rv.s O ADDRESS “SOME PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS” AT THE Peterborough Men’s Club BY HOWARD ELLIOTT Chairman of the Board and President of THE NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY 9 TOWN HALL, PETERBORO, N. H. July 5, 1915 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/addresssomepreseOOelli Jl16 19 32 | -v P • Some time ago your President, Professor Schofield, asked me to make a talk to yon and I accepted his invita- tion. My family have passed some fifteen summers in this beautiful State of New Hampshire, and, in common with many others, we are much interested in its welfare and prosperity, as well as that of all New England. At times I was in doubt as to whether I could he with you to-day, because of business duties; but I am anxious to do all I can to help in these perplexing times and in the language of your Constitution, “to promote discussion of questions of general interest.” Standing here with beautiful hills and valleys, forests and lakes about us, with everywhere evidences of peace, contentment and prosperity, it is hard to realize that a large part of the civilized world is in a convulsion, the results of which no one can foretell. This upheaval in Europe makes it important for the patriotic and thought- ful citizens of the United States to make sure they are doing their full duty to their country. Where highways cross railroads there are signs which read “Stop — Look — Listen!” It would he a good plan for our Government and people to follow this advice and “Stop” to take account of national assets and liabilities; to “Look” without passion and prejudice at changes and problems that will affect all of us and those that come after us; to “Listen” — not to the words of the discon- tented, querulous and visionary with their patent medi- cine remedies for our troubles, but rather to those that have exercised patience, courage, loyalty, industry and resourcefulness in carrying on the many activities of this country. One hundred and thirty-nine years ago the Liberty Bell rang out the news that the Declaration of Independ- ence had been signed and made good its inscription, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhab- itants thereof.” 3 The Country’s And think what has been accomplished Wonderful since then! From thirteen struggling Growth. colonies with a scattered but sturdy pop- ulation of four millions we have become a united nation of forty-eight States and three territories with a population of one hundred millions. Our national wealth, as reported in 1912, was $187,739,000,000, and it has since wonderfully increased. From a feeble and almost broken and undeveloped country, we have become a world power and the wealthiest on earth. The predic- tions of European statesmen a hundred years ago that when our population reached the one hundred million mark the disintegration of the Republic would begin are not true. The watchwords of the nation, in the words of Lincoln, still are: “With malice toward none; with char- ity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.” We are to strive on and on to build up our country as the bulwark of civilization, progress and humanity. In the history of the world there has been some one nation to take the lead and influence civilization for all time. The world has seen Egypt, Greece, Rome, Spain, France, England all most potential in shaping a course that mankind has followed. Now the finger of destiny points to the United States as the one country to make its mark on civilization for all time. Are we equal to the task? I believe we are if we turn our minds to it and really try; but there are many things to consider and many pitfalls to avoid. New Hampshire and New Eng- land have done great work in upbuilding the nation, and they should and can do more. It may, therefore, be of interest to recall a little of the history of this State. New Hampshire’s New Hampshire got its name because Part in Captain John Mason, one of the two orig- Our Wars. inal proprietors who received the grant of the colony from the Plymouth Company in 1622, was a Hampshire man in England and he named this region for his home county. Her children should not 4 forget the names of Josiali Bartlett, William Whipple and Matthew Thornton, who signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence. On Jane 15, 1776, New Hampshire adopted the first authoritative statement of the purpose to cast off allegiance to Great Britain. The Assembly on June 11 appointed a committee to draft a declaration, which was adopted, as follows : “We do hereby declare that it is the opinion of this Assembly that our delegates at the Continental Congress should be instructed, and these are hereby instructed to join with the other colonies in declaring the thirteen United Colonies a free and independent state, solemnly pledging our faith and honor that we will, on our part, support the measure with our lives and fortunes.” Politically, by this act, and physically at the battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington, New Hampshire proved her loyalty and was of great help at the beginning of the struggle for independence. On December 14-15, 1774, two New Hampshire men, John Sullivan and John Lang- don, captured the fort at New Castle and removed the powder and arms. It was partly with this powder — about one hundred barrels— that the battle of Bunker Hill was won. New Hampshire men fought at Lexington and Con- cord and one of the first to ride to Cambridge and com- mand a regiment was John Stark, the hero of Benning- ton. On May 20, 1775, New Hampshire voted to raise three regiments, and by June 1, 1775, more than 2,000 men were under arms. There were three New Hampshire regi- ments stationed just outside of Boston and New Hamp- shire men under Stark and Reed held the left flank behind the famous fence at the battle of Bunker Hill. Out of 1,137 New Hampshire men in that battle, 107 were killed or wounded. Doctor Samuel Langdon, a New Hampshire man, was then President of Harvard College, and he blessed the troops before the battle. 5 It was Jolm Stark who raised in New Hampshire the little army that went over into Vermont and won the battle of Bennington, where out of 1,750 men, 1,000 were lrora this State. At that fight he made equally famous his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Captain Page of Dun- barton, N. H., whom he called Molly. Thinking of her, he cried, as the British lines advanced, “I’ll gain this vic- tory or Molly Stark will be a widow.” John Langdon’s speech in the Legislature at Exeter before the battle of Bennington is unique. He said: “I have 3,000 dollars in hard money; my plate shall be pledged for as much more ; my seventy hogs- heads of Tobago rum shall be sold for the most they will fetch. These are at the service of the State; if we succeed I shall be remunerated; if not, they will be of no use to me.” John Paul Jones’ first ship, the “Ranger,” was built by Jolm Langdon and fitted out at Portsmouth and most of her officers and men were from this State. During the Revolution New Hampshire maintained three regiments in Washington’s army. For the Mexican War, a company was recruited in Concord in which Franklin Pierce, afterwards President, enlisted. Many non-commissioned officers and privates of Companies C and H of the Ninth Regiment of the Regular Army, part of General Winfield Scott’s expedi- tion, were New Hampshire men. In the Civil War, New Hampshire furnished 31,426 of her sons for the Union cause. Of these 1,538 were killed or died of wounds, 2,541 died of disease and 285 were reported as missing at the end of the war. New Hampshire raised her first regiment in ten days and had her men at Bull Run. One of her regiments, the Second, lost three-fifths of its men at Gettysburg. This brief re- cital shows that New Hampshire has always responded nobly when it became necessary to fight for the nation. 6 Great Men In addition, she lias furnished to the Born in country a large number of notable men, New Hampshire, among them : Daniel Webster, orator and states- man, born in Salisbury, 1782. Charles Anderson Dana, famous editor of the Net v York Sun, born in Hinsdale, 1819. John P. Hale, statesman, born in Rochester, 1806. The first anti-slavery Senator and the pioneer cham- pion of the Free Soil Movement; nominated for the Presidency by the Free Soil Party in 1852. Salmon P. Chase, born in Cornish, 1808, and later Secretary of the Treasury; Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States and presided at the impeachment trial of President Johnson. John A. Dix, born in Boscawen, 1798, Secretary of the Treasury under Buchanan. Later Governor of New York. He gave the famous command, “If anybody attempts to haul down the United States flag shoot him on the spot.” William Pitt Fessenden, born in Boscawen, 1806. Statesman and Secretary of the Treasury under Lin- coln. Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New York Tribune, born in Amherst, 1811. Henry Wilson, born in Farmington, 1812. Vice- President with Grant and famous abolitionist. Franklin Pierce, born in Hillsborough, 1804. Lawyer, soldier and President. Daniel Chester French, bom in Exeter, 1850. Famous sculptor. One of his best known works is that of the Minute Men at Concord. New Hampshire’s most famous woman of later days was Mary Baker G. Eddy, born in Bow. This New Hampshire girl founded the religion of Chris- tian Science, which to-day is represented in every State and in many foreign countries. Her book long ago reached its four hundredth edition. 7 So New Hampshire has furnished a goodly share of strong men and women for the work of developing the whole country — a tribute to the general character of her citizenship. The Among the problems of national irnpor- Transportation tance to be solved, if we are to continue Problem. to advance, is one of particular interest to New England and one in which I am engaged— namely, the transportation problem. This country could not have grown from its four millions to its one hundred millions without transportation facilities. Their proper relations to the nation, State and individual require the thoughtful consideration of all. Cadmus is said to have invented the first alphabet in 1550 B. C. Lord Macaulay speaks of this invention and of transportation as follows : “Of all inventions, the alphabet and the printing press alone excepted, those inventions which abridge distance have done most for the civilization of our species. Every improvement of the means of loco- motion benefits mankind morally and intellectually as well as materially, and not only facilitates the in- terchange of the various productions of nature and art, but tends to remove national and provincial an- tipathies, and to bind together all the branches of the great human family.” When Macaulay wrote that, about 1850, he little real- ized what would be the railroad conditions sixty-five years later. In his time a speed of 12 miles an hour by a railroad train was marvelous. Compare that with trains running 60 and 70 miles an hour on some of the railroads to-day. Locomotives were then very small, weighing from 12 to 20 tons. It would be possible to place the small t}^pe of locomotive then used inside the fire-box of one of the present-day engines. Passenger coaches were flimsy and uncomfortable. No adequate comparison can be made between them and the all-steel, electrically lighted, luxurious coaches of to-dav, which 8 are being provided as rapidly as the roads can get the money with which to buy them. Freight cars were then also very small. As much can be carried in one of the modern freight cars as was hauled in one of the freight trains of twelve cars in the early days of railroading in this country. Most people, however, do not realize the magnitude, complexity and enormous energy of a railroad. They ex- pect it to do its work well and they complain when it does not. It looks simple and easy to see a train passing through the landscape. The railroad is really a very deli- cately adjusted piece of machinery that can quickly be- come inadequate and unsatisfactory, and when out of gear it takes a long time to readjust it. In the United States there were, in 1914, 252,959 miles of railroad, or 8.51 miles for every 100 square miles of territory and one mile of railroad for every 391 people. The total revenues of the roads for that year were $3,047,019,908 and the ex- penses $2,196,754,000, and the balance, $850,265,908, was returned to the people in the shape of taxes, -interest and a limited amount of dividends. The railroads furnish enough passenger transporta- tion in a year to give every man, woman and child in the country a ride of 350 miles, and freight transportation equal to hauling 2,000 pounds of freight 2,887 miles for every person in the United States, as compared with 2,000 pounds carried per person in the United Kingdom 286 miles Austria-Hungary 318 miles France 365 miles Germany 582 miles Billions Paid An interesting and important statement in Wages. of how the railroads of the country enter into the lives of millions of our citizens is made by computations just completed by the Bureau of Railway Economics. The momentous fact is brought out in these computations that from June 30, 1905, to June 30, 1914, inclusive, $11,218,686,516 were paid for wages 9 to an average of 1,611,105 men employed during each of the ten years, as follows : Per Cent. Year Number of Employees Wages 1914. . . 1,695,483 $1,373,422,472 1913. . . 1,815,239 1,373,830,589 1912. . . 1,716,380 1,252,347,697 1911 . . . 1,669,809 1,208,466,470 1910. . . 1,699,420 1,143,725,306 1909 . . . 1,502,823 988,323,694 1908. . . 1,436,275 1,035,437,528 1907. . . 1,672,074 1,072,386,427 1906. . . 1,521,355 930,801,653 1905. . . 1,382,196 839,944,680 of Wages Gross to Gross Kevenue Revenue $3,047,019,908 45.07 3,125,135,798 43.96 2,842,695,382 44.05 2,789,761,669 43.32 2,752,634,153 41.55 2,419,299,638 40.85 2,394,780,410 43.24 2,589,105,578 41.42 2,325,765,167 40.02 2,082,482,406 40.33 The large proportion of gross earnings paid directly to these millions of our citizens is worthy of special at- tention. Those who man the railroads received 40.33 per cent, out of every dollar of gross earnings in 1905 and 45.07 in 1914. They perform arduous and responsible duties and should he well paid; but with increases in pay to the men and improved facilities to the public should come in- creased pay to the railroads, and this has not been the case until the last year when some increases in rates have been permitted. Freight Rates The American roads perform a greater Here and Abroad, work in moving the products of this country than do the roads of any other country and they do it for less. These are the average rates charged for handling 2,000 pounds of freight one mile : United Kingdom 2.39 cents Germany 1.37 cents France 1.30 cents Russia 1.17 cents Austria 1.45 cents Sweden 1.65 cents Norway r 1.60 cents New South Wales 1.76 cents South Australia 1.94 cents United States 7.29 mills 10 There are possibly 1,500,000 individuals holding the securities, in one form or another, of the American rail- roads. They and the employees and their families repre- sent at least 12,000,000 people whose daily bread and but- ter is involved in the success or failure of this great American transportation machine, or about one-eighth of the population. The par of the outstanding capital is $20,247,301,257 or between one-nintli and one-tenth of the estimated national wealth. In New England the owners and employees of its transportation lines with their fam- ilies represent at least 700,000 people, or more than one- tenth of the total population. These people are your neighbors and friends, and their rights, comforts and feelings must he carefully considered in any discussion as to the best method of solving the New England trans- portation problem. To quote again from Lord Macaulay, this great piece of machinery “ * * * benefits mankind morally and in- tellectually, as well as materially, * * * tends to re- move national and provincial antipathies and to bind together all the branches of the great human family.” A very grave question to-day is whether under pres- ent conditions the railroads can he ready to serve the people when the next great uplift in business comes. It is not only a material question but a social and moral one. Speaking recently of the railroad problem of to-day, Pro- fessor Seligman, of Columbia University, said: “To com- bine the maintenance of reasonable private profits with the legitimate demands of social progress is the railway problem of to-day.” Railroads in To-day from one cause or another more Receivers’ than 30,000 miles of railroads with se- Hands. curities of $1,815,900,000 are in the hands of receivers and several other great railroads are on the ragged edge. In 1896, when times were so very bad, there were about the same num- ber of miles and the same amount of capitalization in the hands of receivers. This, it is needless to say, is not a healthy condition for the country. 11 Notwithstanding all the complaints made against our railroads the fact remains that they pay the highest wages and sell their transportation at the lowest prices and furnish more per dollar invested than any railroads of any country in the world. We should compliment the railroads for this and be proud of them. Instead, of late years, we have attacked them and have criticized this wonderful transportation machinery while those in other lands have realized that the work of the American rail- road builder, owner and employee has been marvelous; and this in spite of the mistakes incident to the great task of building and rebuilding 250,000 miles of railroad since the Civil War. Foreign Here are several criticisms from notable Comment on foreign authors : Our Railroads. Louis Paul Dubois, in “Cliemins de Fer aux Etats Unis,” Paris, 1896: “The marvelous progress achieved by the trans- portation industry of the United States is explained by the essential role the railroads have played in the development of the country and by the prepondera- ting influence exercised by them on the economic life of the country. It is truly the railroad which creates the country and it is to the railroad that Americans owe the prodigious increase in the national develop- ment. And they owe to it another thing. In their immense territories, where natural resources are so varied, the progress of the transportation industry has assured each region the maximum utilization of its proper forces and the localizing of each natural production where it will encounter the most favor- able conditions. The extraordinary development of American railroads in a half a century is no less re- markable than the establishment of America’s colossal empire of economic and financial power. And this result has been the work of private and free initiative.” 12 W. M. Acworth, English economic writer : “It has always been my opinion that in actual economy of operation the railways of the United States are first in the world. In the number of tons per car, cars per train; in the fullest utilization of locomotives; in the obtaining of the greatest meas- ure result for each unit of expenditure, they are not equalled by the railways of any other nation.” Pierre Leroy-Beaulieu, in “The United States in the Twentieth Century, ’ ’ 1907 : “It is indeed not too much to say that were it not for the railways three-quarters of the immense terri- tory of the United States, far removed from the sea and insufficiently served by rivers and lakes, would still be little more than desert and would be scarcely more influential in the economic life of the world than was Siberia before the construction of the Trans- Siberian Railway began to galvanize it into activity.” Claude Cassimir-Perrier, in “The Political and Par- liamentary Review,” of Paris, 1912: “In no other part of the world have the circum- stances of the formation of railroad lines had such a profound influence upon a country’s development. This enormous country, where everything is in pro- portion to its extent, contains to-day 400,000 kilo- meters of railroad, that is to say, 30,000 kilometers more than all Europe; and one company alone tra- verses such an extent of territory that it takes an express train more than four days to run over its principal line.” High American Some impartial American critics realize Writers on the situation and I quote from them: Our Railroads. Merrill W. Caines, Yale Review, 1910 : “In population we have one-sixteenth of the world’s total and one-fourth that of Europe. Freight 13 transportation per capita in the United States is thirty times the world’s average and nine times Europe’s. With inland coal, iron and grain, the land-bound cities scattered across a continent, we live by means of railroads we have built. In our ma- terial development they have always been, and always will be, the prime force. The reclaimers of waste places, the builders of cities, the awakeners of opportunity, to our growth as a nation their growth is still essential.” Simon Sterne, “Encyclopedia of Political Science”: “Of all the factors that have contributed during this century to the growth of wealth, to the increase of material comfort, and to the diffusion of informa- tion and knowledge, the railway plays the most im- portant part. It has widened the field for the divi- sion of employment; it has cheapened production, it has promoted exchange and has facilitated intercom- munication. In its aggregate it represents a larger investment of capital than any other branch of human activity ; and the service that it renders and has ren- dered to society is, both from industrial and com- mercial points of view, greater than is rendered by any other single service to which men devote their activities.” H. S. Haines, “Problems in Railroad Regulation”: “Consider the magnitude of this system (Ameri- can railroads). Its mileage about equals the ac- cepted distance of the moon from the earth. Its em- ployees number about one out of every twelve of our adult male population. The capital invested in it is estimated to represent one-eiglitli of the total wealth of the country, and its annual revenues to be three times those of the Federal Government. We should recognize that this system has not been super-added to long existing means of internal transportation. It has not superseded other national highways, for there were none others before it. From the Atlantic 14 Coast, hemmed in by almost continuous ranges of mountains, it opened the way to the granaries of the Mississippi Valley and of the Western prairies, and unlocked the treasure vaults hidden deep be- neath the Rocky Mountains. It has reversed the order of nature by diverting the course of trade from those extensive regions, against the mighty currents flowing to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to the Gulf of Mexico, and has deflected that course to our At- lantic ports. It has undone the work of Vasco da Gama and of Magellan, and has given to the route across the North American continent that commerce with the Orient which the Portuguese won from Marco Polo and the Venetians.” Prof. Emory R. Johnson, in “American Railway Transportation ’ ’ : “In 1880 there were 93,296 miles of railroad in the United States. In 1890 there were 163,597 ; 70,000 miles of railroad were built in a single decade. This marvelous achievement is unparalleled in the economic history of any other country in the world. Within ten years the people of the United States built as many miles of railroad as the people of the three leading countries had constructed in fifty years. With the exception of agriculture, there is no single industry that equals the railroads in the amount of invested capital and in the value of the annual busi- ness done.” The Comptroller of the Currency said in his recent annual report that there were 11,000,000 depositors in savings hanks with $5,000,000,000 to their credit. Much of this large sum is invested by these banks in railroad securities, so that those 11,000,000 people have a very vital interest in having the railroad industry sound and profitable. The conservation of this industry is vital to the country, and owners and managers should he helped rather than hindered in their honest efforts to make it more useful and efficient. 15 Are the Rail- The time at our disposal in which to pre- roads Prepared pare for the additional growth of the for the Country’s country is short, for can anyone believe Further Growth? that the United States, with 100,000,000 people, with $10,000,000,000 of new agri- cultural wealth produced each year, and nearly $18,000,000,000 in banks and savings institutions, is to standstill 1 ? Of course, it is not. It is going ahead again, and people will want coal, iron, steel, lumber and mer- chandise and manufactured articles moved in greater quantities in the next ten years than ever before. To do this transportation must be available, and the machinery for producing it cannot be created over night, but must be prepared ahead of time. Why is it that this piece of machinery, which all admit is so necessary to the welfare of the country, which im- partial critics think is such a wonderful work, which represents so large a part of the wealth and population of the country and is so closely interwoven with all of our activities, has been looked upon with suspicion and dis- favor? Whenever a new railroad has been projected the people have welcomed the promoters and offered all kinds of inducements — but when the road is built they forget that it must be nourished in order to live. One reason for this suspicion and disfavor, perhaps, is a lack of understanding on the part of the public as to the magnitude of the enterprise and the difficulties of suc- cessful administration. Much has been written and said by many to try and explain it. In the last ten years I have sent out over 1,000,000 pamphlets pointing out the facts, and others have done similar work. Interesting Take the New Haven Road alone. Here Data on the are a few interesting figures : New Haven. The ra q s ^ track contain 70,000 more tons of steel than is in all the United States battleships. To make them would require iron from a 400-ton 16 blast furnace working five years, five months and twenty-five days. The rails placed end to end would go 39 per cent, around the earth at the equator. The ties in the track, placed end to end, would go 83 per cent, around the earth at the equator. It would take 45,800 acres of timber land of the average found in Connecticut ten years to produce this amount of lumber. Each hour freight cars move on this railroad 28,070 miles. Passenger cars 9,564 miles; locomo- tives 2,794 miles. The road employs about 36,000 people and pays out annually $30,540,000 in wages. It furnishes freight and passenger transporta- tion every day to about 300,000 people, and in addi- tion thereto, handles a very large amount of mail, parcel post and express. And yet this New Haven Eoad, large and important as it is, represents in earnings only about one-fiftieth of the railroad business of the United States. The Railroad The railroad is a great manufacturing a Great plant, turning out its product, transpor- Manufacturing tation, for the benefit of all other manu- Plant. facturers and people. The transporta- tion business of New England represents in round figures a billion dollars in capital, while the man- ufacturing business represents $2,670,000,000, and they are absolutely interdependent. One cannot succeed with- out the success of the other. Another reason for the suspicion and disfavor is that in the struggle to build railroads and to make fortunes in the process a few men — and only a very few of the thou- sands of high-minded men in the business — did things that are not now considered right and proper — and were not right and proper then — but were in accord with the accepted spirit of the times. Similar practices were in vogue in other fields of human endeavor. Railroad men are not more perfect than other business men. They are 17 drawn from all ranks of society and are influenced by the trend of public opinion. In spite of all, however, a great work was done and the railroads, as a whole, are worth to-day to themselves and to the public, all their capitali- zation. I believe a fair valuation of the properties, fol- lowing the principles laid down in various decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, will show this to be the case. This wonderful machine that serves the country should not be condemned, crippled and rendered unable to prepare for the future because of a limited amount of unwise financing and unsuccessful manage- ment in the past. Let me quote from a writer of the present day. He says : “Let’s get down to common sense. The railways have done more toward making America than any other one thing. It is time they had their due and instead of baiting them and talking foolish talk about taking them away from their owners the Government should grant them any request within reason.” Capital Another of our problems is that of the Organizations. proper treatment of capital organiza- tions, or corporations. The great rail- roads that are such efficient servants of the nation could not have been constructed without them. In 1800 tlie total number of corporations in this country was 225, and to-day there are 350,000. They are necessary to carry on the great business of the United States. Because they were a new and untried method of doing the business of the country some errors were made. Men obtained great power, and in their intense desire to be successful some of the owners and managers demanded efficiency without enough consideration of the human unit and profits re- gardless of the public weal. This policy created trouble, but owners and managers are awake to the situation to-day and realize that they must pay close attention to their duty to the public. Large and strong corporations, wisely managed, are 18 absolutely necessary, and bad ones are gradually being eliminated. A few strong and ambitious men used the great powers of corporations unwisely, and as a result the country was aroused against them and all sorts of laws were passed in an effort to correct evils, and, as is often the case, some of the remedies were worse than the disease. There are signs now that we are approaching the time when the country will obtain the full benefit of the cor- porate form of doing business, without the evils. Labor Another great problem before the coun- Organizations. try is that of the labor organizations. They are a part of our complex social machinery, but they have not yet found their place. In the struggle to create the great railroads and the great corporations the relation of labor to them was not, at times, carefully enough considered. As a result, laboring men united, and little by little the great labor organiza- tions were developed and they now have very large powers. But just as the people took notice of the errors of the capital organizations, or so-called trusts, when they believed that they were ignoring the public welfare and passed the various regulatory measures in an effort to eliminate the bad and retain the good, so will the conn- try in time consider the problem of the labor organiza- tions and correct any errors in them. The great leaders of capital, as I say, obtained tre- mendous power which has been curtailed and regulated by law. The time will come when the great unregulated powers now exercised by the leaders of the great labor organizations will be regulated. I believe the majority of our people feel that when a man earns his living by working for a public service corporation he enters into a moral contract to do that work upon which the whole people depend until he is mustered out of his place in some orderly manner; that he owes that duty to society just as much as a soldier owes a duty to remain in the army until he is released in a lawful manner. I further believe that sooner or later some plan will be evolved by 19 public opinion that will bring about a satisfactory adjust- ment of this great and complicated labor problem. The Deluge of Another present-day problem is that of Legislation. legislation. Because of some mistakes by railroad owners and managers, and by those engaged in other forms of corporate business, the suspicion and disfavor, of which I have spoken, devel- oped, and a class of critics has grown up in this country who have made a living by agitation and by advocating unnecessary legislation. Probably a large number of the alleged evils would have gradually corrected themselves and the country would be far better off with less instead of more laws. For example, in 1913 1,395 bills were introduced into the Legislatures of the various States and 230 became laws, all relating to the details of practical railroad operation, most of which would be better left to the men trained in the business. There are about 4,000 legislators, National and State, and during the 1913 sessions of the National and State Legislatures 43,403 pages of laws were enacted, covering 20,510 chapters and 151,083 heads or sub-heads. During this same period there were 28,000 decisions by courts of appeal, and these decisions have the force of statutory law. With this deluge of legislation affecting all kinds of business it is not surprising that the country staggers and cannot go ahead with constructive work. A well-known Western lawyer, in a recent address at Peoria, 111., spoke on this subject, and said: “We need less investigations. Less law. “Everything and everybody is being investi- gated. This espionage creates great unrest and busi- ness disturbance and disorder. It produces equal dissatisfaction among the masses. Every industry is on the grill. These conditions have not lowered the price of commodities nor benefited the people, but they have hurt commerce and industry. 20 “All this is a great waste — waste of time, waste of energy — and what is worse, destruction of con- fidence. The confidence of the masses is easily shat- tered, and it is difficult to be restored.” Patriotism. What can the patriotic citizen do to help? I believe enough in the latent loyalty of the American people to think that should we be unfor- tunate enough to have another foreign war the country would be aflame from one end to the other, and that all would rally to the support of the flag and live up to Stephen Decatur’s sentiment: “Our country, in her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always he in the right, but our country, right or wrong.” War is spectacular and appeals to the imagination of the young and adventurous, and it is to he hoped that we will ever train the youth to revere the flag, respect the Federal authority and when necessary to fight for the country. We must give evidence of loyalty at all times, and regardless of the great struggle of life and the desire for material gain, realize that we have a flag and country and Government which needs our thoughtful affection, sentiment and support, not only on the Fourth of July and Washington’s Birthday, hut every day of the year. We should not forget, in the hurry and worry of daily life, that we owe a duty at all times to serve the country that has made possible living conditions which are un- equalled by any in the world. The very fact that our material progress has been so great should mean that patriotic men should put self aside at least part of the time and use their energies to evoke a sane public opinion that will solve some problems that are even more difficult of solution than that of war. We have the greatest educational system ever devel- oped, in our public and private schools and colleges, and the men receiving the benefit of this system should be leaders of sound and sane thought and in patriotic effort. 21 It is said that three little hooks are carried by the German soldier — his prayer-book, his pay-book and his song-book. It is also said that an English woman excused herself for her sudden pallor on hearing that war was declared with Germany, saying: “I am not afraid of their numbers, nor of their guns, nor of their perfect or- ganization, but I am afraid of their songs.” In other words, the loyal spirit of the Germans in the love of their Fatherland has been kept alive by the singing of their songs. There was a naval parade in New York recently, and patriotism was evident. Thousands of New York’s cos- mopolitan population showed great enthusiasm, and yet it has sometimes been said that the foreign-born popula- tion of our country look upon the Government and people as purely commercial. This may not be correct. A number of years ago it was suggested to the late Edward G. Gilmore, owner of the Academy of Music in New York, that the orchestra play at the close of every performance either “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “Columbia.” “No,” replied Gilmore, “the Academy of Music is in the center of the foreign-born population in New York, at East Fourteenth Street and Third Avenue. There are nearly a million Jews, Poles, Slavs, Italians, Hungarians and Greeks, and they have no interest in the country; they come here simply for what they can make out of it, and they only attend my performances because the price is cheap.” Gilmore was urged to make the experiment, and did so. At every performance those in the Academy rose and cheered the national patriotic songs as the orchestra played them. Gilmore in his last illness regretted that he had not begun this custom years before. Another incident refers to George M. Cohan, the the- atrical manager and playwright in New York City, who began his career by waving and having his fellow-players wave the American flag in every play introduced in his various houses in New York. Cohan made a fortune, but in this matter his patriotism was the actuating motive, and he wished to show, just as Gilmore did, that the 22 people of the great city of New York, representing all tlie nations of the earth, are Americans and patriotic. All Must Be We should speak only of Americans, be- Americans. cause no true American is a hyphenated American, and many of the Americans born of American parents, whose ancestors for a hundred years or more have been Americans, should take the lead in patriotism and in patriotic action, and familiarize themselves with our patriotic songs. Those who have been fortunate enough to inherit the sentiment and traditions of the native-born American, with native-born ancestry, should, in their daily lives, do all they can to set a good example for our new citizens, of sane and simple living, of care and economy, of active and efficient work, and of loyal and unselfish support to the country. If we do that we will find a constantly in- creasing growth of real patriotism and an entire disap- pearance of any class of Americans who put a qualifying word before the name. Would it not be a good plan to have patriotic songs played every Saturday on the village green or in the city square? To have the salute of the flag a regular part of the civic duty once a week? So that the foreigners who come here to make their homes and the children of all our citizens may see an actual demonstration of the Federal authority and learn to love and revere the flag that is a symbol of it. The cosmopolitan character of our people is a prob- lem, not only from a governmental but also from a ma- terial standpoint, but we should not be afraid of it and we should not magnify it. Our Large One person in every seven in the United Foreign-Born States was born outside its borders, the Population. total of our foreign-born population being 13,500,000, which is about equal to the population of Belgium and Holland, considering Bel- gium before the war, or to that of Norway, Denmark and Sweden combined. 23 There are one-sixth as many Canadians here as in Canada, and one-half million more Germans than in Berlin. There are enough Irish to make four Dublins and enough Italians to make three Homes. 5,250,000 im- migrants came to and remained in the United States in the ten years ending 1910. The total that decade was 8,500,000, hut 3,250,000 returned home. Because of these large figures there is a feeling that our foreign-born population is rapidly overcoming in numbers the native-born. The census figures, however, show the contrary, and were as follows : Per cent, of native-born to total population : 1860. 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 86.8 .85.6 .86.7 ,85.3 .86.4 ,85.3 The number of those born in the United States of United States parents has decreased somewhat, for the percentages of this class were : 1870 71.7 1880 70.2 1890 ■ 67.1 1900 65.5 1910 64.6 On the other hand, the percentage of foreign-born in the country has not changed much. The percentages of these to the total population were : 1860 13.2 1870 14.4 1880 13.3 1890 14.7 1900 13.6 1910 14.7 This country has been called “the melting pot of the nations,” and these figures indicate that it is doing its work. 24 Americanization I am a firm believer in the Americaniza- Day Movement, tion Day movement. Over fifty mayors of onr larger cities have appointed Mayor’s Committees as part of the national movement to make Independence Day “Americanization Day.” This movement is a patriotic call to all citizens, American-born and foreign-born alike, adults and children, to rally to American ideals, purposes and common interests of many people united into one nation. These mayor’s committees represent the city govern- ments, naturalization officials, boards of education, city clubs, women’s patriotic and civic organizations, social agencies, patriotic societies, and benevolent and fraternal organizations of foreign-born residents. These commit- tees arrange citizenship receptions for newly naturalized citizens and a national Americanization Day Committee assists these mayor’s committees. Speakers all over this land are to-day emphasizing the purpose of this move- ment, as follows: That every foreign-speaking person in America should learn English by attending the public schools, be- cause the English language is the master key to American opportunities and life and the first step to real citizen- ship; that every illiterate emigrant should learn to read and write, so that he can read American newspapers and attend personally to his business matters; and that adults and children, native and foreign-born, be given civic training in both evening and day schools, so that every- one in our country will understand the functions and principles of our Government. The President of the United States, speaking recently to a large assemblage of newly naturalized citizens of this country, said : “If you come into this great nation, as you have come, voluntarily seeking something that we have to give, all that we have to give is this: We cannot ex- empt you from work. No man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. I sometimes think he is for- tunate if he has to work only with his hands and not 25 with his head. It is very easy to do what other people give you to do, but it is very difficult to give other people things to do. We cannot exempt you from work. We cannot exempt you from the strife and heart-breaking burdens of the struggle of the day — that is common to mankind everywhere. We cannot exempt you from the loads that you must carry. We can only make them light by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the spirit of hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of justice.” With all these complicated problems confronting us, it is our duty to ourselves, to our families, to all associ- ated with us in business, to our country — to be utterly loyal every hour of our lives. This is our plain duty as citizens of the greatest republic in history. All must be patriotic in this land of opportunity, patriotic to its insti- tutions and loyal to advance its commercial supremacy. So let us one and all on this day consider the impor- tance of loyalty to the country which gives us the oppor- tunity to live and strive and work, and remember what Webster said in his Bunker Hill oration : “Let our object be our country, our whole coun- try and nothing but our country, and, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever!” 26