I admit there have been many evils in railroad administration, but I modestly affirm that there have been no more than in other lines of business. The railroad industry of this country is young and it acquired some children's diseases. Many people think the railroads would have recovered from measles, mumps and whooping cough without prescriptions from forty-seven varieties of doctors--forty-six states plus the Federal government. It has seemed many times that the railroad patient has been like the man who fell ill in some mysterious way. The consulting surgeons determined that an operation was necessary. They could not locate any definite malady, but they found five hundred dollars on him so they operated on him for that! Of one thing, however, we may be absolutely sure--that is that the law of compensation is always at work. If we have an excess of regulation, there is less of something else. It is entirely probable that if there had been no political regulation of railroads, the people of this country would have more roads, far better and safer roads, and a greater distribution of wealth than they have today. But I must not forget that, according to the subject assigned me, we are here not to look backward, but to look at the present, and then perhaps take a little look forward. SOME CONTRADICTIONS. From a mechanical and traffic standpoint the American railroad of today is one of the wonders of the age. I give one illustration only: Compare its splendid performance with a report I have here of the Northeastern Railway of England, which has a large mineral traffic. This report shows average contents of loaded freight cars to be 5.72 tons, and average contents of freight trains to be 114.7 tons.[D] On the other hand, the American railroad situation in its political and governmental relations is a bundle of contradictions. If you were to engage your money in merchandising or manufacturing, you would no doubt be appalled if you should discover that some one entirely outside of your line of business could fix the prices at which you must sell your product, and that the burden of proof that the prices so fixed are confiscatory, is upon you,--and that you could not abandon your operations. Yet this is precisely what may happen if you invest your money in a railroad. The contradiction is that there are no reciprocal assurances in your behalf. Neither the State nor the Federal government will give you any financial aid, nor will they guarantee you anything, nor will they even protect you against competition, as France has long since been wise enough to do.