offered every possible inducement to capital. The result was
a great deal of unprofitable construction and immense losses to
the promoters.

These able men saw that there was no possibility of railway
construction, operation, and efficiency, with a continuance of
unrestricted competition. It has taken from 1874 until 1920 to
educate the railway men, the shippers, and the government to a
realization of the fact that transportation facilities required
for the public necessities can only be had by the freest operations
and the strictest government regulations; that the solution of
the problem is a system so automatic that public arbitration shall
decide the justice of the demands of labor, and rates be advanced
to meet the decision, and that public authority also shall take
into consideration the other factors of increased expenses and
adequate facilities for the railroads, and that maintenance and
the highest efficiency must be preserved and also necessary
extensions. To satisfy and attract capital there must be the
assurance of a reasonable return upon the investment.

The meeting called by Commodore Vanderbilt in 1874, at Saratoga,
was an epoch-making event. We must remember the railway management
of the country was in the absolute control of about four men, two
of whom were also largest owners of the lines they managed.
Fierce competition and cutting of rates brought on utter
demoralization among shippers, who could not calculate on the cost
of transportation, and great favoritism to localities and individuals
by irresponsible freight agents who controlled the rates. Under
these influences railway earnings were fluctuating and uncertain.
Improvements were delayed and the people on the weaker lines
threatened with bankruptcy.

Public opinion, however, believed this wild competition to be the
only remedy for admitted railway evils. As an illustration of
the change of public opinion and the better understanding of
the railway problems, this occurred in the month of October, 1920.
A committee of shippers and producers representing the farmers,
manufacturers, and business men along a great railway system
came to see the manager of the railroad and said to him: "We have
been all wrong in the past. Our effort has always been for lower
rates, regardless of the necessities of the railways. We have
tried to get them by seeking bids from competing lines for our
shipments and by appealing to the Interstate Commerce