THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV 175 



But, seriously, gentlemen, you men represent the great wealth of 

 Iowa. You represeat the thirty-five millions of broad, fertile acres that 

 make this state great and prosperous. In a rather humble capacity, I 

 represent one of the railroads that serves you. It has been stated a great 

 many times that we have ten thousand miles of railroad here in Iowa. 

 Our population is comparatively sparse. We have only about 215 men 

 for each mile of railroad. And when you come to think of the business 

 that the railroads do for you here in Iowa, I want to say to you that it 

 is largely interstate. Mr. Thorne suggested, and there is, a great strug- 

 gle going on now as to whether the United States of America, with the 

 great Interstate Commerce Commission, shall control the railroads, or 

 whether there will be that constant clashing and that serious question 

 all the time as to whether this is local or whether it is interstate, but I 

 want you to think just a moment of Iowa. 



The local freight business in Iowa does not amount to ten per cent of 

 the business that the railroads do here. Why? The whole state of Iowa 

 is engaged in practically the same business. We are all in the agricul- 

 tural business. Every county raises a surplus. No one county sells corn 

 to another county in Iowa. No one county sells cattle to another county 

 in Iowa. The truth of it is that the great products of Iowa go on these 

 long interstate journeys. Now here is the serious problem. I don't claim 

 that I am any better than anybody else, but simply" because I represent 

 a railroad, I want to stand with other people and be ranked as a good 

 citizen. I have got just as many children as Harry Wallace — just ex- 

 actly. I don't know but what if we live ten years, I will beat him. 

 (Laughter.) We are both of us industrious and both of us red-headed. 

 Why should we not succeed? (Laughter.) But what I plead for is a 

 little better acquaintance. I say, here is the North Western railroad, with 

 1,700 miles of road, here in your state. We are assessed for taxation at 

 fifty millions of dollars. Isn't it necessary that someone shall stand for 

 that property and try to protect it? Should I be criticized if I go before 

 the legislature with my friend Wallace, for whom I not only have a very 

 sincere affection but a high regard? There was a time when Mr. Thorne 

 and I did not know each other very well, but we are getting better ac- 

 quainted as we go along, and we are getting to be mutual respecters of 

 each other. Why, when this Corn Belt Meat Producers Association came 

 into existence, I think Jimmy Ryan was your first secretary. And Jimmy 

 came down and spent about ten days, and went up to Fort Dodge. Some- 

 body said to him, "Jimmy, how did you get along up there?" He says, 

 "Fine." "Did you meet the railrbad fellows?" "Oh, yes," he said, "I got 

 pretty well acquainted with them." "What kind of fellows are they?" 

 "Oh," he says, "they aren't so bad. Why, there's that fellow Davis that 

 represents the North Western. He is so dog-gone ugly he is fascinating." 

 (Laughter.) So if we could just get a little better acquainted, if you 

 could understand the railroad business a little better, if we could under- 

 stand your business a little bit better, there is no reason why we should 

 not get along better together. 



I undertake to say that the relations between the people of the state 

 of Iowa and the railroads were never fairer, never cleaner, and should be 



