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SOUTHERN RAILWAY
BELONGS TO SOUTH
CAY* PRESIDENT HARRISON OF
SOUTHERN IN FIRST PUBLIC
ADDRESS.
cY rlmains in south
•nt of Southern Analyzes
t c ation of Company
lo People Served.
ioku, Tenn. —Speaking at the
■net of the Chattanooga
ommorce, Mr. Fairfax
< new president of the
ay company, made
ona.dared his first pub
> . since hla election to
Mr. W. W. Finley
and:
Railway System In
•'v'es of railroad on
ore and employee)*
" "4
Iwß
Fairfax Harrison, President Southern
Railway
perform public services, In return for
which more than one hundred millions
of annual revenue Is collected. These
are lilk figures and. In a country In
which there has always been a pride
in big things, in which every commun
ity has been wont to boast of that
which It has which is the biggest, such
a big thing as tho Southern Hallway
System should be, and I believe Is.
a source of pride to the South, but
'exactly In proportion as it Is big also
in Its public service and faithful in
its public, trust. The administration
of such a vast machine, affecting, as it
does, the comfort and well being of
the people of a large territory, is,
Uterofore, ltßelf a large public service.
The time has passed when it might
be exploited for merely private and
selfish ends. The lawyers used to
tell us that a railroad was a quasi
publlc institution, but today, happily,
it might better be described as a quasi
private institution. It is private still
in the opportunity it presents for the
exercise of individual initiative and
competitive service, but in practically
every other sense It is now recognised
that it is public.
It 1b a matter of sincere regret to
every railroad manager that railroad
securities are not more generally held,
directly and Immediately, in the com
munities which the railroads serve.
The lack of such holding deprives him
of a powerful and sympathetic ally in
the relation of public opinion to his
problems. The time was when the rail
road stocks were owned immediately
at home, and by the people who were
most Influential In shaping public opin
ion, but today, while railroad stocks
arc generally held by the same kind of
people —by those who, through the ex
ercise of prudence, industry aud cour
age have laid by a competence, and by
the women and children for whom
they worked -such investors now do
not as a class reside in the territories
in which they have made their invest
ments. The explanation of this phe
nomenon —so well known to us all, but
still a phenomenon -is part of the
financial history of the United States,
but the fact has given rise to a feel
ing among many of those who use the
railroads daily and come into immedi
ate contact with their managements,
that the railroads belong to some mys
tarious, remote and foreign power, to
trreeponsible potentates, who bear. In
popular imagination, the generic name
of “Wall Street.” We read in maga
ainos and newspapers of the romantic
lives attributed to a few Individuals
who are supposed to "control" the
dest In lea of whole communities by pos
session and exploitation of the Instru
ments upon which such communi
ties depend for their necessary trans
portation, who “fix" rates and arbi
trarily determine conditions of serv
lee, and so "tax” the people they ought
to serve, withdrawing money earned la
the sweat of the brow from the com
munltlee where It la earned, to be dissi
pated at a distance In extravagant fol
lies. Such a vision is not the result
iof pure Imagination—lt has had un
fortunately Its foundation of Justifica
tion In a few conspicuous Instances
which leap to the lips of everyone who
discusses our present-day Industrial
problems; but every Intelligent man
knows that It Is no longer, If It ever
was, the rule.
In considering such lamentable Indi
vidual cases, the public, when forming
Its potent Judgment on the present sit
uation of the railway Industry, must
Recognize them as the unhappy excep
tions they are. To him who Insists
that the railroads should be Judged by
their black sheep, It Is fair In answer
,to Invite attention to many exemplars
of high-minded Integrity In the ad
ministration of railroad property. We
in the South can cite shining examples
of such rectitude. I may be forgiven
a proud reference to my late chief,
William W'ilson Finley, whose oppor
tunities were not less than those of
any of the flagrant individuals to
whom allusion has been made, but who
after years of devotion to a public duty
and the practice of a large private
charity, left an estate the amount of
which, as announced In the public
press, Is at once a certificate of can
did character and an Illustration of
Just administration. One who knew
them can add to the same roll of honor
two more executives of railroads in
the South who have recently gone to
the grave—Thomas M. Emerson and
John W. Thomas, Jr.
Despite the holding of railroad stock
outside of the territories the railroads
serve, and despite the aberrations from
Integrity In the administration of some
particular railroads, I believe that I
am not claiming too much when 1 as
sert that BUch has been the develop
ment of the recognition In recent years
of the public nature and responsibility
of the administration of the railroads,
and such have been the practical con
sequences of that recognition, that to
day In every essential a railroad be
longs to the communities It serves.
In this aspect and in a very real
sense the Southern Railroad belongs
to the people of the South. It Is not
only their highway to market, but Its
fiscal operations are part of the Ufa of
the communities along its lines.
At some risk of trespass upon your
attention, 1 venture to support this
claim with a brief argument from sta
tlstlcs. They record a condition which
is astonishing and I confess astonish
ed me when 1 saw how far they go
■along the lines of a tendency which
1 knew to obtain. Of the one hundred
and three millions of annual revenue
collected last year by the railways In
cluded In the Southern Railway Sys
tem, there was Immediately paid oat
again along Its lines at least seventy
six millions, an amount not far short
of the total collections from the peo
ple of the South: for approximately
twenty-two millions of the total rove
nues were collected from people out
side of the Southeastern States —a
fact not often taken Into considers
tlon, the explanation of which Is that
an appreciable port of the passenger
traffic of the system constats of the
transportation of residents of other
localities traveling In the South, and,
furthermore, that to a large extent
freight charges on Southern products
shipped to other localities are paid hv
the consignees.
What then becomes of these great
revenues collected In the South? Are
they hurried away to some cavern In
AVall streetT No. The fact is that
all the moneys collected in the South
are deposited In Southern banks which
are drawn upon from time to time
only as funds are needed for proper
fiscal purposes. The funds of the sys
tem thus become an important factor
In strengthening the banks of the ter
ritory and so are at all times at the
service of the Southern people.
I have said that these funds are
withdrawn from Southern banks from
time to time only as needed for proper
fiscal purposes, but even In that opera
tion, to a large extent, the moneys col
lected for transportation service on
our lines are not withdrawn at all from
the Southern communities In which
they are collected. This can be dem
onstrated by an analysis of Southern
Railway expenditures for the last fis
cal year. Such analysis shows that,
of every dollar disbursed, 41.71 cents
went to the payment of wages, sub
stantially all of which are paid along
the line of the road, and so remain
In Southern banks, a disbursement
which, for the Southern Railway prop
er, averages about two million dol
lars a month. The purchase of ma
terials and supplies used 23.30 cents,
and. under our policy of buying as far
as practicable from Southern people,
19.12 cents of this was expended in
the South and only 4.18 cents in other
localities. Miscellaneous operating ex
penses required 6.09 cents, all spent
in the South. Taxes, all paid In the
South, required 3.65 cents. Interest,
rentals and other miscellaneous pay
ments accounted for 20.83 cents, and
the holders of the company's prefer
red stock received 4.42 cents. It ts un
fortunately impracticable to determine
the proportion of interest and divi
dends paid to Southern owners of
Southern railway securities. I wish
it was all paid to Southern people;
but, leaving these entirely out of ac
count, it is seen that at least 70.57
cents out of every dollar expended by
the Southern Railway remains in or is
brought Into the South. It mar be add
ed that these figures do not take ac
count of expenditure* for additions and
betterments amounting last year to
three millions and a half and In ten
years to twenty-seven millions of
which the major part, expended on
roadway and structure*, was practical
ly ail paid out along the line of the
road. We may then take it as es
tabllshed that what the Southern peo-
iANHS/CCUNTY JOURNAL, BOWER GA., FEBRUARY 5, 1914
pie pay the fontherii Rail,*.-;- Mr.es for
transportation remains u part of the
working capital of the Southern peo
p’e; but ;i is interesting to pursue
the thought a step further to a reali
zation of what these disbursements by
the Southern Railway in the South
mean In the life and growth of the
Southern people. Of the total of soy
enty-slx millions paid out along the
Southern Railway line- last year ap
proxlmately forty-three million dollar
went to the army of 09,000 employee
and thus, on the conventional basis of
five to a family, directly supported
about 295,000 Southern people, or
about six and one-half times the pop
ulation of Chattanooga at the date of
the last census.
1 have spoken of our preferred
stockholders, but the real preferred
stockholders of the Southern Rail
way System, in the matter of priority
of claim, are the political govern
ments of the States, counties, and
cities along Its lines. Their claim
upon railroad revenues comes ahead
even of that of employees, and they
took $3,743,794.39 In the last fiscal
year. It is hard to grasp the signifi
cance of figures as large as till- ;
what our tax payments really mean
to the communities along mu lilies
can he better understood by an Illus
trative analysis of our payments on
account of school taxes and road and
bridge taxes In the southern states
In 1912, our school taxes In the-,
states amounted to something over
SBOO,OOO, or an average of twenty
eight hundred dollars for, each youn
ty traversed by our lines. At the av
erage annual compensation of school
teachers in the Southern States a*
reported by the l ulled States Bureau
of Education, this would more than
pay for ten teachers In each county
It represents $2.64 out of eveiy $1 <i
of si In id taxes paid In these States
and amounts to fifteen dollars tor
each school building In the States
traversed by our lines. Every dollar
paid to the Southern Railway for
transportation charges thus includ s
a substantial contribution to the
maintenance of the system of public
education In the South.
Payments by the Southern Railway
Bystem In the same year of taxes fit
rectly assessed for public roads and
bridges amounted to $447,966.63, or
an average of $1,571.81 for each coun
ty along our lines Every dollar paid
to the Southern Railway for transpor
tation charges thus Includes also a
substantial contribution to the main
tenance of the public highways of the
South and Is an Indirect but none Un
less real public support of the pro
gressive movement for good and bet
ter roads.
I have referred to the liupractlca
billiy of determining the amounts of
Interest and dividends paid to hold
ers of securities living along the line
of the road. We know , however, that
a large percentage of our population
have a very real though indirect per
sonal interest In these securities even
though they may never have seen a
railroad bond or stock certificate.
There are few families in the South
who do not hold an Insurance policy
of some sort; either an assurance on
life or against the risk of file The
invested funds of the great Insurance
companies are, therefore, matter of
vital concern to the Southern people,
and in large measure, are their own
assets hold In trust for their benefit
We find that.the chief insurance com
putties report their holding of securi
ties of the Southern Hallway System.
Inc.tiding terminal bonds on which the
Southern is a joint guarantor, aggre
gating more than eighty million dol
lars. In that great fund, the integri
ty of which depends upon the con
tinued solvency of the Southern Hall
way lines, the Southern people have
a vital proprietory Interest, an inter
est which, as they realize It, should
be to them a constant spur to protect
themslves by maintaining, as they
can and will, the basis of Southern
Hallway credit.
I assert with confidence that the
facts to which 1 have called your at
tention are full warrant for the claim
that in a very real sense the South
ern Railway belongs to the people of
the South; so much so that its annual
reports might more properly be ad
dressed "To the People of the South'
to advise you of the results of the
management of your property, for
today, it belongs more to you than it
does to the stockholders More than
this, its management is and always
has been devoted to the interests of
the South. Its officers are mostly
Southern-born men and those who
were not born In the South have
been here long enough to become
identified with our interests, our pe
culiarities. our responsibilities, our
prejudices, and our aspirations as a
people; they tall; the same language
as the people of the South. I look
forward to the time when there may be
more Southern men sitting on our
Board of Directors, where I know
that they will be welcome.
As an organization then, the South
ern Railway, with full appreciation
of. and acquiescence in. the present
tendency of public sentiment as to
what a railway is and should be.
stands pledged to the Southern peo
ple, and is proud to declare itself one
of their own institutions. As such it
invites the Southern people to help
it to become more and more their
efficient servant and at the same
time the object of their pride and af
fection. They need have no fear of
its future if it has their confidence.
I trust you will permit me to take
this occasion to say finally a word
of a personal nature; I believe In the
South and our Southern people with
all my heart and soul. I have given
most of the years of my manhood
to an earnest, though subordinate,
part in an effort to realize a high pur
pose of promoting the regeneration,
through industry, of the prosperity
of this our beloved motherland. 1
have not known in my own experi
ence the horrors elUier of the military
conflict which left our people
prostrate, or of the dreary years of
political disability and atrophied am
bition which followed that great war
between the States, in one of the
chief theater. 1 of which we are to
night, but 1 know the bitterness of
these things In the tradition of my
Immediate family, and 1 have learned
from my parents that there can he
no higher aspiration than to he a
part In the realization of the ideals
of our Southern people. Facing the
future, I have then dedicated my life
to that duty and to identification with
the Southern people. Many others
have done arid are doing this and 1
ain proud to he of the company which
has accomplished, through co-opera
tion and sustained effort, so much in
the last quarter of a century.
I am humbly grateful for the wel
come the South has given me to my
new opportunity for Its service. It
has been such a welcome as you
have given me tonight, cordial and
with every evidence of good will. My
hope is to justify this to those who
allow me their confidence, who are
willing to believe that tf we some
times fall It will not he through lack
of good intention or desire to do our
duty as we conceive it. 1 have no
sense of personal elation in the reali
zation today of an ambition cherished
ever since I entered the service of the
Southern Railway Company 17 years
ago, 1 feel most a sobering sense of a
heavy responsibility, but 1 do not fear
the event. 1 have served under two
great men, Samuel Spencer, and Wil
liam Wilson Finley, both men of action,
eager to accomplish, conscious al
ways of the imperious summons of
today, and of the warning of Eccle
siastes: •'Whatsoever thy hand find
eth to do, do It with thy might." I
have known that before ail they
were patriotic men, faithful to the
South, and with their example and
their Ideals before me my hope now
is so to carry on their work as to gain
the kind of public esteem they earned
and to aid in building for the future,
as tiiey built, not only the Southern
Railway, hut the South Itself In
this high endeavor, I am one of you,
my fellow countrymen, who are simi
larly engaged, and | appeal to you
as co-workers for aid and co-opera
tion.
How's This ?
We offer One Hun
dred Dollars Reward
for any case of Catarrh
that cannot be cured
by Hall's Catarrh
Cure.
F. J. Cheney & Cos.,
Toledo, O.
Toledo, ().
We, tip' undersigned, h:i\ <• known
F. .1 l Tenet lor the last 15 years, I
and believe him perfectlv honorable
in all business trim-actions ami
financially able to curry out any 1
obligations made by Ins linn.
X atioxai. 11 \ m, oi < bn m r,laT..
Ilall.s t'litarrh I'm,* is taken
internally, acting directly up,in the
blood and mucous surfaces of the
system. Testimonials sent free.
Price 75 cents per 1 Kittle. Sold
by all I*i iiggist
Takellall’s Family Fills for con
stipation.
\ J Chicago t. wr. i.ct’is tuM -f.: errv omaka\ .jdK&Sja&Sr i|j
/ * T ‘ """ m Jr ' ' OKLAHOMA CITY /| I
jyUnplS fcßjggggaChM^M
m OR - BLOOS' BfIHEATOASE j^SE
\{f\/ * tSOt. HOME OFFICE BRANCH OFFICE ferMSP
(\\\/ a ATLANTA MONT&OMERjr IHg
The POT’ROE OF AMMONIA is the tnest vital consideration in the selection
of fertilizers. Being the most expensive clone nt of plant food.it should be
pvT*' y -)Fs bought in such form that it will neith >• art in the soil nor lie dormant be
> ' r4T13 1 cause of its slow process of nitrificat :
j ■ The MORRIS BRANDS are n tv. i'.h the world’s best nitrogen bear
\ ing materials, ad have proven th t sur-oriority in crop production over other fer
nßvjflfeft! tilizers by scores of tests. This claim is substantiated bv the testimony of farm-
IjKajSSifl j ers who used them last year by the side of others, and whose letters appear in our
|LjSy nWgt current Yi ir Book. Call on your dealer, or write us for a copy.
, T'nis is the guarantee we attach to every bag of guano we ship. Can you get
V 'yV'TA.,, a similar WRITTEN GUARANTEE on any oh " g on the n. trket?
fijßßff OUR GUARANTEE
“TO THE PURCHASER OF THIS GUANO: We gm-rantes the Aaanaia vSBjaW
y>\A in this guano to be 100 per cent PURE ANIMAL MATTEH, derived solely /SsAgrJi®
and entirely trom the IiGKEST GRADES OF PACKING HOUSE
BLOOD AND ANIMAL TANKAGE, made and selected lor ns by our pireut
( organization, Norris & Crmp3ay. It is the FIRST CHOICE from sis oE the 7* j
ki?\ J|| largest paebin' -‘ants in the world.
MORRIS I'ERTTLIEER CO.. Atlsnta.Gn." i
CALL FOR THEM AT YOUR NEAREST DEALER’S. FOR SALE BY l
\sly& L W. A. Shore & Cos. Baldwin. G-a. J
Winte & Cos., Maysville, Ga- /^kr-
Banks County Bank
INSURES DEPOSITS
■MUbAOhSili .a .1 k .-6—.- -
Pays Interest on Time D o sits
and
Extends to its depositing end bor
rowing custom ers all the bu 1. c
commodations and faciut 3
any well regulated bank v h
tion affords.
Call rpon us when y... i > o
borrow and remember a? 1 t i
have surplus mone. .
Banks County
HOMER, G
Ij. X. TT’KK, Pres. K. T. TH<>' ■ m ■ '
O. WALTON, Cash
Acknowledge receipt of all dip,, i- -c
Interest Paid on Savings Acc >u
100 Kit CENT, N\l 1. 1
Modern Met hues
These days the average farmer ha i
vantages of his town ueiglmoi il h -c.r ii-<-
The fanner can (h> his a 1 g'■ \
take adv antage of tn xlerii n* i>l, 1 - * ■• ,
satisfactory aud the thing tod->. y
are banking that way. They mail u- •• ii c
at once credit their account and mail a duplhal <c -i
slip.
We carry Burglar Insurance on
tne money
Also Fire insurance on our building.
The Bank of Gi/lsville
G-illsville. G-a.
GROVES L. GRIFFIN, Cashier.
Jouannet’s Frost Proof Cabbage Plants
®Are known as the best to be had anywhere by thousand,
of experienced buyers, and are offered to you at prices
LOWER than you pay for common, inferior plants. WILL
HAVE ALL VARIETIES. Plants tied in bunches of 25.
PRICES: 75 cents for 500 lots; SI.OO per 1000; 5000 and
over 85 cents per 1000.
JOI’ANMTS EARLY GIANT ARCENTEIIL ASPARAGUS
ROOTS, one year and two year old, $4 per 1000, $1 per 100.
COUNT AND SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Low rates by Southern Express Cos, Cash with order, please.
For a profitable crop send your orders early to
ALFRED JOLAWET, r,ox 156 wt. pleasant, s. c.