the immense sum of $8,500,000,000. Some idea of the magnitude of this sum may be had from the fact that it is eight times the national debt, it is more than two and a half times the amount of money in circulation, it is equal to all the deposits in the national and state banks, and nearly equal to the entire money value of all the farm products of the country in one year. It is over three times the annual gross revenue of the railroads, and it amounts to nearly one half of the existing railway capital represented by stocks and bonds. The question of obtaining the $8,500,000,000 necessary to make railroad facilities equal to the expanding traffic of the country during the next five years, therefore, constitutes the most important problem now confronting business men.”
I have already quoted from the report of the Railway Securities Commission, showing the low rate of return on railway investments. That same Commission says: “A reasonable return is one which, under honest accounting and responsible management, will attract the
