5 to $10 a day.

A common laborer in this country earns from a dollar to a dollar and a half a day, and in the performance of his labor as a rule suffers greater inconvenience than does the traveler who travels the country in a second-class car. Is it under these circumstances at all likely that the American would hesitate to travel for a day in a plain but clean car, if by doing so he could save a week's earnings? We may even go further and say that it is a very reasonable assumption that the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow would choose the cheaper car if the difference in one day's fare were equal to one day's wages. It is a common saying in Europe that the first-class passengers consist of lords and fools, and few of the hundreds of thousands of American tourists traveling abroad give the natives occasion to class them with either. The first-class car has almost fallen into disuse in Europe, and even the patronage of the second-class is less than ten per cent, of that of the third.

Reduced rates for return tickets should be provided under rules and regulations of commissioners.

The Massachusetts legislature recently passed a law requiring the railways of that State to sell interchangeable thousand-mile tickets for $20. The State commission is given power to except any company from its requirements if the public welfare or the financial condition require or demand it. This is a step in the right direction and should be followed by other States. Michigan also requires certain roads to carry first-class passengers at two cents per mile.

Railroad companies should be compelled to discard the pass as a courtesy as well as a consideration. The giving of passes under the guise of mileage books, or tickets for pretended or unnecessary services, is very pernicious and should be prohibited. Such a reform would soon enable them to offer low fares to all. An employe may be furnished free transportation while actually engaged in the business of his company, and it should be made the duty of the State and National commissions to make proper regulations governing such free transportation of employes. Half-fare tickets for adults should also be abolished. The pauper ticket is given to the minister of the gospel to secure for the railroads the influence of the pulpit, though offered under the pretense of charity or support of the church. The State should not permit the railroad companies to practice this or any other kind of charity at the expense of the general public. The railroad is a highway, and the company operating it is entitled to rates sufficient to pay operating expenses and a fair interest on the value of the property. It can therefore easily be seen that the so-called gifts show no liberality on the part of the railroad company, but are made at the expense of other people. Donations made by railroad companies should be made from the pockets of their stockholders and not from the pockets of their patrons.

All perquisites of railroad officers should be abolished. When a railway official has become so pompous and consequential that he requires a special car, it is about time to look about for his successor. If we are to have a special-car aristocracy in this country let it be supported at the expense of some other interest.

Another railroad reform is needed on this side of the Atlantic. While the great majority of railroad officials are courteous and considerate, and perform their duties in the most agreeable and acceptable manner, there are a few who do not properly appreciate the relation which they sustain to the patrons of their companies. They are inclined to forget that they are quasi-public servants, and that the public has a right to demand courteous treatment at their hands. All railroad employes should realize that their first duty is to administer to the welfare and the convenience of the public, and each one should have the full protection of the law in his efforts to do so. The American public objects much less to an inferior car than to rude treatment by the companies' agents. Railroad superintendents may justly be blamed for the incivilities of their subordinates. It is their duty to know the character of those whom they employ, and not to retain in their employ those who are derelict in their duty to the public. Nothing offends the feelings of a true American more than the display of a bureaucratic spirit on the part of public servants. Nothing more commends a line of railroad to the public than uniform painstaking kindness and courteous treatment on the part of its employes. It is made the duty of railroad employes of France "to so treat the public as if they were eager to oblige it," and the very first paragraph of the official instructions to the railroad employes of Germany enjoins them "to assume a modest and polite demeanor in their intercourse with the public." In this connection it might be stated that the second paragraph of those instructions positively forbids the acceptance of any gratuity by a railroad employe. If our American sleeping and dining-car companies would give their employes adequate compensation and then adopt and enforce the German rule concerning "tipping," their service would gain popularity and their employes self-respect.

Entrance into the railway service should be by agreement for a definite time, and dismissals and resignations should be governed by rules agreed upon by boards of commissioners and the companies.

The use of the corporation has done so much to secure for capital so large a share of the profits of industrial enterprises, and large salaries also for the officers who manage them, that laborers have been led to organize themselves into associations for like purposes, and ambitious men have not been slow in availing themselves of the advantages afforded them in this new field.

It is right and proper for laborers to organize such associations when they can do so under wise and economical management, for the purpose of securing greater intelligence, better education, higher culture, higher wages, a shorter work-day, and a general ameliorating of their condition, all of which will tend to make them more efficient workmen and also better enable them to resist the aggression of centralized wealth; for, in the absence of organization, the single-handed employe of the great modern employer is comparatively helpless. But if these organizations are allowed to be controlled by ignorant, unreasonable or designing men, who will, at trifling provocations, resort to violent and unlawful measures, they are sure to prove harmful, and a great detriment, instead of a help, to their members, and the sooner they are abandoned the better for all.

Great conflicts are sure to arise between organized capital and organized labor, and they must be settled in a reasonable way, or anarchy will prevail. They cannot be left for headstrong or inconsiderate men representing either side to determine, but the line must be drawn by the public authorities.

Each year affords accumulated evidence of the necessity of extending legal restrictions over the management of the railway business, and the law, as laid down by Judge Ricks to the Ann Arbor strikers last March, in the United States Circuit Court, at Toledo, is undoubtedly correct and will meet with general approval from the public.

He says: