We do not ask for favors. We wish to be treated fairly; that is all. No one can possibly be more interested in the prosperity of the railroads than the railroad employes. From every dollar earned by the railroad forty-two cents go directly to pay wages of railway employes, while only twenty-one cents, or one-half that amount, go to pay interest and dividends. In no other country in the world does the railroad employe get so large a share and the security holder so little. Why should not the man who invests his money in railroad stock receive as much return in shape of dividends as the man who invests his in a farm or factory? The last census report of the government, that for 1900, showed that money invested in farm lands in the United States earned an average return of over 10 per cent, and money invested in manufactures earned over 19 per cent. The governor of Iowa, in a printed article over his own signature, appearing in the February, 1907, number of "Farming," gave a number of specific instances where money invested in farm lands in Iowa earned from 18 to 23 per cent, and he referred to such cases as typical. The last report of the Interstate Commerce Commission shows total earnings of all railroads in the United States for year ending June 30, 1907, to have been $2,589,105,578. It also shows total capitalization as $13,053,974,156, and money paid as interest and dividends $551,128,713, equal to 4.2 per cent on capitalization. Certainly this does not seem excessive when compared with profits in farming and manufacturing as given above. We are glad to know that our farmers and manufacturers are prosperous, because we have long since learned that when they are not prosperous the railroads cannot prosper. I fear they have not yet fully realized that it is better for them, also, that the railroads should prosper. We hear no complaints in Congress or elsewhere because our farmers and manufacturers are prosperous; in fact, we are all inclined to boast about it.