MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



15 



ASKS FAIR TREATflENT 



FOR RAILROADS. 



President A. H. Jolinc, of the Missouri, 

 Kansas & Texas railroad, in his annual report 

 to the stockholders said in part 'The Mis- 

 souri, Kansas & Texas has produced no pluto- 

 crats, as far as I know its history. No one 

 connected with it has ever been guilty of 

 enormously increasing the output of stock 

 and bonds in order to lure an innocent pub- 

 lic into incautious investment. Disregarding 

 for the moment the question whether that 

 innocent public which gambles and speculates 

 for an advance is especially deserving of pa- 

 rental and indulgent consideration and what 

 the government has to do with their specu- 

 lations any more than it has to do with 

 their pitching of pennies or their playing of 

 bridge passes my comprehension I assert 

 that the managers of this road have never 

 done anything to delude anybody or to get 

 anything out of anybody to which they were 

 not fully entitled. 



'Credit is the cornerstone and foundation 

 of all business; and when you have the cruel 

 and unthinking hammer of the labor, unions 

 striking you on the one side and the reckless 

 and unprincipled hammer of the political 

 demagogue striking you even more merci- 

 'lessly on the other side what becomes of 

 your credit? I am not going to waste time in 

 discussing the reasons for the prevailing in- 

 justice to railroads; I have my own ideas, but 

 they may not accord with yours. It profits us 

 little to argue academically about causes when 

 we are face to face with facts, and the prob- 

 lem is not what produced them, but how we 

 shall deal with them. 



"Xo doubt under government ownership 

 with politicians in charge of our roads the 

 operation of our lines would be ideal; there 

 would never be any accidents, any man who 

 wanted a car could have it just when and 

 where he wanted it, and keep it as long as 

 he wanted to; everyone could have a train 

 start at his favorite time and stop whenever 

 he wanted to get off; everyone could have 

 his own particular freight carried to just 

 the place it was intended for and delivered at 

 the moment, without reference to any condi- 

 tions of weather, track or traffic, and as re- 

 sult large dividends would be paid to the pub- 

 lic out of the public's own pocket. Our ex- 

 perience with the operation of government 

 conducted enterprises, here and in foreign 

 countries, tell us that it would all be as I 

 have said. 



"I am obliged to take issue with William J. 

 Hryan on the proposition that the public has 

 shown no disposition to reduce railroad earn- 

 ings to a point which would deny a reasonable 

 return. The public, at least so far as it is rep- 

 resented in the legislatures, ha sshown exact- 

 ly that disposition, and as long ago as the 

 Granger agitation it was necessary to invoke 

 the aid of the supreme court of the United 

 States in order to check that very disposition. 

 The recent enactment of laws restricting the 

 passenger rate to two cents per mile, with- 

 out regard to any conditions, either as to 

 territory or population, making the same rate 

 for the crowded states of Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania and the sparsely settled states of the 

 west, testify to this disposition much more 

 strongly that any witness who, like Mr. Bryan, 

 does not appear to have given the subject 

 any intelligent attention can testify against it. 



"I take issue with him also on the proposi- 

 tion that the trouble is that the railroads 

 have "watered the stock and have compelled 

 the public to pay dividends and interest upon 

 fictitious capitalization.' That may be Mr. 

 Bryan's belief, and it is the belief of a great 

 many other badly informed persons. If it be 

 true, and I doubt it, that the public has been 

 compelled to pay interest and dividends on 

 fictitious capitalization to any appreciable ex- 

 tent what is the fact in regard to ourselves? 

 We have, in round numbers, $70,000,000 of 



stock, $13,000,000 of preferred and $63,000,000 

 of common. In seventeen years of adminis- 

 tration since the reorganization, we have paid 

 so far just $520,000 of dividends, or 4 per 

 cent on the preferred stock for one year. 

 The amount of money wrested from the in- 

 nocent public in order to pay dividends on our 

 common stock may easily be calcuated it is 

 not as much as one cent." 



Mr. Joline suggested further that taking 

 away a railroad from its owners at the cost , 

 of reproducing its plant would be as unjust THE STATE REVIEW wants reliable subscnp- 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING. 

 Advertising in the classified col- 

 umns of the "State Review" 

 will be inserted at the rate of 7 

 cents per agate line. 



Help Wanted. 



tion agents in all parts of Michigan. Liberal 

 commission. Address State Review, 1406 Ma- 

 jestic Bldg., Detroit. 



I as taking away a man's business and good 

 I will built up by years of labor and paying 

 him only the cost of his store and stock. 



"If a man or a set of men go into a new BOOKKEEPER and general office work; sales- 

 state or country struggling against all sorts man f or gent ' s furnishing. 79 Home Bank, De- 

 of obstacles, physical and financial, and sue- troit. 

 ceed at last in completing the construction of " 



a railway, in furnishing it with suitable equip- COLLECTOR Experienced collector, with best 

 nient, in providing it with an efficient oper- j f references, wanted at once; good money for 



right man. Business Men s Credit Exchange, 

 32 j Hammond Bldg., Detroit. 



ating force, in developing the neighboring ! 

 country in such a way as to build up great in- 



dustries and business, will any man with an YOUNG MAN, good habits and scholar, position 



ordinary sense of fairness undertake to say 

 that he or they will be fully compensated by 

 the payment to him or them of what it would 

 cost under changed conditions brought about 



I largely by the original builders to rebuild an- 



1 other railroad in the same place? 



to keep cost and material in sheet metal works. 

 W. J. Burton Co., 164 Earned St. west, Detroit. 



Business Opportunities. 



"It will be the policy of this company, so ! BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Men of business 



far as I may have anything to do with it, 

 to resist by all reasonable and legitimate 

 methods the enactment of laws which are 

 unjust and unfair; to bring them, if enacted, 

 ! before the courts for construction and for de- 

 i termination as to their validity and constitu- 

 | tionality, but to obey them honestly and faith- 

 fully, if they are ultimately declared to be 

 I valid, even if it leads to insolvency and a re- 

 i ceiver. It is useless to resort to petty methods 

 j of retaliation; they are only irritating and im- 

 potent. We may as well make up our minds 

 thai if the people of this country have made 



interested in a new field for making money will 

 find in our proposition what they are seeking. 

 We have a new plan in the Mail Order line that 

 will please those seeking a good investment 

 with large profits. A fortune for the right 

 person. The F. H. Alden Co., 168 E. Fourth 

 St., Cincinnati, O. 



FOR SALE or will exchange for good real es- 

 tate, furniture and undertaking business in good 

 town in Gratiot county, doing good business; 

 will inventorv about $3,000. Montney & Jones, 

 49 Hodges Bldg., Detroit. 



up their minds to destroy our property and ; Ip YOU WANT a business that will pay several 



the courts have decided that they have the 

 right to do so we must submit. But I can 

 not believe that in -any country which calls 

 itself free and enlightened such a thing can 

 ever come to pass." 



thousand dollars annually, start a mail order 

 business; we furnish everything necessary; only 

 few dollars required. Catalog and particulars 

 free. Milburn-Hicks, 708 Pontiac Bldg., Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



Ludington's long-cherished dream of a stone RESIDENT MANAGER wanted in each city or 



town to represent large manufacturer of com- 

 plete line high-grade automobiles ; must invest 

 small amount of money, which is amply secured: 

 good salary, expenses and commission to de- 

 sirable party with Al references. Send applica- 

 tion and references to our general manager, H. 

 L. Palmer, 46 Dcv ishire St., Boston. 



road to Hamlin lake, the mecca for Chicago 

 summer resorters, is at last to be realized. The 

 route selected will cross Lincoln lake, near 

 Epworth Heights, and will proceed directly 

 north to the Gallic resort at Hamlin lake. 

 Lincoln lake at the point where the road will 

 cross is about 775 feet across, but it will be 

 filled in with sand as far as possible from each 

 shore and a bridge of perhaps 200 feet span 

 put in. The length of the road will be three 

 and one-half miles. 



Real Estate. 



DIRECTORY OF CONTRAC- 

 TORS. 



The following list of contractors have 

 built Michigan State Reward Roads in 

 a satisfactory manner: 



GENTLEMAN'S country home of near 30 acres 

 in Bloomfield hills, on Orchard Lake gravel 

 road, near Pontiac; 10 minutes' walk to electric 

 cars to Detroit; solid brick, 12 rooms, with 

 every modern, up-to-date city convenience; can 

 be occupied winter and summer ; on high ele- 

 vation ; splendid drainage ; close to bank of 

 beautiful lake ; orchard, fruits, flowers, etc., in 

 season ; other buildings ; a delightful, restful 

 and retired home to one able to buy such a 

 home. Price $16,000. HOOD, 27 and 28 Cleland 

 bldg., Detroit. 



Gust Freeden, Norway, Michigan, 



General Contractor, Macadam Roads, FARM FOR S ALE,-On account of old age, 



Bridges, Culverts, Etc. 



Charles L. Weil, Detroit, Mich. 



616 UNION TRUST BUILDING, 



Consulting Engineer and Contractor. 



Fred Rankert, Mishawaka, Indiana 



Macadam Roads, Bridges, Culverts, Etc 



G. S. Germain & Son, Port Huron, 

 Michigan. 



Contractors, Roads, Bridges & Grading. 



365 acres, part or all of it, about 100 acres 

 in cultivation, well located; three miles from 

 county seat, \ l /2 miles from smaller town, 

 with canning factory, railroad crossing one 

 corner of farm; a young orchard; crops 

 good, climate fine; price reasonable; tele- 

 phone in house. P. T. JACOBSEN, Erin, 

 Tenn., R. F. D. No. 4. 



Agents Wanted. 



A GOOD subscription agent wanted in every town 

 in Michigan for the State Review. Liberal 

 commission.. State Review, 1406 Majestic 

 bldg., Detroit. 



