426 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



operation during the war? Please hold up your hands. (Everybody 

 apparently raised their hands.) How many are opposed. (No one held 

 up his hand.) I believe the record should show that unanimous. I would 

 like to ask, if government' operation is not practical, or is not accepted 

 by the powers that be, how many would favor a government loan to an 

 advance in the freight rates? And how many are opposed? All but two 

 in the room are in favor of the government loan. (These two later 

 changed their vote, not having understood the form of the question.) 



Gentlemen, I am mighty pleased to know that you have sustained our 

 position. It was absolutely the most critical moment in the history of 

 the American transportation system and we had to act quickly; and we 

 have not found it necessary to reverse our position, as the railroads have. 



Now I am going to talk to you in regard to whether the railroads need 

 more money for operation, and I am going to review these exhibits 

 briefly. I have here facts which can not be successfully controverted 

 by any man in the United States, Vv'hether he be railroad president or 

 commissioner. 



First I have here an exhibit in which we have traced the earnings 

 and expenses of the American railroads as a whole, and it shows the net 

 revenue for the fiscal year 1917 — ending June 30, 1917 — was greater 

 than in any other year in the history of American railroads. If that 

 has not sunk in on your consciousness, I wish it would, and then when 

 anybody tells you that net revenues have been going down, you can 

 tell him that he is a liar. The net revenues of American railroads in 

 the fiscal year of 1916, as that exhibit shows, were $300,000,000 greater 

 than in the previous year, and $200,000,000 greater than in any other 

 year in the history of our railroads. The fiscal year of 1916 was the 

 most phenomenal in the history of the United States. In the eastern 

 district Ihe net revenues in 1916 were $460,000,000 approximately. That 

 is $120,000,000 greater than in 1913, which was the next largest year. 

 That is almost 40 per cent greater than in any other year in their history. 

 These were the net earnings on railrqads serving almost half of the 

 nation, to far as mileage and population are concerned. That was a 

 phenomenal year, a "peak" year. You can't have peak years every year. 

 There wouldn't be such a thing as a peak year if you had one every year. 

 There is an upward and downward tendency in the revenues of every 

 business and every factory on this wide earth. In the eastern district, 

 the fiscal year 1917 showed a larger net revenue than any other year in 

 the history of the railroads with the exception of 1916; and every month 

 since the ending of the fiscal year 1917 has shown a larger net revenue in 

 the eastern district than the corresponding month of any previous year 

 in their history back of 1916, the phenomenal year. 



Now, if there is any man in the room who questions these statements, 

 I would .'ike to have him step up here and look at the exhibit. It has 

 not been attacked from any source; it is true. 



I have here in my hand an exhibit offered by the railroads themselves 

 in the eastern case, and I just want to show you that according to their 

 own exhibit, in which thirty-eight railroad systems have consolidated their 

 figures, the net operating income of 1917 for the fiscal year ending June 



