Fifth. Efforts to improve service in many cases without hope of reward and for the deliberate purpose of winning public approval, such as better stations, improved heating and lighting devices, better equipment, better terminal facilities, separation of grades, etc.--all with due regard to the rights of those whose money we are spending. As we do all these things, meet us half way. Encourage the habit of not rushing into abuse. Try to consider the facts and the difficulties--this is for the public interest as well as ours. Oppose unnecessary and restrictive legislation and give us a chance. Most of our railroads are mere imitations of what a railroad should be, and what it must be to keep abreast of the country--yet even the poorest serves a useful purpose and can not be spared. An eminent authority has said that five thousand millions of dollars would be required to supply the transportation needs of the next decade, and I do not believe it is an over-estimate. Can private capital be found to that amount unless "public sentiment" is willing to assure it of return? A portion of the public is clamoring for facilities involving great additions to expenses; another portion for limitation of earnings; will the investor consent to accept the risks while strictly limited as to his return? Since the public may do as it will with us and since we are necessary to the public, we may properly call attention to the fact that railway investments already pay less than any other line, and to ask what is to be done--really, it is quite as much the public's affair as ours. Is it certain that the mixture of private ownership and public regulation which is now prevalent will succeed? Is it not contrary to all rules of political economy and to all the teachings of history? Starting as a purely private industry it has been appropriated in part and other parts are apparently to follow. Granting whatever may be claimed for the advantages of regulation by government, do not equity and ordinary commercial decency require that such close restriction and supervision should be accompanied by some guaranty of return? I have endeavored to sketch briefly what should be the attitude of the railway man _as_ a railway man toward the public. I am sure I voice the sentiment of all managing railroad officers when I say that our great desire is to please the public and to give it the best possible service for the least possible compensation consistent with reason. Discriminations have long since passed away and nobody is better pleased than the railroad man that it is so. There is no desire to escape either responsibility or regulation. We desire to accord only justice and we ask in return only justice. May I now, as a citizen, appeal to the railway employe, to the members of this Association, and to all other good citizens, to resist to the utmost of their powers the encroachment of government on private rights?