Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/88

through days of prosperity and of adversity fair and just. The lands in Minnesota through which these railroads extend are fertile and productive. The cities, villages, and towns they reach are rapidly increasing in population and wealth, and the people they serve are thriving and successful. The evidence satisfies that the railroads are maintained in excellent condition, that they are efficiently and on the whole economically managed and operated, and are rendering commendable service. Justice to the thriving people they serve does not require that the owners of these railroad properties should be deprived of a fair return upon their values. To deprive them of such a return would prevent advances and tend to compel reductions in the wages and salaries of their employees, would tend to prevent the extension of their lines into portions of the State where the development and accommodation that railroad service assures would be welcome and may be needed, to deteriorate the character of the service they render, and to retard the general prosperity. The legal rate