entious people, whose principal capital is their brains and industry and a limited amount of money that they may have saved from their wages and income. The daily lives of the employees and security-holders of the railroads are affected by the success or failure of the railroads, and they are entitled to protection and encouragement from the people and the Government equal to that accorded other citizens. The owners of the railroads hold securities worth at par nearly $14,000,000,000. The average net return from railroad operation for the year ending June 30, 1909, was 4.07 per cent. In 1905 the net income from manufacturing institutions was 13.06 per cent.
At times the impression is given in the press that great fortunes have been made and are being made in the railroad business. A very few have been made, but not nearly so many as in manufacturing, mining, merchandising, banking, lumbering. Go into any community, and except in rare instances it is not the man building railroads or working for them who is the rich man, or even the well-to-do.
