Considerations of cost of service afford protection, not only against unreasonably high rates, but also against unduly low charges. The evil in such cases is not only that the carriers operate at a loss, but that inequality and discrimination are inevitable concomitants of too low rates. No railway conceivably, of course, will charge unremunerative rates for a long time. But it sometimes happens that managements may be led to the adoption of policies of temporary expediency, not compatible with the long-time welfare of stockholders. During the presidency of Charles Francis Adams on the Northern Pacific in 1890 an unaccountable and unnatural diversion of traffic from this road to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe suddenly occurred.[150] A large volume of freight from the East to Oregon was diverted to the roundabout route _via_ Southern California. On investigation it appeared that the English banking house of Baring Brothers, having become involved in unfortunate Argentine speculation, and being obliged to force a market for its investments in Atchison securities, demanded an immediate showing of large gross earnings regardless of the net profits. Orders to get traffic at any price went forth. A market was made for Atchison stock; although it was powerless to prevent the firm's final bankruptcy. In such a case the only safeguard against unreasonably depressed rates by the Atchison road, which, of course, immediately compelled corresponding reductions by the natural routes to the Northwest, should have been consideration of the actual cost of moving traffic by so long and roundabout a route. And yet this consideration was entirely ignored. Another illustration of the same danger occurred in April, 1903.[151] A gang of western speculators unobtrusively acquired control of the Louisville & Nashville road, by taking advantage of the issue by that company of a large amount of new stock. This they did by the use of borrowed money. They had no intention, even had they been sufficiently well financed to do so, of permanently controlling the road as an investment. They bought the stock merely in order to resell it at a higher figure. They threatened the railway world with a general disturbance of rate conditions throughout the South. Their plan was to cut rates and steal traffic from other roads in order to make a large show of gross earnings; and to unload their stock holdings on the market thus made, before the public learned the truth. This was prevented only by repurchase of their stock at very high prices. In such a case, what guidance would the principle of charging what the traffic would bear, afford? Cost of service must be invoked in order to determine the reasonableness of the low rates in force.